DYSTOPIA USA

EXCERPTS FROM VARIOUS NEWS OUTLETS Just a month before the 2008 presidential election, Sen. John McCain took a political risk to defend his opponent, then-Sen. Barack Obama. During an October 10, 2008, town hall event in Lakeville, Minnesota, a constituent told McCain that she couldn't trust Obama. The woman called Obama "an Arab" at the height of a conspiracy movement claiming Obama, who was born in Hawaii, was not a natural-born American citizen and therefore ineligible for the presidency. "No ma'am, he's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign is all about," McCain said to applause. McCain hated Obamacare. He also saved it. The Arizona senator, who died on Saturday, was driven less by his interest in health care policy than his disdain for bullies trampling the “little guy.” A lot of McCain's prominence as a political figure comes from his history in the military. He was a naval pilot during the Vietnam War, showing truly extraordinary bravery during things like the USS Forrestal fire. He was captured when his plane was shot down, and suffered serious injuries before being taken by the Vietnamese as a POW. (These injuries, specifically to his shoulders, were very significant; in fact, they prevented him from being able to raise his hands muhch above his shoulders for the rest of his life.) His wounds went untreated until the Vietnamese discovered that his father, John McCain Jr., was an admiral. Suddenly, McCain became a significant asset to them. While he was in captivity -- although not immediately; this happened about a year later, during which time his cellmates were pretty much convinced he was going to die -- his father was promoted to being head of combat operations for the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese offered to release the young McCain, basically for propaganda purposes (to make themselves look merciful, but also to give the impression among the common soldiers that people with connections were being given preferential treatment, to sow dissent), but McCain refused to be released unless every man who was captured before him was released first. This didn't happen, and McCain spent the next two years being straight-up tortured. After two years of daily beatings, McCain made an anti-American propaganda statement (that haunted him for the rest of his life). He was only released in 1973, more than five years after his capture.