The Maverick vs. a maverick

I think we can all agree that the current downturn in the economy is due to government oversight. Those who blame the plummeting Dow on Uncle Sam blame the government's oversight, that is, it's excessive regulation of the economy. Those who believe that there has not been enough regulation consider this failure an oversight of the government, that is, something the government failed to do. Oversight is an antagonym - a word that, through the passage of time, has come to mean it's exact opposite.

John McCain has self-identified as another such antagonym (and eponym): a "maverick." Samuel Maverick was a Texas rancher who refused to brand his cattle. (His descendants, by the way, don't like McCain). As a result, unclaimed cattle wandering the Texas praire came to be known as "mavericks." The ambiguous nature of such beasts led to the rule that anybody who disovered a maverick and branded it could call it his own. Thus, at least in 19th century animal husbandry parlance, a maverick was not a loner or an independent - it was something that was yours for the taking. Today, maverick commonly refers to a dissenter or an independent. In actuality, maverick means both something claimable and unclaimable.

Which type of maverick is John McCain? Upon his election to Congress, in 1982, McCain was a self-described foot soldier in the Reagan revolution. He did not really buck his party until he emerged only slightly scathed from the Keating 5 scandal. The incident seemed to liberate him from the orthodoxies of his party. He left the Republican ranch.

The newly minted maverick took on big tobacco, and sought to limit campaign contributions. Much like his partner in that effort, Senator Feingold, he voted to confirm Ginsburg and Breyer as supreme court nominees, on the theory that such selections were the president's prerogative. (Feingold voted to confirm Alito and Roberts). McCain worked with both Massachusetts Senators - Kerry on normalization with Vietnam, and Ted Kennedy on immigration reform. I recall an issue of The New Republic from 2000, in which the editors endorsed both John McCain and Al Gore for president, saying of McCain that he was a conservative who, after thinking about things for a while, decided that the liberal side was the right side. (paraphrase). After the 2000 election, in which he was unfairly savaged by Bush during the primaries, McCain's movement across the aisle became more pronounced, culminating with his open flirtation with the 2004 nomination for Democratic vice president.

The maverick dodged that brand, and stayed loose for four more years. But in the quest for the Republican nomination, and the presidency, he let himself be seared. John McCain didn't bring his individuality - his lone wolf streak - to the Republican party, he let the Republicans leave a permanent mark on him. He came to change the Republican party and the Republican party changed him. He denounced his own former stands on immigration and health care. He retroactively opposes the nominations of Ginsburg and Breyer. He proposed to expand the Bush tax cuts that he initially opposed. The Texas ranch-owner branded his party's maverick. McCain has been claimed.