The Audacity Of Honor

by Mary Katharine Ham - September 18th, 2008 - The Daily Standard

When John McCain first started saying he'd "rather lose an election than see the country lose a war," it was a serious aside in a self-deprecating assessment of his own uncertain political future.

He'd chuckle and deliver his reworking of Chairman Mao's line, "It's always darkest before it's totally black." He was speaking of himself, but he could just as easily have meant Iraq, to which his future had become so inextricably linked.

Despite Obama's snide and nasty claims that McCain has no honor, John McCain is the one person in this campaign that I KNOW is a man of honor. I have not always agreed with McCain on some issues. Hell, I don't agree with him on some issues right now. However I have always considered him an incredible patriot and a man of integrity, courage, character and honor.

This article talks about an organization of these men, Vets for Freedom.

It also talks about an issue that is a major component of the three wars in which America currently finds itself. This political campaign may deal with two of these issues, but it is an active extension of one of the three wars. There is a lot of coverage of the war against the Islamo-fascists. The Vets for Freedom group discussed in the article are all veterans of this war. That is one war that is an issue in the campaign.

Another issue in the campaign is the economic and cultural war represented by the Hispanic invasion of our borders. These are people who are equally dedicated to ending the current America by making us provide them jobs and wealth. They are under the impression that our success has nothing to do with the culture of individual freedom in America. Their assumption is that it is all about our natural resources, not our cultural attitudes. They love their culture and they are invading us because they want to bring their culture here and yet have good jobs too. They do not accept that it is the culture of their country that leaves them poor. In some ways it overlaps with the final war in which America finds itself.

The final war that has been going on since the 1800s is the war over economics, how is society best organized to create wealth and share that wealth. There are a number of people in America who hate America because we are oriented towards free enterprise. The essence of free enterprise is the idea that society benefits when the products are created through competition. It creates the highest quality product at the lowest price. All society benefits. Walmart proves that free enterprise is actually the best way to provide products for the poor. However those who do not wind up rich in this form of economic system hate and despise it since they are convinced they should be the rich and powerful. They therefore look for a system that allows them to take the wealth of others and spread it around as a matter of justice and claim the right to rule in the process. Its proponents go by various names such as socialist, communist, marxist, liberal and progressive.

This economic system always fails. Yet its proponents never concede that failure is the fault of their system. Obama and his supporters are still determined to impose socialism on our nation. The litany of Vets for Freedom candidates who are getting no traction in their campaigns is a direct result of the fact that in many parts of our nation, the people are so oriented to socialism that they hate America and don't care about honor. These men who have risked their lives for America are not appreciated for their service. They are hated for defending a system, free enterprise, that many of our fellow citizens want to end.

We are currently watching the Democrats refuse to drill for oil because their followers see oil as a part of this economic system they want to destroy. The real campaign issue is conflict between a system of freedom that admires honor and a system of redistribution of wealth that rationalizes stealing. Honor is not prized in the latter. Somehow we have got to find a way to show people that these wars are all about freedom, individual freedom, and the honor and character that individual freedom inspires in our citizens. Unless we do, in this campaign a lot of patriots will lose to men with no honor as a result.

Freedom is the most important part of honor.