opinion

Why we still need heroes like McCain

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Anybody who pays attention to the sorts of things honored by contemporary popular culture knows that stories about heroism are passé. But why then do we still long for them?

In March 1920, Arab gangs attacked the Jewish settlement of Tel Hai in the Upper Galilee. Josef Trumpeldor led the defense, a rare Jew who had served in the Tsar’s army, fought against the Turks in World War I, returned to Russia, organized Jewish self-defense against pogroms, and then headed back to Palestine. Mortally wounded during the exchange of fire at Tel Hai, he was reported to have consoled his companions in Hebrew, saying: Ein davar, tov lamut be’ad artzeinu — “Never mind, it’s good to die for our country.”

As was fitting for a secular Jew, his words echoed those of the Roman poet Ovid’s Odes — dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (“it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country”) more than any traditional Jewish text. But his sacrifice inspired generations. He was embraced as a hero by both the Jewish right — the Beitar national youth group founded by Ze’ev Jabotinsky and later led by Menachem Begin was named for Trumpeldor — as well as by their rivals on the left.

But to future generations of Israelis, the authenticity of Trumpeldor’s final utterance was called into question. He may have just cursed in Russian about his bad luck. His shaky command of Hebrew might not have enabled him to say something so eloquent. More important, many came to doubt the validity of the sentiment behind those noble words.

To the cynics of the 20th and early 21st century, the idea of there being something glorious about bloody sacrifice for the sake of a national ideal was the sort of talk that starts wars. To some, patriotism was not just old-fashioned, but dangerous.

That is especially true for Americans who came of age after Vietnam, Watergate and other scandals that have robbed the nation of its patriotic idealism.

It is in this context that we should think about the life of Sen. John McCain, who passed away on Saturday at 81 after a battle with brain cancer.

McCain was a central figure in American politics for a generation. An independent spirit, he was often unpredictable, taking up causes regardless of whether they fit in with his generally conservative approach.

Sadly, in his final years, he was subjected to a torrent of abuse because of his feud with President Donald Trump, who called into question McCain’s status as a war hero. Some on the far right, especially on social media, continued to call McCain a “traitor” after his death, demonstrating their ignorance and lack of grace. It echoed the abuse he had gotten from the far left, which viewed his unswerving support for Israel and belief in a strong foreign policy with equal contempt.

But what is important about McCain is that he lived his life in the spirit of Trumpeldor’s famous quotation. There is no denying his bravery in enduring imprisonment and torture at the hands of his Vietnamese captors. And whether you agreed with him on the issues or not, the fact that he continued serving his country through the rest of his life was a legacy based more on character and patriotism than anything else.

McCain mattered because unlike most politicians, his claim to office was based not so much on ideology as it was on biography. Not many U.S. presidents have been truly great men. While we can’t be sure that McCain would have been a good president, the reason he came so close to that goal was because so many thought he deserved the honor. In that sense, he was a throwback to earlier times in American history, when the presidency was seen more as a reward for meritorious service than a mere political contest.

We may not need presidents to be heroes, but the founders of the American republic believed that civic virtue was essential to the survival of their experiment. The manner in which Israel’s founding generation lived was a testament to the same sentiment.

Cynics often dismiss patriotism and the idea of sacrifice for the nation. We no longer engage in the hero worship that produced generations of Americans who thought George Washington never told a lie. We’re right to keep leaders’ feet of clay firmly in view. But we still need heroes, because they are essential to perpetuating the ideals that are the foundation of American society.

Nations like the United States and Israel are, after all, based on ideals more than other considerations. That’s why we need the Trumpeldors and McCains. They point the way for the rest of us, towards the values to which we aspire but so often fall short.

May the senator’s memory be for a blessing.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of JNS.