Most readers may agree that the key roles of government include defense of the nation's security interests at home and abroad, education, at least until the conclusion of high school, critical infrastructure such as roads and bridges, a basic social security system for our nation's retirees, and a legal system that upholds the rule of law on well established common law principles, supported by effective law enforcement. Overriding these is perhaps the supreme task of upholding the constitution of the United States. Perhaps everything else could be construed as secondary or even unnecessary.

In the advanced economically successful western democracies state-provided health care is also a given and is high on their list of key government functions. The wealthiest of the European nations, such as Germany and the United Kingdom, have well established public health care systems. None of these nations are in any way "Socialist". They have private health care also, for those who can afford the premiums. Readers may be unaware that Winston Churchill was a Liberal until his party imploded in the 1920s and he joined the Conservative Party. WSC was not an old-style Tory. Far from it. As a Liberal Minister, he introduced far-reaching state-based social reforms and benefits that preceded the United States by several years. During his tenure as Prime Minister during World War Two, his cabinet introduced and passed some of the most advanced educational reforms of the twentieth century (the Butler Education Act) together with the beginnings of the National Health Service (NHS), while saving the world from Nazism. In spite of UK budgetary dilemmas, the NHS survives as a model of social reform, providing in British parlance, a critical function for a caring western democracy.

This segues me to Senator John McCain, a true American hero, and statesman. He has, with his two female Senatorial colleagues, successively put the kyosh on each and every move by the Republican Party to undermine Obama Care, the Affordable Care Act. Irrespective of party affiliation and core political ideology, Senator McCain, like Winston Churchill, has put himself above party and addressed the key issue of what is best for the large majority of the American people. He has eruditely explained that proposed changes, worst case repeal, would disenfranchise millions of Americans from healthcare, totally disrupt the health insurance industry with potentially catastrophic results, and throw the medical profession at all levels into chaos.

Senator McCain has shown two outstanding qualities – courage and leadership, hallmarks of the former US Navy pilot and a heroic prisoner in the Hanoi Hilton. I may not always have agreed with Senator McCain on other issues, but one thing is absolutely sure, I have never ceased to respect his integrity, courage, and care for the well being of the American people, and the citizens of Arizona. What more could one ask? He does not fall into a pathological diatribe, invective, and arguments that seem to emerge from a straight-jacketed mindset that can only hear the echoes of its own rhetoric. Perhaps we should all stand back, take a deep breath, set aside our politics, transitory as they truly are, and thank Senator John McCain for his unflinching and selfless service to the United States.