I am descendant of Scotch-Irish cattle drivers, a Texas Aggie that went to Ivy League grad school, and I know history, so I am beginning to dig into the life and perspective of JD Vance. I have not read his book yet, but intend to.
There is a common refrain throughout history whereby some individuals seek to gain self-esteem by lording it over others because they think themselves smarter, more sophisticated, or otherwise superior to others.
One of the dimensions the social divide takes place in is between urban “sophisticates” and rural “hicks.” It takes place between New York / Massachusetts, etc. and Texas. It takes place between D.C. and the rest of the country.
The snobbery takes place between progressives and liberty lovers. It takes place between the media and conservatives. It takes place between the young and older generations. And all of that is exploited for sales in marketing campaigns and by the entertainment industry.
Even the term Whigs and Tories in the founding days of the Republic show this divide. Whigs were what the founding fathers who fought the American Revolution considered themselves to be. About a century before the American Revolution, the liberty activists in London called themselves the Green Ribbon Club. Algernon Sidney, John Locke and his patron, Anthony Ashley Cooper (the First Earl of Shaftesbury) were part of the Green Ribbon Club, so named in the Interregnum because those who fought for liberty and to get rid of Charles I and then Cromwell, wore green ribbons on their arms to show their devotion to liberty.
The enemies of the liberty champions were devotees and sycophants to the King. Those who got access to the King, of course, were sophisticated and in the know. They, of course, were superior to and deserving of ruling over other men. It was the King’s men, the Tories, who came up with a pejorative nickname for the liberty-loving Green Ribbon Club.
The name was whigamore. A whigamore was a Scottish cattle driver. In other words to the anointed King’s sophisticates, liberty devotees were hicks, rubes, unsophisticates, Aggies, deplorables, and bitter clingers.
In this October 2016 video interview of JD Vance after the release of his book, he talks about the reaction of “his people,” the Scotch Irish to the elites and their love of Trump.
I, like an increasing numbers of Americans whether Scotch-Irish or not, understand that the globalists and west and east coast elites are trying to undermine the fundamental American idea that the people rule here. That idea is expressed in the Texas Bill of Rights, Art. 1, Sec. 2:
“All political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their benefit.”
The 2024 general election at all levels is about whether the elites will continue their counter-revolution of control of America and Texas, or whether we start heading back to our founding principles of citizen-directed government. It was also why I ran for the Texas House, because I see the elites controlling that institution and the current occupant of my district’s seat. I am also optimistic about the prospects of wresting control of the Texas House away from the elites in January.
Like JD Vance (and maybe even more so), I am driven to put the people back in charge and take it from the elites who would rule us. Like JD Vance, I have seen the elites up front and personal in an Ivy League graduate school. I know that I was not recruited into the elite’s ranks by that experience. And I hope JD Vance is like me in that he is committed to the fundamental American idea that We the People are capable of running our own lives, and that of our government.