U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, recently addressed the United States Naval Academy’s Brigade of Midshipmen, where he warned the group that America is “ignoring its moral and historical knowledge.”

McCain spoke about lessons he learned while at the Naval Academy and issued a call for Americans to “wake up” to what is going on around the world and in our country.

“All the while the associations, rules, values and aspirations that comprise the international order we have superintended for three-quarters of a century are under gathering attack from regimes that desire a world less just and less free and more corrupt,” McCain said in his address. “It’s time to wake up. I believe in Americans. We’re capable of better. I’ve seen it. We’re hopeful, compassionate people. And we still have leaders who will uphold the values that made America great, and a beacon to the oppressed.”

McCain told the audience America has to fight against propaganda and crackpot conspiracy theories.

“We have to fight isolationism, protectionism and nativism," he said. "We have to defeat those who would worsen our divisions. We have to remind our sons and daughters that we became the most powerful nation on earth by tearing down walls, not building them.”