The tea party message appeals to me, in part, because of my cultural heritage and beliefs. I am, of Scots-Irish heritage on my father's side. In “Born Fighting” by James Webb, he talks about Jacksonian cultural definitions of personal honor, equality and individualism identified with this heritage. Gun rights, Calvanism (guns and Bibles) and standing up and fighting for what you believe in are part in parcel of my culture and of many Americans. Webb points to the strong populist influence of the Scots-Irish as contributing to historic American elements of “values-based combativeness, an insistent egalitarianism, and a refusal to be dominated from above no matter the cost.” This is not unusual as many of the Scots-Irish came to America in search of freedom from an oppressive English tenant farm system or factory mill towns in Ireland.
The Scots-Irish were participants in the frontier expansion westward and contributed many politicians and generals to American history.
I also had an ancestor - Samuel Adams, who was of English heritage. He dressed like an Indian one night and poured tea into a harbor to protest oppressive taxation without representation way way back in our country's early history. I don't appreciate the disrespect, ridicule and hatred that certain liberals are heaping on the traditions, culture and beliefs that I hold dear. These beliefs helped shape the robust foundation of the United States and contribute to why it is unique among all countries in the way it protects individual freedom from the tyranny of the majority, freedom of conscience and speech and the equality of treatment under the law.
I really get frustrated when a liberal political majority begins to dismantle the very societal and economic institutions that safeguarded a free people as envisioned by my ancestors. Apparently, the black lady who attended the rallies with me shares many of the same values, traits and beliefs. Perhaps a cultural memory of a yearning for precious freedom is what we have in common.
Great stock there you come from. Great lineage.