Saint John's College - What's the Point of Entry for Teaching This?

The book is about the deliberations in this conservative government. The main character, an african american who's not able to go along with the administration that wants to go for this deal. That just says, if it were me, i would go. It's just, the country needs it, and patriotism ars. So what's the sort of point of entry for teaching this? What is the philosophical argument that we want to take out?