The Drumlin Woodchuck of the GOP

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YAHOO! | Jon C. Hopwood | December 18, 2011

Ron Paul, the Drumlin Woodchuck of the Republican Party, spoke at the Opera House in Derry, N.H., on Dec. 15, not far from the Robert Frost farmstead. He sounded his themes of maximizing personal liberty and limiting America's foreign military adventures.

Like Frost's drumlin woodchuck, Paul's world is one of small people who know their place in the broad scheme of the universe, people who are wary, but secure, having built themselves a solid redoubt. They are on the defense against encroachments from the outside.

Libertarian - The massive victory of the New Hampshire Republican Party in the November 2010 election was spurred on by the Granite State's tea party, which had a strong libertarian bent. The libertarian Paul has a great deal of appeal to New Hampshirites, with their streak of flinty self-sufficiency.

The drumlin woodchuck Ron Paul's anti-military stance puts him at odds with most of the other major Republican presidential candidates. He is solitary, but when under attack, he does not back down. His fortress is his core belief in human liberty, which engenders his strength.

The Drumlin Woodchuck - The Opera House is located about five minutes from the Robert Frost farm. Frost, the first poet to read at a presidential inauguration when he attended the swearing-in of fellow New Englander John Kennedy, is one of the Granite State's most famous sons.


Though born in San Francisco, Frost -- the son of a son of Maine (known affectionately her as "Maineiacs") -- returned to New England as a lad after his father's death and became a Yankee, through and through. Frost and his family lived in Derry from 1900 to 1911.

His poem "The Drumlin Woodchuck," published in 1936, is one of his classic works.
A "drumlin woodchuck" is a groundhog that has dug its burrow into a drumlin, a small ridge left behind by retreating glaciers. The creature has created an excellent defensive formation, in which it can view the world while simultaneously being in a position to warn others of danger before retreating from a threat.

Figuratively, a drumlin woodchuck represents the emotional reticence of Frost. It is a trait that characterizes many New Hampshirites.

Defensible - The drumlin woodchuck of Frost knows its place in the universe. Though boastful, it knows it is small when compared to the All, but takes pride in the fact that it has designed a defensible position where he and his loved ones can survive and flourish.

Ron Paul, criticized for having views as old as the Ice Age that created the woodchuck's drumlin, calls for Americans to realize their true nature and pull back into a defensible position in which we can survive and thrive.

The drumlin woodchuck Ron Paul has great appeal here. Rasmussen Reports' December 12 poll put Paul in third place, at 18 percent, four points below Newt Gingrich. (Mitt Romney led with 33 percent.)

It is a case of the flinty recognizing one of their own.

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