The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Thirteen

NOTE: I forgot to mention this in an earlier segment: In the primaries of 1972, George Wallace ran in the Democratic Party primaries. He opposed busing, but said that he had changed his mind about desegregation in the general sense. In the former Confederate states, Wallace won a stunning victory in the Florida Democratic primary, winning 75 of the state's 81 delegates to the Democratic Convention, with nearly 42% of the vote, far more than any other candidate in the race. Hubert Humphrey finished a distant second with 18 1/2% of the vote, and he won the 6 remaining delegates. Wallace also won big victories in North Carolina, where he received more than half of the primary vote, and in Tennessee, where he garnered more than two-thirds of the vote. In May of 1972, Wallace, while campaigning in Maryland, was shot and paralyzed from the waist down by Arthur Bremer. Bremer, who had actually intended to assassinate President Nixon, but then chose Wallace, was released from prison (probation) in late 2007. The assassination attempt ended Wallace's presidential bid in 1972. I was on my way to umpire a little league baseball game when I heard the news of the shooting, as a man was running along the sidewalk shouting, "George Corley Wallace just got himself shot."

----------------------------------

The 1970s saw the American economy struggling with increased oil and gasoline prices (brought on by instability in the Middle East), which put upward pressure on overall prices, which put a drag on the economy, a situation that came to be called "stagflation." Further, automation continued to whittle away at jobs, and business people with industries in northern cities began to look more and more to the South for ways to cut costs. Southern states had resisted labor unions to a great extent, so business people saw this as a way of cutting labor costs. Gradually this transfer of jobs and industry (and not just heavy duty industry) southward to the "Sunbelt" (named for the warmer climate) would pick up steam, leaving behind the communities in the northern part of the country as the "Rustbelt;" that is, older, declining industrial centers. The Confederacy had surrendered more than a hundred years before, but suddenly the slogan "the South will rise again," began to come into play.

The Republican Party had long been tilted in the direction of conservatism, going back more obviously to the split in the election of 1912, which saw former Republican president, Teddy Roosevelt, run against his Republican successor, William Howard Taft, who proved to be too conservative for the more progressive Roosevelt.* This split allowed the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson as president. Wilson was a Southerner, having been born in Virginia and raised there, as well as in North Carolina. He later became president of Princeton University in New Jersey, which led to his election as governor of that state.

With the Great Depression and the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in four successive elections, Republicans generally staked out positions at least somewhat to the right of Roosevelt. This general tendency toward conservatism was solidified during the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, as Republicans, generally seen as pro-business, were also seen as, and campaigned on, being the party of law and order, especially as compared to the Democrats, who slugged it out with each other over the Vietnam War, segregation and many social issues, such as abortion and women's rights, in the 1960s and 1970s, leaving socially conservative elements of the party to come more into play for Republicans. If you've been following this series, you've seen the Republicans become more and more competitive in the former Confederacy.

A longstanding foreign policy issue was over the Panama Canal, or actually more specifically, the Panama Canal "Zone," which had been under U.S. control from the time of Teddy Roosevelt. The overall debate about the canal zone is complex, as the international situation of the U.S. versus the Soviet Union, the fear of the spread of communism and the political positions of Latin American governments had much to do with the politics of the canal. "Generally" speaking, many conservatives, sort of led by Ronald Reagan and South Carolina senator, Strom Thurmond, opposed the negotiation of a new treaty about the canal or the canal zone. The issue became highly  contentious, but in the end there were two separate treaties signed and then ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1978 (ratification requires 2/3 affirmative vote of the Senate).

In what became a major event of the times, following a revolution in Iran, which brought to power a fundamentalist Islamic government, more than 50 American embassy personnel were taken hostage and held prisoner beginning in November 1979. The crisis went on and on, and the network news shows (no cable news in those days) began opening their newscasts with, "Day 120," or, "Day 187."** An American military rescue attempt in the spring of 1980 failed and the hostage crisis continued to hang like a dark cloud over the 1980 election process.  

In the nomination process for the 1980 election, incumbent Democrat and Southerner, President Jimmy Carter, was challenged by Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy of Massachusetts, the brother of slain President John F. Kennedy and slain presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. Carter won all primary contests by big margins in the former Confederacy against Kennedy.

On the Republican side, Ronald Reagan easily defeated George Bush (Sr.), and a number of other candidates, in primaries in states of the former Confederacy, although the vote in Texas was much closer, Reagan 53% to 46% for Bush. Overall, Reagan won the Republican nomination by a comfortable margin.

Next... The Republicans Choose Reagan and The South Follows

* Teddy Roosevelt was a distant cousin of future Democratic president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, but he was the uncle of Franklin's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, the daughter of Teddy's brother.

** A friend of mine told me that his wife, who suffered from bipolar disorder, was so distraught over the hostage situation, that he and his family had to keep her away from the television during the news, as it upset her so much. 

WORD HISTORY:
Ordeal-The main body of this word, "deal," goes back to Indo European "dail/dhail," which meant "divide." This gave Old Germanic "dailiz/dailaz," meaning "a part, a share, a portion." The prefix "or-" goes back to Indo European "uds," with the notion of "upwards, up, out." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "uz," meaning, "out, out from, away from." In Old English this developed into "or-," while in German, for instance, it developed into "ur-" (originally "ir-," and it also gave German the prefix "er-," for many words, and in English also "a-" as a prefix in some words). The prefixed form in West Germanic was the verb "uzdailijan," meaning, "to deal out a judgment;" that is, "to give a verdict." Lying behind the meaning was the notion of "judgment received from the gods," and later, after Christianity spread among the Germanic tribes, "judgment by God;" that is, "judgment rendered by a physical test," as survivors or those uninjured were seen as innocent and non survivors or those injured were seen as deservedly dead or injured, as they had been guilty. "Ordeal by fire" is still something we hear of in modern times. The West Germanic word produced the Old English noun "ordal," meaning, "judgment by test;" with the spelling later becoming "ordeal," and the meaning of, "something that severely tests a person," still very much a meaning in the word, which has kept it much closer to the original meaning; whereas, in the other West Germanic languages, the word has come to mean "judgment, verdict," in the more general sense, without the "physical test" element. Forms in the other West Germanic languages: German has "Urteil," Low German Saxon "Ordeel," Dutch "oordeel," West Frisian "oardiel." 

To Help Relief Efforts By Charities

There has been much weather related devastation in the United States from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, with Texas, Louisiana, Florida,* Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands** having suffered.  Other areas of the Caribbean have also suffered, and Mexico has been hit by both a hurricane (Katia) and a major earthquake. If you would like to help by donating, before doing so, it's a good idea to check sites like Charity Watch or Charity Navigator to try to avoid scams. Remember, ruthless scammers will try to rake in big bucks from these emergency situations. Wherever there is money, the scammers will be there too. Some charities are international, if you want to help people in various parts of the areas affected.  

Also, we want the largest part of our contributions to go directly to helping people in need, not to helping a few line their pockets with our money and at the expense of people who need help. And  PLEASE don't let any prejudices or resentments keep you from donating. Whatever religious faith is trying to provide help to others (Catholic, Orthodox, various Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or whatever), as long as they check out as valid and recommended charities, they are deserving of your support, as are many other civic charities. There are many WONDERFUL people in all sorts of charitable organizations.

* Florida is being hit by Hurricane Irma as I write this. Georgia is likely to suffer damage, along with possibly some other states.

** Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are both U.S. territories, whose people are American citizens.

WORD HISTORY:
Charity-This word seems to go back to an expanded form of Indo European "kah," as "kahro," which had the idea of "to desire, to want, to wish." This gave Latin the adjective "carus," which meant, "dear;" meaning both "beloved," but also, "expensive." This then gave Latin the noun "caritas," meaning, "costliness, value, dearness" (with the further Christian religious extension of, "love and kindness toward mankind"). Old French, a Latin-based language had the word as "charité," which meant, "Christian alms;" that is, "giving aid to those in need." English borrowed the word circa 1150, at first as, "charite," before the modern spelling. 

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Thirty-Two

"The Contentious Election of 2000," Part Two
"It All Comes Down To A Few Hundred Votes In Florida"

The 2000 election came at a time when the country was enjoying "relative peace and prosperity," as well as budget surpluses.* The surge in Web-based businesses, and the explosion in stock prices for such businesses, masked the trend of a general decline in what I'll call "working class jobs," as both technology and a shift in jobs to foreign countries was accelerating, making it difficult for wage increases for many workers. On top of that, the increase in health insurance costs for those who had it, previously, but not always, picked up by employers, began to be shifted to employees, as employers deducted a percentage of insurance costs from their workers' paychecks, and often, co-pays for certain procedures or prescriptions increased for those covered. This process too seemed to be accelerating. Further still, the price of oil and gasoline, which had fallen tremendously in the late 1990s,** began to escalate at a rapid pace, and gasoline prices surged toward or above $2.00 a gallon for a time, adding psychological pain to the pain in the pocketbook for many Americans. All of these things, as well as perhaps a "weariness" with the Clinton scandals and political battles, must have had an effect on the electorate and tilted the electoral vote ever so slightly towards Republican Bush.

The 2000 election showed that while most Americans were fairly satisfied with the times, and Bill Clinton's popularity increased, Clinton had failed to build a large lasting coalition among voters, although, as I noted in the previous segment, Al Gore did win the popular vote over George W. Bush (see further below). Bush and his campaign emphasized Clinton's scandals, saying Clinton had embarrassed the country and undermined the presidency. Gore tried as much as possible to play down the topic of Clinton's sex scandals, even to the point of sparingly utilizing the politically adept Clinton in his campaign. The use of American troops in military actions, especially in eastern Africa, was also a target of the Republican campaign, as Bush noted that the United States should not be involved in such operations. Bush chose long time Washington insider Dick Cheney to be his running mate, and Gore chose Senator Joe Lieberman, also a veteran of Washington politics. Cheney, who had served as Secretary of Defense under George Bush (Senior), added military and foreign policy experience, experience which George W. Bush lacked.

The election showed Al Gore receiving nearly 48.4% of the popular vote to George W. Bush's nearly 47.9%, but Green Party candidate Ralph Nader garnered more than 2.7%. The Gore-Lieberman ticket led the Bush-Cheney ticket by about a half million votes. In the Electoral College, however, Bush won 271 votes to Gore's 266.*** A number of states were very close, barely tilting one way or the other, but none was as close as Florida, where the entire presidency hung in the balance. On election night and in the wee hours of the next day, news agencies first declared Gore the winner in Florida, but then changed it to Bush, before backing away from declaring any winner there. To make matters worse, Gore called Bush to concede Florida and the presidency, only to withdraw the concession as Bush's lead in Florida continued to narrow. Florida had 25 electoral votes, far above what was needed for Gore to be the next president, and just barely enough to give Bush the presidency. In what became a saga lasting for weeks, Bush had a narrow lead of about 1700 votes in Florida's unofficial returns, out of about 6 million votes. After a mandatory recount, done by feeding ballots back through machines, and after the counting of outstanding ballots from military personnel stationed in foreign countries, Bush held a lead of less than 1000 votes. It would get closer. Ralph Nader received more than 97,000 votes in Florida.

The issues involved after this point are many and would require at least another article or two to explain, but with such a close vote count, EVERY discrepancy took on major meanings,**** so this is VERY basic here. Gore legally asked for ballots to be hand counted in certain counties, but Florida law allowed only one week from election day for counties to submit revised totals from recounts. Gore received a favorable decision from the Florida Supreme Court, which extended that deadline for about two weeks. All recounts were not complete by that date and Florida declared Bush the victor by 537 votes. Gore protested, as tens of thousands of ballots had been rejected by the ballot counting machines, and the Florida Supreme Court ordered those ballots to be hand counted, a process that gave Americans some new terminology in the expression "hanging chad;" that is, ballots where the dot to be punched out indicating a vote for a particular person or issue remained connected to the ballot in some fashion; "hanging" from the ballot. News reports showed people involved in the count holding up ballots to try to determine the intent of the voter. It was a mess! Eventually the U. S. Supreme Court stopped all recounts by a 5-4 vote, which awarded Florida to George W. Bush, as Florida then used previously certified results as the final official tally. George W. Bush took the oath of office in January 2001.

* I failed to note this in an earlier segment, but the budget surpluses looked larger than they actually were, because of Social Security being included in the overall federal budget numbers. Understand, that also means the budget deficits of previous years were really worse than most Americans realized, because of the inclusion of Social Security. What do I mean? Well, during that general era, Social Security was taking in more money than it paid out annually, thus, when added to the overall federal budget, it made surpluses look larger in the late 1990s, just as it had made federal deficits look smaller prior to that time.

** If my memory is right, and please note this caution, I seem to remember paying as little as about eighty-five cents a gallon for gasoline in maybe about 1998. 

*** One elector from Washington D.C. abstained in protest over the lack of representation in Congress for the District of Columbia, but had been a Gore voter, abstaining only when this one vote did not make a difference. The Electoral College provides for each state to receive one electoral vote for each congressional district within its boundaries, as well as one vote each for the two U.S. senators. So if state "XYZ" has eight congressional districts, it has ten electoral votes (8 +2). The smallest number of electoral votes a state can have is three. The District of Columbia, which has no voting member of the House of Representatives and no senators, was given three electoral votes. There are 538 electoral votes available nationwide; 435 congressional districts, and 100 senators, plus the three votes for the District of Columbia. A candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes to win the presidency, so George W. Bush was just over the line.

**** Just a few of the many issues involved were: first, a confusing ballot design in one heavily Democratic county had resulted in Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan receiving what was seen as an unusually large number of votes in that county, 3400, far more than he received in any other Florida county, and "over votes;" that is, where more than one candidate was selected for president. Buchanan received less than a half million votes nationwide, which represented less than a half a percent of the overall vote. Second, a controversial removal of voters from the rolls in Florida by Republican elected officials were found to be incorrect; that is, a number of voter names were removed from the rolls for being "felons," but they were not, and some such voters were never informed of their removal until they tried to vote on election day. Third, Republican Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, the state's chief election officer, was heavily involved in the Bush campaign.   

WORD HISTORY:
Stab-The origin of this word is uncertain to some, but I'm not one of them. It is really a variant form of "stub" used in part of Scotland as "stob," and borrowed into English usage in the 1300s. Up until then, English used forms of "stick" and "sting" to indicate the action of "stab." It goes back to Indo European "steupb," which had the notion of "hit, beat, knock, push." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "stubjaz," which had the same meanings, but also developed meanings for things from the result of being "hit or pushed." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "stybb," meaning a "tree stump;" that is, the remnant of a tree after been hit or knocked by humans, wind, lightning. This later became "stubb(e)," before the modern version. The verb developed from the noun, with the idea of making something "stubby" or leaving a "stub" after pulling, cutting, or hitting (plants, hair/whiskers, ticket), and of course, the OUCH part of hitting your toe or finger against something. So "stab" follows the same course, with the notion of "cutting, pushing a sharp object into something." The noun form of course comes from the idea of the result of  "being pierced by a sharp object."