John McCain: Why We Must Support Human Rights -
By JOHN MCCAINMAY 8, 2017
Washington, D. C. — SOME years ago, I heard Natan Sharansky, the human rights icon, recount how he
and his fellow refuseniks in the Soviet Union took renewed courage from statements made on their behalf by President Ronald Reagan.
As I listened to Mr. Sharansky, I was reminded how much it had meant to my fellow P. O.W.s and me when we heard from new additions to our ranks
that Mr. Reagan, then the governor of California, had often defended our cause, demanded our humane treatment and encouraged Americans not to forget us.
In the real world, as lived and experienced by real people, the demand for human rights
and dignity, the longing for liberty and justice and opportunity, the hatred of oppression and corruption and cruelty is reality.
In a recent address to State Department employees, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said conditioning
our foreign policy too heavily on values creates obstacles to advance our national interests.
In their continuous efforts to infect us with despair
and dissolve our attachment to our country, our North Vietnamese captors insisted the American government and people had forgotten us.
What I’ve learned is that it is foolish to view realism
and idealism as incompatible or to consider our power and wealth as encumbered by the demands of justice, morality and conscience.
