Sen. Flake: ‘Few in American History Knew as Much or as Vividly About the Price of Freedom as John McCain’

EXCERPT:

FLAKE: “Mr. President, until the very end, he served his country. Until the very end. In service to John McCain meant living something unique in all the history of the world. Living in service to something unique. The American idea, 'E pluribus unum', for many one, might seem like a quaint vestige compared to the brutal and determined divisions of our time, but it was an idea that defined John McCain’s life. In it and through his service, he defied characterization, frustrated the tired conventions of the way party loyalists are supposed to behave, acted against his own political interests time and time again in a way that from our vantage point today is nothing short of awe inspiring. And he recognized that democracy was hard but that living in bondage to tyranny was far harder. We talk a lot in this chamber about freedom. No one in this city and few in American history knew as much or as vividly about the price of freedom as John McCain. Our words are too often cheap and eminently forgettable, but John McCain paid our freight with his body and with his soul. To our shame, he lived long enough to have to take to the Senate floor to inveigh against the ranked tribalism we have fallen into lately."