Many of the commentators that fill our airwaves with their opinions have offered that Senator John McCain's death ceremonial was a rebuke to the current administration. I feel that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Senator McCain, in his last, perhaps most significant public statement, was not offering a rebuke. But was instead offering a vision, to help his fellow Americans perceive what is true.

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"I owe it to America to be connected with America's causes, liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people... Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but are enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves." Senator John McCain, 2018.

The Struggle for Truth

Many of the commentators that fill our airwaves with their opinions have offered that Senator John McCain's death ceremonial was a rebuke to the current administration. I feel that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Senator McCain, in his last, perhaps most significant public statement, was not offering a rebuke. But was instead offering a vision, to help his fellow Americans perceive what is true.

Trial experience

Before I delve further into Senator McCain's words and the structure of his ceremonial, I want to offer a perspective on where I am coming from. Most of my adult life has been spent in the process of litigation before one of our most sacred institutional structures: The jury. I have been proud to live a life trying to aid those who participate in jury service to fulfill their most important duty--to determine the truth. Each and every jury, in America, has as its responsibility, the duty to determine what is true in the case before them.

Curiously, we do not ask them to make this determination by bombast and harangue. We do not ask them to perform this solemn duty by enflaming passions and stirring prejudice. No. We ask them to set these feelings aside and determine what is true based on the facts presented to them and on the law given to them.

But we do one more thing. We offer them a comparison. Two stories are always presented. And in this way the path to truth is aided by the power of comparison. Why? BECAUSE BOTH STORIES CANNOT BE TRUE. Only one is true. The other must be false. And this is how we aid jurors in their task. We present a window that allows them to perceive the truth, as it existed, in that situation.

Words and Ceremony

In his farewell letter McCain wrote:

... We are citizens of the world's greatest republic. A nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history... We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been...

Unfortunately, in our "raucous public debates" sometimes referred to inappropriately as the "court of public opinion," many tend to abandon the jury's truth-determining process. These seek victory in public discourse by enflaming passions, appealing to prejudice and throwing aside the sacred pillars of fact and principle. In short, they appeal to emotional force to swamp their opponents and as President Obama framed it "bend others" to their will. They abandon the mental discipline of contrast and comparison for this stirring of "blood and soil." And in so doing forget what we've done as a society. Forget we have created an institutional device for determining the truth, when faced with the most deeply held disputes.

I believe Senator McCain saw this clearly. Unable to present these public debates in a court of law, he did the next best thing. He offered up the ceremony of his final passing in order to present the contrast of two visions for comparison: To hold them up in the court of public opinion so that we Americans might have a chance to determine which one is true.

Determining Our Real Tradition

In his final message McCain said, we are "a nation of ideals, not blood and soil." In making this assertion he is not talking about current policy. He is talking about our most sacred traditions. He is asserting that we are a nation of IDEALS, not PREJUDICES. He defines the passion of the patriot as "love" of country not hatred of the rival.

To demonstrate this, with a most profound grace, he invited his rivals to eulogize him. And eulogize him they did. They judged him in their various assessments (as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said) "by the content of his character." They adjudged him friend. In fact, he was treated as a brother, as family: one that can be criticized but in the end is accepted for who he is and not cast aside.

Those who always see strife in any proffered statement saw lack of invitation of the President as a slight or worse an insult. But, it was no such thing. Because of his tendency to turn and twist any story to his favor, the lack of invitation was needed to achieve contrast and the requisite clarity.

Why? Because the alternate vision is: MAGA! The passions of MAGA are hatred and fear, not love. The goal of MAGA is not love of our sacred ideals, but the stirring of old passions and prejudices. As such, MAGA is regressive. Whereas love of our ideals has always been a path to progress.

McCain reminds us of that. He says we should "not despair of our present difficulties" because we can always believe "in the promise and greatness of America."

But finally remember one more important point. The contrast of these two visions is not LIBERAL vs CONSERVATIVE. John McCain was a conservative. MAGA purports to be conservative. It is the job of the conservative force to uphold tradition. So you decide. Which vision truly upholds American tradition: Love or Hate, Ideals or Prejudices, Progress or Regression? You decide which is true and which is false.

Authors Website: http://www.ericzlucas.com

Authors Bio:

Eric Z. Lucas is an alumnus of Stanford University (Creative Writing Major: 1972-1975), the University of Washington (1981: BA English Literature and Elementary Education) and Harvard Law School, J.D. 1986. Since law school he has been a public servant: a prosecuting attorney, a city attorney and a trial judge. Born in Spokane, Washington where his military family lived until the age of twelve, he still resides in Washington State. Married to his wife Beth since 1974, they have four adult children and two grandchildren. Further discussions of Eric's work are available on the website: The Path of Public Service. Eric is the author of the following books: a children's book entitled: "The Island Horse," November 2005; "The Tao of Public Service" published February 2013 by Balboa Press, and "All Lives Matter: Essays, On the Need for a New View of Citizenship" published by KindlePublishing e-book July 2015. Eric's books are currently available from: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Balboa Press and Self Discovery Publications directly or through the website listed below.