Jim Webb is running for the Senate and I'm supporting him.
He first came to my attention in an excellent book on Iran-Contra called The Nightingale's Song by Baltimore Sun reporter Robert Timberg. Timberg wondered why the sub rosa missiles-for-cash to the Nicaraguan Contras program, supported by the Reagan Administration, but highly illegal, was almost entirely run by U.S. Naval Academy graduates. U.S. Marine Col. Oliver North, Adm. John Poindexter, Bud McFarlane, Jim Webb, and John McCain were profiled. Jim Webb is an Academy alum who'd fought in Vietnam, was severely wounded, attended Georgetown Law, and was later appointed as Secretary of the Navy under Pres. Ronald Reagan.
Timberg's story is based on showing how the scandal was the product of Academy indoctrination, in which midshipmen are taught to read what their superiors really mean and want when they issue orders, or fail to be explicit but are accommodated anyway. Danger lurks in sticking too strictly to the letter, or ignoring legal constraints, when trying to support the spirit of what is desired by one's superior officer. Shakespeare dramatized this issue when his Henry II asks, "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?" resulting in the murder of Thomas a Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the cathedral by the king's loyal courtiers. I'm indebted to Ed Still for straightening me out, below.
A later Henry, the Eighth, not incidentally, breaks with Rome and establishes his Church of Engand, producing war between Catholic and Protestant which shifts back and forth over the next century, producing our colonies.
"The past isn't dead; it isn't even past," as a wise man once said. His name, and this quote, is in the upper left margin.
Webb seemed an interesting man, so when his latest book, "Born Fighting" came out, I read it. It's the story of the Scotch-Irish. Today the terms Irish, or Irish-American, generally refer to people from the Emerald Isle, Eire, meaning the Catholics of Ireland or Irish descent known for the St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 17th and Notre Dame, not necessarily in that order. But Scotch-Irish refers to the immigrants from Scotland and Northern Ireland, or Ulster, who settled inland, or to the west, of the thirteen colonies.
As you know, England had experienced a religious civil war, beheading Charles I in 1649 and replacing the House of Stuart with a protestant from the Netherlands, William, the hated King Billy. In the interim, under the Commonwealth headed by Oliver Cromwell, the Protector, England ravaged Catholic Ireland, sending in English settlers to establish the Protestant Ascendancy, the Protestant domination of Catholic Ireland. The Troubles continue through next decade.
England also sought to impose its religious will on Scotland, resulting in the Bishop's War, or wars, since there were two, or two stages, which eventually result in the English Civil War. These upheavals produced migratory departures, from the Puritans and Pilgrims of our Thanksgiving fame (English), to some Protestants of Scotland and Ireland.
Webb tells this story. See also How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman (Three Rivers Press, N.Y., 2001).
In telling the story of his people, Webb also weaves in his own autobiography, and that of his father, who was a U.S. airman, an officer stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base at Lompoc, California, the launch site for our missiles and satellites during the Cold War.
I thought it an excellent review of a people and a set of attitudes that seems to set them apart. "Born Fighting" refers to an attitude that demands not only self-respect, but respect from others. The fighting part refers to what happens when disrespect is improvidently shown.
The Scotch-Irish include not only Washington and Jefferson, but Daniel Boone and Kit Carson, smart, tough people who lead and aren't going to be pushed around. Pres. Andrew Jackson, the first president from "the West," as it was called, was another. Hard-minded and sometimes humane, but always rough and ready, the Scotch-Irish were a people to be reckoned with. They become a large part of the founding stock of America. When Pres. Bush acts the tough guy and swaggers, he's more likely borrowing from the Scotch Irish store of values than the Puritan, although there is that streak of trying to save the world for democracy by sending missionaries to Baghdad, in armor, isn't there.
I did a brief review of Webb's book and posted it to the Conlawprof's list in which I participate, and also wrote to the author. He was kind enough to write back. Now he has thrown his hat into the ring in Virginia, his home state for many years for the position of junior U.S. senator. John Warner is the senior senator for Virginia and a ranking member of the Armed Forces Committee, a very big dog indeed. Webb is tackling Sen. George "Macaca" Allen, a strong supporter of Pres. Bush. Webb has switched parties in recent years. Apparently his former Republicans have lurched the country onto a path not recognized as right or legitimate by Webb, and a lot of other formerly faithful GOP regulars.
Below is an item from Webb's campaign:
