"This is my last term."
Those are the words of Arizona Sen. John McCain from his new memoir "The Restless Wave."
In the book, out May 22, McCain, who has been battling brain cancer, is said to hold "nothing back."
"This is my last term," McCain writes. "If I hadn't admitted that to myself before this summer, a stage 4 cancer diagnosis acts as ungentle persuasion."
In an exclusive excerpt published by Apple News, McCain offers advice on healing the country's political divide before saying he can now speak his mind "without fearing consequences."
The Republican senator writes:
I’m freer than colleagues who will face the voters again. I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry. I don’t think I’m free to disregard my constituents’ wishes, far from it. I don’t feel excused from keeping pledges I made. Nor do I wish to harm my party’s prospects. But I do feel a pressing responsibility to give Americans my best judgment.
McCain, who once wrote our system of government was "designed for compromise," echoes that stance in the book.
"There is no other way to govern an open society, or more precisely, to govern it effectively," McCain writes. "Principled compromises aren't unicorns. They can be found when we put political advantage slightly second to the problem we’re trying to solve."
He also wonders when politics became a tool to judge someone.
"Republicans and Democrats can be good neighbors, loving parents, loyal Americans, decent human beings," he writes. "I don’t remember another time in my life when so many Americans considered someone’s partisan affiliation a test of whether that person was entitled to their respect."
McCain said his friendships across the aisle with senators like Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden made his "life richer" and made him a "better senator and better person."
Before he "leaves," McCain said he wants to see American politics "begin to return to the purposes and practices that distinguish our history from the history of other nations."
After over three decades spent in politics and the military before that, McCain said he has had no complaints. In the excerpt, he quotes who he refers to as his hero, Robert Jordan, saying "the world is a fine place and worth fighting for."
"I hate to leave it [the world]. But I don’t have a complaint. Not one. It’s been quite a ride. I’ve known great passions, seen amazing wonders, fought in a war, and helped make a peace," McCain writes.
"I made a small place for myself in the story of America and the history of my times."
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