Many years ago, during the BBS era, I had an argument with another user who went by the pseudonym of Agrajag. I had expressed the view that personal honor was supremely important -- hardly an unusual view for a Southerner -- and Agrajag disagreed vehemently, saying it was a pointless exercise in ego that led, not infrequently, to unnecessary violence. I concluded that he was a fool, and told him so.
Years later, I realize that my disagreement with Agrajag was probably just a misunderstanding over the meaning of the term "honor". To him, it meant the public perception of honor, something that could be insulted, and in earlier times, an insult to one's honor often led to a duel. To me, honor is something strictly internal. It doesn't matter if the entire world thinks I'm a scoundrel; the important thing is that I know that I lived up to my own high standards. To me, honor is like an internal gyroscope that keeps me balanced and on my proper course regardless of whatever exigencies may arise.
One thing that has become quite clear during the course of the last couple of months is that John McCain's honor is of the traditional, external kind. It doesn't matter to him what his actions are; all he cares about is what people say about him. If he encourages mob violence at his rallies, that's okay. He just becomes upset when someone calls him on it. Then his honor has been impugned.
I never thought I would see the day when, at a rally for an American presidential candidate, people would shout out death threats against the opposition candidate. To be fair, no candidate can be responsible for what every whacko who shows up at a public rally says or does. A candidate can, however, be held responsible for their reaction, which was in this case to say and do nothing. To John McCain, it's okay to re-enact the growing horrors of the late Weimar Republic so long as he gets votes.
To me, that is a deep and profound dishonor. It would not matter if the entire world agreed that John McCain was an honorable man, because they would be wrong. To say what he actually has become would be impossible without recourse to gutter language.
I had already decided to vote for Barack Obama. Even if I had not decided already, the events of the past couple of weeks would have sealed it for me. Frankly, at this point, the Democrats could have run Big Bird as their candidate and be assured of my vote. It can happen here, but if it does, it will not be because I didn't go to the polls to cast my vote against it. This isn't 1930's Germany. It's America, and some of us still believe in the dream of the Founders, and to us it is plain as day that John McCain does not share that dream.