The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Nineteen

From the time of its founding in the 1850s, the Republican Party and Southerners were not made for one another, as the Republican Party was founded as an anti slavery party, a principle that automatically put that political entity on the opposite side of the South. The feeling of opposition, and outright hatred, toward the Republican Party in the South was so intense, that when the nation's first Republican president was elected in 1860, southern states began to secede from the United States and to join in a new national organization, the Confederate States of America. There was only one thing. The newly elected Republican president said a state could not secede from the United States and he was willing to use military force to prove it. And that's what happened, and hundreds of thousands died during the war. For a hundred years after the war, Southerners remained staunch Democrats, mainly for one reason, the Democratic Party was the opposition party to the Republicans. This commitment to the Democrats was challenged at times, especially like with Al Smith's Roman Catholicism during the 1928 election, as a strong fundamentalist Protestantism ran through much, but certainly not all, of Southern society, and Republican Herbert Hoover won some states of the "old Confederacy" (Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Texas). The Great Depression and the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt patched up many cracks in the cement between Southerners and the Democratic Party, even though Roosevelt was a Northerner. Hoover's and some Republican's stubborn failure to embrace direct aid to millions of destitute Americans, but their just as stubborn desire to help business people, reinforced the already pro-business image of the GOP left by the Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge presidencies between 1921 and 1929. The image of Republicans as favoring the wealthy over the rest of Americans and of supporting "trickle down economics" * has remained stamped on their party right up until this day. Democratic stumbles and the move by Democrats to firmly become the party of progressive policies has made fear of change a target for Republicans to scare Americans into voting for them, in spite of their finger being on the scale for wealthy interests. When I was younger, if someone mentioned Republicans, there was a good chance you'd hear others immediately say how Republicans were for the rich. Economics can be seen and felt directly by people, and economic events can change people's opinions on economic policies. The Great Depression convinced many people that government was necessary to help regulate some aspects of business and to provide help in economic downturns, something that had been barely tried prior to that time (minimally by the Harding administration in the early 1920s). Franklin Roosevelt and Democrats were seen by many Americans to be the party that was for the average person. This feeling often overcame differences people may have had with some Democrats over many social and regulatory issues, but the moves by many Democrats to speak out for equal rights for black Americans began to split off Southern votes from Democratic presidential candidates, later followed by votes for governors and members of both houses of Congress. The 1980s began the turn of the tide on this political premise, as Republicans implied that many federal payouts went to people who were undeserving, who were cheating the system and, thus, misusing taxpayer money. On top of that, they offered tax cuts to Americans as a way to negate the Democratic economic advantage. Ronald Reagan essentially declared war on the federal government; still, many Americans didn't completely shed their image of the Republicans favoring the wealthy. And so it was with George H.W. Bush.

President Bush's term saw the United States oust Manuel Noriega as the leader of Panama, with Noriega being placed under arrest and sent to the U.S. for trial on drug trafficking charges. In Europe, communism was on its last leg, as communist regimes fell from power, including in East Germany, where the infamous "wall" came tumbling down. In the Middle East, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein sent troops into neighboring Kuwait, a move that triggered a large scale military response led by the U.S. and Britain, but including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria. The outcome was never in doubt, as Iraqi forces in Kuwait were routed and fled back into their homeland. The military operations undertaken during Bush's first couple of years in office led to a soaring approval rate for the president, but the weakened economy of Reagan's last year or so carried over into Bush's presidency, and was worsened by the impact of high oil and gasoline prices as a consequence of the conflict in the Middle East. So now it came down to economics. The huge budget deficits of the Reagan years also carried into the Bush years. In an effort to take steps to reduce deficits, President Bush made a budget deal with Democrats that was a mix of budget cuts and tax increases. The problem for Bush was his oft quoted, "Read my lips, no new taxes," pledge. The right wing attacked Bush for breaking his pledge. Further, Bush, financially well off, was painted as out of touch with average people. Bush visited a convention of grocers and was shown the latest technology for scanning bar codes on various grocery packaging. His amazement was photographed and written about as if the President didn't know about every day things in American life, although initially the stories did not make clear that the technology demonstrated for Bush was indeed NEW, and not the technology of scanners that had already been in use.

In the midterm election in 1990, there were no party changes to any Senate seats in the former Confederacy. In the House of Representatives, Democrats gained one seat in Arkansas, making that delegation 3 Democrats and 1 Republican; Democrats gained one seat in Florida, making that delegation 10 Republicans and 9 Democrats; Republicans gained one seat in North Carolina to make the delegation 7 Democrats and 4 Republicans; Democrats gained one seat in Virginia to make the state's delegation 6 Democrats and 4 Republicans. The other former Confederate states had no changes in party composition to their delegations. Democrats won the governorships in Florida and in Texas.

* "Trickle down economics" is the idea that if you give benefits to the rich and businesses, that some of that benefit will "trickle down" to those less fortunate.

WORD HISTORY:
Forge-This word, related to "fabric," goes back to Indo European "dhab," which had the notion of "form or fashion something." This gave Latin "faber," meaning "worker in metals; thus, a smith." This then produced Latin "fabrica," meaning, "the workshop of a smith." This passed to Old French, a Latin-based language, as "faverge," which then became "forger." English borrowed the word in the 1300s. The verb form was taken from French "forgier." The idea of "forming, fashioning," came to include the meaning, "to fake or make up something." The derived word "forgery" came into use in English during the latter part of the 1500s.