A new blog for the American people and culture

Stephen Hopewell, a long-time VFR reader and commenter under another name, has recently started a blog, The Heritage American. In a July 17 article, he discusses the meaning of David Crockett and the Davy Crockett Craze, which extended well past its heyday in the 1950s, since, as Hopewell remembers, he himself was watching the Davy Crockett movie on TV and wearing a coonskin cap in the early 1970s. He recommends Crockett’s little-known autobiography, A Narrative of the Life of Col. David Crockett, Written by Himself, and considers the tragic, inescapable ambiguities of the Indian fighting that was Crockett’s main claim to fame:

The frontiersman was history’s agent for wresting land from the American Indian. How often—and how well—did he play his bitter role! Pursued by civilization which crowded him too closely behind, he arrived inevitably at the “final” boundary set by the latest Indian treaty. In front of him lay the rich wilderness and the trail of the retreating game upon which his very life depended. Pushed from behind, pulled from in front, he moved on inexorably into Indian territory.

Hopewell’s follow-up article on Davy Crockett begins:

I wrote last week that even for those who reject political correctness, it may be difficult to love David Crockett as he was loved in the past. Having worked through a biography of Crockett since then, I no longer feel any need to distance myself from him. That such a man lived, and died, as he did in the early years of our nation is a wonder to be cherished.

In the inaugural article at The Heritage American, posted May 4, Hopewell explains his purpose:

This weblog has been created in response to the terrible crisis faced by the American people and by the West as a whole. Its author is an ordinary citizen of the state of Michigan, whose own field of expertise cannot be applied in any obvious way to the struggle to save our nation. In a better world there would be plenty of talented politicians and statesmen fighting for our cause, and I might be content to send checks, stuff envelopes, and hold meetings in their support.

Sadly, with a handful of exceptions, there are no such men and women in our public life. Our movement as yet is manifested mainly on the Internet, invisible to the larger society. To post messages on little-known forums, often under a pseudonym, is unsatisfying to one who feels a moral call to sacrifice his own comfort for the good of his country. And yet, with no publicly recognized base to work from, and the prospect of ostracism and worse in the workplace if one challenges the “politically correct” orthodoxy, for many of us it is still too early to take a stance of open confrontation. Instead, anticipating a long struggle, perhaps for many generations, we need to study the past and present, gather our weapons, and plan for the future. It is a daunting task, but we have no choice. May we find strength in our fellowship as our numbers grow, and may we find joy in engaging with the truth and fighting for the good!

With this blog, I hope to engage with and contribute to the existing discourse on Western traditionalist conservatism and American nationhood. The basic format will be a weekly entry, posted on Fridays. Barring unforeseeable difficulties I plan to maintain this schedule for at least one year.

Every writer and blog takes a particular perspective. This blog will focus on traditional American culture—specifically, on the task of reviving and reconstructing an actual, living American culture which expresses the particular, historic traditions of our society and orients us toward the transcendent truths—towards the true, the good, the right, the beautiful. While using the blog to discuss how to do this, I also hope to draw like-minded readers, especially in the state of Michigan, who are interested in meeting in person to begin the rudimentary work of forming a living, alternative community of American traditionalists. It may be early yet, but I believe that if even “two or three are gathered” who truly love their country and people, we may awaken powers that none of us have access to as individuals. I therefore request any readers in Michigan (or able to travel here) who agree with the organizational principles of this site to email me at the address indicated at the top of this site.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 27, 2008 07:35 PM | Send