It's a group that constitutes the hardy core of the American folk, and it was introduced by the novelist and ex-Marine James Webb in these terms: "This people gave our country great things, including its most definitive culture. It is imbued with a unique and unforgiving code of personal honour less ritualised but every bit as powerful as the samurai code. At that point, I thought he was describing flyover country. The folks who love country and family, work hard, and try to live good and decent lives. A lot of immigrant groups fall into that category. Mine included. And not one word of it is a bad thing.