WHY McCAIN?

I have been thinking about my support for John McCain. What has attracted me to him? As a history teacher I have looked back for historical connections. While I have wanted the connections to be to great Americans, I have struggled. I have thought about various heroes but I haven't made the connection.

Finally, I have made the connection to someone we have in history. While I would have hoped that he would connect to Washington or Jefferson or some other superstar that isn't the case. American history is filled with people who we don't know, but who have shaped this country just as surely as those Founding Fathers we have always heard about. John Adams is a tempting choice and he is my favorite Founding Father. My admiration dates not from the miniseries, but from long before that. I have always admired those who are described as mavericks. Adams was certainly a maverick who was able to debate any point and didn't shrink from a fight. This is a man who when reading a book would write in the margins essentially arguing with the book. My kind of man!

But the comparison breaks off at one point. He wasn't a warrior. That doesn't in anyway, diminish his importance because Adams was the most important Founding Father. He fought the philosophical battle that needed to be fought. No one else could have done it. He was the conscience, the intellect, and the brains of the revolution.

McCain was a warrior. His philosophy was his action and his life. This being the case I have found a historical precedent. That would be Andrew Jackson. Jackson was a warrior with a plan. At the age of 14 he was assaulted by a British officer in the Revolutionary War for refusing to clean his boots. He bore the scar of this confrontation on his hand and head for the rest of his life. He carried with him a hatred of the British and the aristocracy throughout his life.

Jackson was not to be dominated again. This led him to the White House and immortality. He was a man who felt the fire and led his men. He led his country in a sometimes unpopular way, but he was a true leader. When it was all said and done, he was an eponymous leader who revolutionized the country. He was the first president who was a common man. He was a warrior who understood the use of power. For him philosophy didn't trump practicality. He got things done. I don't condone some of the things he did, but I also know he was a man of his time. He revolutionized America in his own way.

I think the most enduring accomplisment of his presidency was his refusal to give up executive power to the jucidiciary. Up to this time, presidents were wont to give the power position to the legislature. Jackson didn't buy the subservient position of the executive branch. He pioneered the strong executive, or the imperial presidency.

When confronted with a ruling concerning the Cherokees and their occupation of land in Georgia that gave the land back to the Cherokees, he stated "Mr. Marshall has made his ruling, now let him enforce it." Now that is not politically correct, but it does say that the executive branch is coequal to the judicial branch. Jackson pioneered the presidency as a powerful position and one that took on leadership of the country. He provided the model that persists to this day of a strong executive.

JACKSON AND McCAIN, A GOOD CONNECTION. Now I'm comfortable.

REFLECTION OF POPE'S VISIT

This is so beautiful I don't want to ruin it with words. Give this a listen and be inspired. Pope Benedict is clearly moved by the performance as am I. God sometimes reveals his presence to us.

I loved the fact that the Pope was able to reach so many people. When he was elected so many of us thought that he was a transitional pope. In other words, he would be around for a little while until someone more consequential would be elected. What Ratzinger did this week was energize the church. He energized the people including me and he was a force for peace and love during his visit. I would love to think that what the Holy Father said verified the religiosity of America. But that probably isn't the case.

America is a religious country. Over 90% of Americans call themselves Christians. The visit of the Pope tapped into that religiosity. All you had to do was watch his visit on TV and you were overwhelmed by the love you saw in the faithful. I love the church, but I was turned off by the sex scandals. I tried to get by it, but I couldn't. I fell away from my church. Then Benedict came to America. My mother told me that he was a German and he would understand the oppression of faith. Both my great-grandparents came to America to escape religious oppression. My great-grandmother came from Koblenz in 1885 and my great-grandfather came from Saxony in 1887. Both were Catholics in a country of a shrinking Catholic population. Martin Luther after all, was a German and a Catholic and he launched the Protestant Reformation.

The history of America is religious. Some of the first Europeans to emigrate to America came for religious freedom. Maryland was a colony started by Lord Baltimore for Catholics fleeing the religious persecution of 17th Century England. While the Puritans were not Catholics, they did flee Europe for religious freedom. They were Separatists who felt that reforming the Church of England was not possible requiring them to flee the persecution. America in its earliest history was that of a religious refuge against persecution. That is a proud history. Sadly, that proud history is fading.

Despite all this religious history, America is fast becoming an irreligious country. The secular progressives are gaining the upper hand against those of us who call ourselves religious. The beauty of America lies in the fact that while we are a religious people, we are not an intolerant people. Starting with the Act of Toleration of 1649 and moving forward, we have accepted many ways of worshipping.

Today, we are now confronted with the repression and denigration of religion, especially Christian. I cannot defend the excesses of Western European peoples. I can, however, defend the great effects on the societies of the world brought about by them. Democracy, religious freedom, societal mobility, and liberal education, that includes the concept of a social contract and natural rights, are but a few of the European ideals that have shaped our society.

These are a few of the thoughts I have as I watch Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, speak and charm thousands of Catholics, me included. He has made me proud of my heritage, and more importantly my religion.

I miss him already and await his return.

GERMAN POPE

The visit of Pope Benedict XVI has been a great moment for those of us of German heritage. I just finished watching Benedict address the youth at St. Joseph's Seminary. My parents both expressed their worry that a German would be able to express his emotions. They both love the Pope as he has done very well in a liturgical sense but they worried if he could connect with his people. This worry was from their upbringing in German American households where emotion was not something that was expressed openly among families.

After watching the Pope on TV, I called my mother. She was thrilled by the Pope's performance. She spoke to me in the German of her youth. She didn't hear a lot of English until she went to school. She was thrilled about Benedict and his connection to the youth he spoke to about their devotion to the faith. I am excited for her and my dad that they are comfortable that a German Pope is capable of expressing his love for his people. My mother ended our conversation with a statement she said to us as children many times. It always warms my heart to hear her or my grandmother say to us "Ich liebe dich." I love you.

McCAIN ON FAITH

These words sound a little bit different than those of Jeremiah Wright. While I deplore that Wright suffered discrimination in America, I think it is really instructive the difference in his words and those of McCain. While Wright has given in to bitter, racist hatred, McCain credits his faith with saving his life while in a POW camp in the most brutal of circumstances. One man has continued to love his country and celebrated his faith, while the other uses his faith as a weapon to denigrate and hate his country and his fellow countrymen.

My question, why would Obama continue to turn to this type of man for spiritual guidance? McCain has forgiven his cruel captors, went on with his life and become the hero he is today. Obama would do well to look to McCain for guidance rather than Wright. Talk about bitter.

This saying about glory is hanging in my classroom. I can't possibly say it any better than McCain. I would love to say that I am this good, but I am not even in this guy's ballpark. When you compare McCain to Obama it is a massive mismatch. I have talked to my friends who are liberals and they have said that McCain is a guy they could vote for. All glory is not self-glory. Glory is not conceit. It is something that is greater than ourselves. Listen to what he says about glory.

I don't agree with him on all things, but I agree that he is a great man. He readily admits in his book that he was not a good man in his youth. When he was called by his country he gave to it what he had. And that was himself.

Can we expect as president that he will give anything less?

McCAIN ON HONOR

I am going to post some videos that show the personal values of John McCain. I believe the more you hear from him in his own words the more you come to see him for the honorable hero he is. As the campaign heats up, paid slanderers are sharpening their knives for him. The Soros-led groups are well-financed and will do everything in their power to defeat McCain. They are financially supporting Obama and we'll see soon that despite his rhetoric to the contrary, Obama will no more disown this character assassination than he did Wright. Give this a listen. I will follow with more.