In this month’s edition of Reason, Matt Welch takes a look at the record and political philosophy of John McCain and finds a man we should be afraid of:

Reading McCainâ€™s four best-selling books is a revelatory experience. Not since Teddy Roosevelt has a leading presidential contender committed so many words to print about his philosophies of life and governance before seeking the Oval Office. All of McCainâ€™s charming strengths and alarming foibles are there, hiding in plain sight, often unintentionally. McCain on the page is reflexively self-effacing (â€œI have spent much of my life choosing my own attitude, often carelessly, often for no better reason than to indulge a conceit,â€ he writes in the second paragraph of Faith of My Fathers), consciously reverent of his heroes (Why Courage Matters and Character Is Destiny are basically collections of hagiographic mini-profiles threaded with a few self-help bromides), and refreshingly authentic-sounding (for a politician, anyway). He has a tendency to write passages that would fit perfectly in a 12-step recovery guide, especially Steps 1 (admitting the problem) and 2 (investing faith in a â€œPower greater than ourselvesâ€). There isnâ€™t any evidence that McCain himself has gone through the 12 steps, but his father was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, his second wife received treatment in 1994 for her five-year addiction to pain medication, and he has spent a life surrounded by substance abusers. â€œI have learned the truth,â€ he writes in Faith of My Fathers. â€œThere are greater pursuits than self-seeking.â€¦Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself.â€ That â€œsomethingâ€ is the â€œlast, best hope of humanity,â€ the â€œadvocate for all who believed in the Rights of Man,â€ the â€œcity on a hillâ€ once dreamed by Puritan pilgrim John Winthrop (whom McCain celebrates in Character Is Destiny). Any thing or person perceived as tarnishing that cityâ€™s luster has a sworn enemy in the Arizona senator. â€œOur greatness,â€ he writes in Worth the Fighting For, â€œdepends upon our patriotism, and our patriotism is hardly encouraged when we cannot take pride in the highest public institutions, institutions that should transcend all sectarian, regional, and commercial conflicts to fortify the publicâ€™s allegiance to the national community.â€

From this belief, Welch points out, comes McCain’s positions on issues ranging from campaign finance reform to the War on Drugs. And through it all there is the idea that the individual should put their desires second, and the needs of the state first:

If youâ€™re beginning to detect a rigid sense of citizenship and a skeptical attitude toward individual choice, you are beginning to understand what kind of president John McCain actually would make, in contrast with the straight-talking maverick that journalists love to quote but rarely examine in depth. For years McCain has warned that a draft will be necessary if we donâ€™t boost military pay, and he has long agitated for mandatory national service. â€œThose who claim their liberty but not their duty to the civilization that ensures it live a half-life, indulging their self-interest at the cost of their self-respect,â€ he wrote in The Washington Monthly in 2001. â€œSacrifice for a cause greater than self-interest, however, and you invest your life with the eminence of that cause. Americans did not fight and win World War II as discrete individuals.â€

McCain’s Presidential hero is not Ronald Reagan, who recognized America’s legacy of individual liberty, but Teddy Roosevelt:

â€œIn the Roosevelt code, the authentic meaning of freedom gave equal respect to self-interest and common purpose, to rights and duties,â€ McCain writes. â€œAnd it absolutely required that every loyal citizen take risks for the countryâ€™s sake.â€¦His insistence that every citizen owed primary allegiance to American ideals, and to the symbols, habits, and consciousness of American citizenship, was as right then as it is now.â€

Like Roosevelt, it is clear that McCain sees national duty as more important than individual liberty. A President who believes this is capable of almost anything.