The Democrats bill themselves as the “pro-rights” party, and for the most part I agree. I’m in agreement with the Dems on most of the big civil rights issues, like abortion, gay marriage, freedom to practice (or not practice) the religion of your choice, flag burning (I think it’s disrespectful and idiotic, but I support your right to do it), and so on. But there are certain rights that the Dems seem dead set against, gun ownership being one of them, and it feels like the party is holding potential supporters like me at arms length (no pun intended).
Something that would make a big difference to me is consistency. Let’s see the party stop supporting people like California’s Diane Feinstein, who has a concealed-carry permit, carries a gun in her purse, and fights to take away other people’s right to do the same.
My understanding is that “Scots-Irish” is a fairly modern term (from the last couple of decades) to avoid offending the sensibilities of modern Scots who bristle at the term “Scotch” being used for people rather than for liquor or tape. This wasn’t necessarily true in the Scotland of years past, though; a couple of centuries ago it was common for Scots to refer to themselves as “Scotch,” as in Robert Burns poem “On A Scotch Bard, Gone To The West Indies.” Many Scots-Irish immigrants came here at a time when it was acceptable to refer to Scots as “Scotch,” and did so until recently.
The older term “Scotch-Irish” dates back to at least the American Revolution. There is some indication that the term fell into disuse and was then re-popularized during the Irish migration of the 1850s to distinguish the earlier Protestant immigrants from the Catholic newcomers. (The Scotch-Irish, A Social History, by James G. Leyburn, 1962, The univ. of North Carolina Press, p. 331.)
Frankly, I think “Ulster Protestants” is the most fitting term, since not all of the immigrants from Ulster were of Scottish descent. Quite a number of them were ultimately of English descent, particularly northern England.
And really, a lot of the “Scots-Irish” who settled the American southeast were really not Irish Protestants at all, but Irish Catholics, who, when they came to America, away from a strong Catholic church, just sort of adopted the religious practices of their Protestant neighbors.