The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Twenty-One

A big part of Bill Clinton's campaign for the presidency had been centered around, "It's the economy stupid," an expression originally meant to keep Clinton campaign workers focused, but which, in fact, became the campaign's slogan. Once in office, Clinton and his administration pushed for, and got, a plan to raise taxes on the top 1.2% of earners, while cutting taxes for many people further down the income scale, as well as for many businesses. The tax on gasoline also was raised by 4 cents + on a gallon of gasoline. Republicans went ballistic, claiming the Clinton plan would prove to be devastating (more on this in an future part of this series). Clinton and Democrats would increasingly claim credit for the improving economy, with this legislation being the cornerstone of the administration's economic policy.

The plan eked through both houses of Congress in August 1993, as ALL Republicans in both houses voted AGAINST the measure. This is how the senate delegations from former Confederate states, of two senators from each state, voted: SENATE: Alabama: 1 Democrat for, 1 Democrat against; Arkansas: 2 Democrats for; Florida: 1 Democrat for, 1 Republican against; Georgia: 1 Democrat against, 1 Republican against; Louisiana: 1 Democrat for, 1 Democrat against; Mississippi: 2 Republicans against; North Carolina: 2 Republicans against; South Carolina: 1 Democrat for, 1 Republican against; Tennessee: 2 Democrats for; Texas: 2 Democrats against; Virginia: 1 Democrat for, 1 Republican against. The total Senate vote was 50 votes for and 50 votes against, and Vice President Al Gore (from Tennessee) cast the tie breaking vote, by naturally voting "for" the measure. In the House of Representatives, the votes by delegation from former Confederate states: Alabama: 3 Democrats for, 3 Republicans and 1 Democrat against; Arkansas: 1 Democrat for, 2 Republicans and 1 Democrat against; 9 Democrats for, 1 Democrat and 13 Republicans against; Georgia: 5 Democrats for, 4 Republicans and 2 Democrats against; Louisiana: 2 Democrats for, 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats against; Mississippi: 2 Democrats for, 3 Democrats against; North Carolina: 8 Democrats for, 4 Republicans against; South Carolina: 3 Democrats for, 3 Republicans against; Tennessee: 4 Democrats for, 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats against; Texas: 15 Democrats for, 9 Republicans and 6 Democrats against; Virginia: 6 Democrats for, 4 Republicans and 1 Democrat against.


WORD HISTORY:
Booth-Some of the history of this word is a bit shaky, but this is what I've come up with, although parts of it could be altered, if I find more information. This word, related to "bower" and to the "-bor" (British: "-bour") part of "neighbor," goes back Indo European "bu/bhu," which meant, "to dwell, to live upon or in," an extended meaning from the base meaning, "to exist, to be." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "buraz," with the meaning "place where one dwells," and a derived form, "buwan," meaning, "to construct or settle for the purpose of living or shelter." English once had the verb "buan," meaning "to live, to dwell, to live in or on, to occupy." A derived form, "budo," meaning, "a place constructed for shelter," apparently developed in Old Germanic itself, or "perhaps" in its North Germanic offspring.^ Whatever the case, Old Norse had "buð" (ð=th in more modern times), seemingly meaning, "a small house or tent, an encampment." The notion of "tent, encampment" gave the meaning the sense of "temporary," or, "not sturdily built." This then carried over to an extended meaning, "a structure or enclosure of boards or material for temporary use for selling goods, and thus easily moved around." English borrowed the word from Old Norse in the mid 1100s. 

^ There are similar forms outside of Germanic, but whether these were borrowed from Germanic (I find some of it doubtful), or whether they simply followed a similar course of development on their own from the original Indo European is unclear (something a bit hard for me to completely buy into). Even sorting through the Germanic forms are difficult, as there are many words that are derived from the Germanic form, and the basic meaning had many angles to it. For example, English has "build" and German has "bauen" (meaning, "to build, to construct," but also the extended, "to cultivate the soil"). English has "bower" ("dwelling," but also once a word for "farmer," and then, "area in a garden sheltered by trees or leafy plants." German has "Bauer" (farmer, peasant," but also, "bird cage"), and there are others. Determining the direct relatives to "booth" is also challenging, but German has, "Bude" (booth, kiosk), Low German has "Bood" (booth, small shop), Swedish has "bod" (shed), Icelandic has "búð" (a shop, a booth).