SiteRing by Bravenet.com

Please support Soldiers' Angels and Project Valour-IT

« Wolves
Main
Combat Life Saver »

I followed a link from Kerry Haters and got an education/reminder about my roots. From "Secret GOP Weapon":

[...]

Why are the 30 million Scots-Irish, who may well be America's strongest cultural force, so invisible to America's intellectual elites? It is commonplace for commentators to lump together those who are descended from British roots into the WASP culture typified by New England Brahmins, or the Irish, who are overwhelmingly Catholic. But it is political nonsense to consider the Scots-Irish as part of either.

The Scots-Irish are derived from a mass migration from Northern Ireland in the 1700s, when the Calvinist "Ulster Scots" decided they'd had enough of fighting Anglican England's battles against Irish Catholics. One group settled initially in New Hampshire, spilling over into modern-day Vermont and Maine. The overwhelming majority--95%--migrated to the Appalachians in a series of frontier communities that stretched from Pennsylvania to northern Alabama and Georgia. They eventually became the dominant culture of the South and much of the Midwest.

True American-style democracy had its origins in this culture. Its values emanated from the Scottish Kirk, which had thrown out the top-down hierarchy of the Catholic Church and replaced it with governing councils made up of ordinary citizens. This mix of fundamentalist religion and social populism grew from a people who for 16 centuries had been tested through constant rebellions against centralized authority. The Scots who headed into the feuds of 17th-century Ulster, and then into the backlands of the American frontier, hardened further into a radicalism that proclaimed that no man had a duty to obey a government if its edicts violated his moral conscience.

[...]

... Large numbers of Scots-Irish settled in the southern regions of Ohio (called "northern Kentucky"), Indiana and Illinois. ...

[...]

I'm Irish, and proud of it.  I'm also English, German, Native American, possibly Spanish by way of Ireland, and possibly black African, but emotionally I'm Appalachian Scots-Irish to the core. My ancestors migrated through West Virginia and Kentucky, arriving in Southern Illinois in the late 1800's. Family tradition has it that several generations back, in a fine display of Irish temper, one of my ancestors became angry with his parents and changed his name from "O'Faith" to just "Faith." Not that I've ever seen any sign of a temper in the Illinois branch of the clan. Nah. I know I didn't get my temper from Daddy 'cause he still had his till the day he died. Surely he couldn't have inherited a temper from Grandpa, who once cold-cocked a mule for trying to kick Aunt Pug. Nah. ... Let's just not go there, OK?

James Webb, whose OpinionJournal article I linked earlier, calls the Scots-Irish a secret GOP weapon. We have been and continue to be more than that. The same values that he describes as "Republican" values, honor, courage, loyalty, have been a major factor in making this nation great. New England Brahmin John Kerry and his Liberal cohorts are ready to toss those values to the wind. Why should Americans think for themselves when we need only ask the French what our opinions should be? We've had over 200 years of independence and liberty. Isn't that enough? Isn't it time to just accept reality and turn matters over to the U.N. now? Is that what you want? It is? Then by all means vote for the stupid son of a bitch, but don't expect me to.

Posted by Bill Faith on October 23, 2004 at 11:44 PM | Permalink

TrackBack

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference America's Secret Weapon: The Scots-Irish:

Comments

Note: I hate to have to do it but I'm turning on comment and trackback moderation. If you post a legitimate trackback or comment I'll do my best not to be too slow about approving it. If the only reason you're here is to advertise your porn, music, or penis enhancement site you can kiss my sweet ass.

---

Posted by: Alli | Oct 29, 2004 1:02:56 PM

Posted by: Robert McQuaid | May 9, 2008 12:34:19 PM

Post a comment