I am very proud to be a native Texan and appreciate too the ties between Texas and Ireland that go back to the colonial days of Spain and Mexico when the colony of San Patricio was established for the Irish who came to Texas. Irishmen have long played a part in the history of this area, in fact the last Spanish Viceroy over this area was an Irishman and all proud Texans remember the rather unorthodox Irish priest, Father Muldoon, who became a hero in the War for Texas Independence and the many Irishmen who fought in that war. In fact, of all the martyrs of Texas liberty who died defending the Alamo who were born overseas, none were more numerous than the Irish.
When it comes to Ireland, I am sure to ruffle feathers on every side. I support a free, united and Catholic Ireland and, as far as I am concerned, anything else is allowing foreign invaders (British or otherwise) to change what Ireland essentially was for centuries before all of the trouble started. I am not an Anglophobe, in fact there is alot I admire about England and Great Britain, but the policy in Ireland is not one of those areas, especially after the coming of Protestantism, the plantations and the defeat of the Jacobites at the Boyne. I disagree with many of the liberal politics in Ireland, including the increase in immigration of totally non-Irish peoples, the decline of Catholicism in urban areas and the support for the European Union; all of which seems absurd to me. When Ireland has had to struggle so hard to preserve her own culture from foreign domination, why invite in more of the same? After so many centuries of holding on to the Church in the face of Protestant oppression, why let it go when safety (in the south anyway) has finally been won? And why would Ireland, after fighting so long to be free of rule from London, accept so willingly rule from Brussells? It makes no sense to me.
But, the nonsense of today aside, it is history that is my favorite subject and the nonsense of the past is always alot safer though often just as controversial. I look at history as I do all things and that is from the perspective of a conservative Catholic. This means my heroes in Irish history are men like Brian Boru, Red Hugh, Patrick Sarsfield, Father Murphy, Dan O'Connell rather than those like Tone, Emmet and others who are a little too Protestant for me and a little too fond of foreign political theories that are quite different from the ways of the old, free Ireland; yet each had their part to play and all made some contribution to the cause of Irish freedom.
