Johnston: The soldier for the future
The oppressed rarely have weapons to combat their oppressors. The great insight of liberalism is that ideas have power. Liberalism arms the oppressed with the doctrine of individual rights. Thus strengthened, the oppressed assert their rights against the whims of abusive, corrupt or decadent power structures. If the rebellion of the oppressed is quashed, the ideological superstructure recasts the rebels as martyrs for freedom, its greatest good. Viewed in contrast to brutality, this characterization is irresistible. Ultimately a confederacy of the oppressed and those sympathetic to their...
"And in retrospect McCain can call his time in prison “the greatest opportunity in my life” because he there observed “a thousand acts of courage, compassion and love.” Thus the prison, a place of injustice, was redeemed."
Yep, darn straight. If all those slaves in the 1800's had just had John McCain's resourcefulness, they would have found something redeeming about their oppression, too. Everyone needs a little oppression here and there...best opportunity of your life.