Braveheart
By: demnan
Published On: 9/7/2006 8:50:18 AM
I'm reading Jim Webb's book, "Born Fighting". The book details the history of Scottish people and their influence on the United States. I'm early on in the book so I happen to be reading about William Wallace, the medieval Scottish hero who rose out of the common ranks of the people to lead a revolution against the English monarch. He died in the struggle, but his heroism prodded the reluctant nobleman Robert the Bruce to take up the struggle and is the reason why Scotland remained an independent country and was not swallowed up as a far province of Northern England. This was one of Mel Gibson's better movies, before Gibson became overly obsessed with the blood of Christ.
The lesson taught by history and emphasized by Webb is that Wallace was the first leader who came totally out of the ranks of the regular people. Scottish society was loosely founded on clan relationships, very unlike the Norman feudalistic society of England at that time. The rigid class structure of England, which still to some extent exists today, was not a part of Scottish, or later American society. Webb constantly alludes to Andrew Jackson, the first Democrat, when discussing this trend. This culture was very deeply rooted in the people who settled the Appalachian mountains.
I spent my first year of college down at Clinch Valley College in Wise, Virginia. I'm glad we finally have a candidate from the "Dog Leg" of the state, and I'm not surprised he's a scholar, as I met many down there, a lot of artists too. The area abounds in story tellers, historians, musicians and actors. The area has a lot of problems, with the terrible strip-mining and poverty, but I rarely ran into anyone who wasn't schooled in a sense of who they were, and where they wanted to go.
Wallace was told he didn't have a chance, but he captured the hearts of the people, and when you do that it happens so fast the pollsters and pundits don't see it. I feel like I'm riding on a train that will continue to pick up passengers along the way. Webb picks his heroes well. His study into the deeper meaning of things sets him apart. He knows where he's going and where he comes from. He has a deep self confidence that is evident in his manner. The people are catching on too. I sense it in the phone canvassing I'm doing. There's a popular response to Webb in Virginia. People say things like, "he's got my vote," and "you all picked a winner this time." It is this deep knowledge of where he's come from, a sense of his roots, that will help him win this election.
Comments
Outstanding comment! (RayH - 9/7/2006 12:00:03 PM)
correction (demnan - 9/7/2006 4:35:57 PM)
Robert the Bruce, not William the Bruce