Shut yer pie-holes ya nose-wipin' hair-combers!
Posted on 03/02/2008 10:05:14 AM PST by Kaslin
What do Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Barack Obama have in common, besides wanting to be the next commander in chief?
They are all of Scots-Irish descent, an ethnic and cultural lineage that has produced more presidents and military leaders than any other.
“Fascinating, but not surprising,” says U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. The former naval secretary and decorated Marine should know: He catalogued the migration and cultural influence of the Scots-Irish in America in his book “Born Fighting.”
They have “always had the tradition of being in leadership positions, whether it is the military or in politics,” Webb says. In fact, 17 of America’s 43 presidents are confirmed Scots-Irish.
They also comprise the largest swing-voting bloc in the country; you cannot win a presidential election without them. In a 2004 newspaper column, Webb suggested that by ignoring Scots-Irish voters in places such as West Virginia and Tennessee, Al Gore probably lost the 2000 presidential election.
“Senator Webb, a heroic, literary figure himself, is correct,” says GOP political strategist John Weaver, who never ignores the Scots-Irish voter.
Weaver is a rarity, however; a call to more than a half-dozen academic political specialists and pollsters found none who recognized the Scots-Irish impact on elections.
That lack of knowledge is a social and political curiosity. How can there be such scant understanding of a 30 million-strong ethnic group that has produced so many leaders and swung most elections?
Perhaps because political academics and pollsters parse the Scottish half off with the WASP vote and define the Irish-Catholic half as blue-collar Democrats. They are neither.
So, who are these mystery leaders and influential voters?
Dr. Joyce Alexander, secretary of the national Scotch-Irish Society in Philadelphia, traces their roots to a mass migration from northern Ireland in the 1700s.
The “Ulster Scots,” who had been tossed to Ireland two centuries earlier, grew tired of fighting England’s battle against Irish Catholics, so they left. A group of their clans settled in New Hampshire, then spread to Maine and Vermont.
“Eventually, most of them settled south of New England,” Alexander explains, “from the center and bottom of Pennsylvania down to the tips of Alabama and Georgia,” a region better known as Appalachia.
In time, they became the dominant culture for most of the Midwest and the South.
Much of our democracy’s values emanates from the Scottish Kirk, a philosophy that embraced a bottom-up populist form of governing made up of councils of peer groups.
“Scots-Irish never accept the fact that their leaders are superior to them in any way, in terms of their human qualities,” Webb says. Instead, they measure their leaders by their own code of honor, loyalty and sometimes in-your-face leadership.
The states with the largest populations of Scots-Irish -- Alabama, Arkansas, both Carolinas, parts of California, Colorado, northern Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, northern Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, southern Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia -- are a veritable list of what a candidate must carry in order to become president.
They also are the bulk of “red states” that Democrat Obama (Scots-Irish on his mother’s side) has carried in primaries and caucuses.
In modern politics, Republicans have done a better job of courting the Scots-Irish. With their traditional family ties, individualism, proud military service and disdain for too much government, the Scots-Irish have swung right ever since the civil-rights era.
Democrats began losing the Scots-Irish vote when they shifted to courting the black vote. That shift ended the Democrats’ hold on the South, where many Scots-Irish lived.
As a voting bloc, the Scots-Irish respond passionately to five things: the right to bear arms, the preservation of family, a love of country, a respect for life and success in war.
As leaders, they often deliver a populist message with a take-no-prisoners swagger. The best examples in presidential history are Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
According to Webb, America’s “populist notion of a culture that demands strong leaders makes it a natural breeding ground” for leaders in the Scots-Irish tradition.
So it makes sense to him that all four of today’s candidates descend from “Born Fighting” clans.
Webb, a one-time Republican who switched sides in 2006 to run for the Senate, is on just about everyone’s shortlist for vice president.
And, yes, he too is Scots-Irish
Neandertals in our midst?
Oh gawd. Jim "Born Idiot" Webb is a moron.
}:-)4
What percentage of Scot-Irish even know their ancestry? How many even identify with being Scot-Irish? It’s pretty strange to identify trends with a group where most members don’t even know they are part of the group.
“As a voting bloc, the Scots-Irish respond passionately to five things: the right to bear arms, the preservation of family, a love of country, a respect for life and success in war.”
Airborne to that good buddy.
Not a moron, but definitely troubled. He is, however, Obama’s perfect antidote to McCain. A true warrior who hated, and perhaps still hates, the Clintons. Like McCain he has a son serving in Iraq, and he served in Reagan’s cabinet. Of interest would be a clash of two of the main characters in Robert Timberg’s masterful “The Nigthingale’s Song”, Webb and McCain.
Shut yer pie-holes ya nose-wipin' hair-combers!
A problem with ethnic politics is that you don't get to choose who to claim.
Oh great, can you imagine the flurry of bets in Las Vegas trying to decide whether McCain or Webb explodes first?
The man is a powder keg. He will explode. It's just a matter of time.
My mother was Scots-Irish, and put more emphasis on being American than her heritage.
I remember fondly her lack of affection for "professional Harps" for instance....
Apparently, "just about everyone" has no clue about what's in his closet.
>“Senator Webb, a heroic, literary figure himself, is correct,” says GOP political strategist John Weaver<
I am at a loss for words.
(and quite thankful that my heritage is Scots/Welsh, so I’m less related to Born Idjit)
Webb is a great vp choice for Obama. Navy Cross winner. Gun toting, fighting Marine. Scots Irish are not only an important part of our military tradition but musically as well. Bill Monroe is just one of hundreds. If Obama chooses Webb, Landslide win.
Seek. Professional. Help.
I read once that over 50% of Medal of Honor recipients have Irish surnames.
I have ocassionally made fun of Barak Obama’s name by noting that it could be spelled “Barach O’bama”. (I know, it is verboten to make fun of his name).
But this is madness! He’s of Scotch-Irish heritage??? Truly, Barach is all things to all people ?!?!?!?
Bump for later indigestion
The Scots are fighters, true, they are also extreme traditionalists. Defining conservative as resistant to change, one could say the Scots are VERY conservative.
Take their bagpipes and kilts for example. Such things hark back to the most ancient of times, back when nobody wore pants, the men wore something similar to the kilts (check out the kilts the Sumerian men wore) the Scots still wear. They STILL wear these things after thousands of years.
As to their bagpipes, good grief, such racket has to come from almost prehistoric times.
If, as this article indicates, the Scots have had great influence here in America, no wonder, then, that America has managed - at least so far - to remain the most conservative nation.
As a voting bloc, the Scots-Irish respond passionately to five things: the right to bear arms, the preservation of family, a love of country, a respect for life and success in war.
I agree with the assessment - as would my McIntyre, McEwen and Scott ancestors. As all points are opposed by Democrats, why would any of the Scots-Irish vote Democrat?
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