I do like to keep up to date. So here is a link to a 2009 blog post about the US Republican Party. George Djgovsiki Dvosrgksji Djorgiojski me old mate George from Caltech just posted a link to this on Facebook. It’s based on a book called Albion’s Seed which I have been fond of since ex-SLAC chum Jack Singal bought me a copy as a present. I wrote a connected blog post about Puritan Sex back here.
Short version. Appalachian/backwoods/redneck culture comes from the borders of Scotland and England. This was a war-torn lawless region that bred a culture that had no trust in authority and believed only in family and clan. Fiercely stubborn and violent. The traditional aristocratic slave-owning south on the other hand sprang from a Cavalier culture from Southern England. These two cultures – borderers and cavaliers – have traditionally made up the Republican party, with the aristos keeping the rednecks in check. What has happened over the last decade is that the rednecks have taken over, and are now holding America hostage at the same time as they are a diminishing part of American culture.
Pretty convinced myself, and its a strangely optimistic vision. This is not a crisis of American political culture. Its a crisis of conservatism. It cannot persist. It will implode. It just needs a few old-fashioned Republicans to start rebelling.
I just hope it happens before the Capitalist World System collapses.
Or do I?