St. Patrick’s Day – Huntsville
From Real Clear Politics, Those Fighting Scots-Irish:
…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…
“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…
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.
Back on topic, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade begins Tuesday starting at 11:30AM downtown. Tuesday night provides a variety of fun activities, from The Nook offering Rogue Kells Irish Lager, bangers and mash to the Huntsville Young Professionals partying downtown, to of course – Finnegan’s – the pub that started it all…
We make out of the quarrel with others, rhetoric, but of the quarrel with ourselves, poetry. – William Butler Yeats
