The old “folkways” thesis of Albion’s Seed is dated, but the cultural DNA of America’s founding tribes still lingers—mutated, repurposed under modernity, and giving birth to something new. Here’s my breakdown of the folkways of the American Empire... The Southeast (Deep South & parts of Appalachia): Neo-Feudal Hierarchy

Ancestral Theology: High Church Anglicanism with Cavalier Honor Culture (later filtered through Southern Baptist moral absolutism)

Social tendency: Stratified traditionalism; honor-based paternalism; a deep memory of aristocracy—even if now it’s filtered through populist strongmen or evangelical elders.

Rooted in: Plantation culture, Scots-Irish clan loyalties, agrarianism, and a lost-cause romanticism.

Modern face: Boss politics, dynastic families, rural patronage systems, a love for the big man (Huey Long, Wallace, Trump).

Vice: Cronyism, stagnation, fatalism.

Virtue: Loyalty, rootedness, a sacramental view of land and kin.

It is quite obvious that there’s not much that can be done about declining TFR, not by us at least. Governments and organizations have implemented pronatalist policies throughout history, trying to raise TFR, most of which have failed.

https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1914665303285309658

In 1967 the Communist Party in Romania decided that the country's population should be increased from 20 million to 30 million inhabitants. Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime implemented aggressive pronatalist policies, including banning abortion and contraception and imposing taxes on childless individuals. Although these measures initially led to a spike in birth rates, they failed to sustain a significant increase in Romania's TFR.

1/ No leader made a greater effort to combat population decline than Augustus during his reign the Roman world faced the foreboding question posed by Emperor Heliogabalus: "Can anything be better for a man than to be heir to himself?" 2/ As the Republic gave way to the Empire Romans concluded that nothing could surpass spending their inheritance on themselves.

Augustus enacted the Lex Julia to combat declining marriage and birth rates in Rome, but his failures emphasized the futility of state intervention in increasing marriage and birth rates.

"Moreover, on the approach of battle, they fortify themselves with faith within, and with steel without, and not with gold, so that, armed and not adorned, they may strike terror into the enemy, rather than awaken his lust of plunder. They strive earnestly to possess strong and swift horses, but not garnished with ornaments or decked with trappings, thinking of battle and of victory, and not of pomp and show, and studying to inspire fear rather than admiration

"Such hath God chosen for his own, and hath collected together as his ministers from the ends of the earth, from among the bravest of Israel, who indeed vigilantly and faithfully guard the holy sepulcher, all armed with the sword, and most learned in the art of war. . ."

- The Rule of the Templars (Regula Pauperum Commilitonum Christi Templique Salomonici) As often as thou who wagest a secular warfare marchest forth to battle, it is greatly to be feared lest when thou slayest thine enemy in the body, he should destroy thee in the spirit, or lest peradventure thou shouldst be at once slain by him both in body and soul. From the disposition of the heart, indeed, not by the event of the fight, is to be estimated either the jeopardy or the victory of the Christian. If, fighting with the desire of killing another, thou shouldest chance to get killed thyself, thou diest a man-slayer; if, on the other hand, thou prevailest, and through a desire of conquest or revenge killest a man, thou livest a man-slayer. . . . O unfortunate victory, when in overcoming thine adversary thou fallest into sin, and anger or pride having the mastery over thee, in vain thou gloriest over the vanquished . . .

"What, therefore, is the fruit of this secular, I will not say 'militia,' but 'malitia,' if the slayer committeth a deadly sin, and the slain perisheth eternally? Verily, to use the words of the apostle, he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that thresheth should be partaker of his hope. Whence, therefore, O soldiers, cometh this so stupendous error? What insufferable madness is this--to wage war with so great cost and labour, but with no pay except either death or crime? Ye cover your horses with silken trappings, and I know not how much fine cloth hangs pendent from your coats of mail. Ye paint your spears, shields, and saddles; your bridles and spurs are adorned on all sides with gold, and silver, and gems, and with all this pomp, with a shameful fury and a reckless insensibility, ye rush on to death. Are these military ensigns, or are they not rather the garnishments of women? Can it happen that the sharp-pointed sword of the enemy will respect gold, will it spare gems, will it be unable to penetrate the silken garment? Lastly, as ye yourselves have often experienced, three things are indispensably necessary to the success of the soldier; he must, for example, be bold, active, and

This is the true America. Nearly everything considered American came from the South; the music, the food, the literature, the martial tradition.

Everything else is an add on or an after thought. My ancestors on both sides have been here since before the French and Indian War. My 15th maternally GG was hung at Bacons Rebellion

How much of our world is a "Non-place?"

French anthropologist Marc Augé, created the concept of "Non-places," in 1995. They are spaces we pass through that lack identity, history, or personal connection. They are the opposite of meaningful "places" like home or a small rural town.
1/ Today we are surrounded by non-places —airports, highways, hotel rooms, supermarkets, even churches have become non-spaces. These are functional places, designed for transit or consumption, places that do not encourage community or lasting memories.
2/

That time John Wayne kidnapped KGB agents and staged a mock execution to teach them a lesson

🧵 1/ According to the book “John Wayne – The Man Behind The Myth,” Soviet filmmaker Sergei Gerasimov revealed a shocking KGB plot to John Wayne in 1949. What followed is better than most Hollywood scripts.