The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Twenty

Mid 1991 saw George H.W. Bush's nomination of Clarence Thomas for a seat on the Supreme Court. Thomas was a black conservative Republican judge chosen by Bush to replace retiring black progressive justice, Thurgood Marshall; thus, shifting the Supreme Court to the political right. Interest groups from both sides of the political spectrum mobilized over the Thomas nomination. The nomination hearings reached fever pitch, with millions of Americans tuned in, when Anita Hill, a lawyer who had worked with Thomas when he was her supervisor, testified that he had made inappropriate sexual remarks to her, perhaps constituting sexual harassment. President Bush, pressed by conservatives to stick with, and to fight for, the nomination, did so. The bitter process ended with Thomas winning confirmation by a narrow margin, as eleven Democrats voted for his confirmation, while only two Republicans opposed it. Senators from former Confederate states voted 14 to 8 in favor of Thomas's confirmation.

With the economy in recession, Bush's popularity tumbled, giving Democrats hope of defeating the incumbent president. Hard line conservative Pat Buchanan entered the Republican nomination process and criticized Bush for working with Democrats and for breaking his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge. Buchanan made a strong showing in New Hampshire, but Bush won and he continued on to a relatively easy renomination, but the attacks from Buchanan took a toll, as a part of the conservative base of the Republican Party remained unenthusiastic about George Bush. To placate conservatives, Bush gave Buchanan the keynote address spot at the Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas. In that speech, dripping with venom, Buchanan attacked the Democratic nominee, Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, and Democrats in general, who, he said, were in a fight to take over the soul of the country by advocating abortion, gay rights, and a diverse society. Buchanan obviously forgot his own mixed background of Irish, Scottish and German.

Democrats nominated Bill Clinton of Arkansas and that state's governor. Clinton did well in all of the primaries in former Confederate states. He chose fellow Southerner Al Gore of Tennessee as his running mate, as the Democrats pitted a Southern ticket against the Republicans and Ross Perot, a billionaire businessman who entered the race and quickly became a favorite of many disgruntled Americans. The thing was, while Perot started off well, as with his own money, he didn't need big campaign contributions. Increasingly large sums of money in the political process was something that had become a growing concern among some Americans. Further, his use of charts and pointers about certain issues also played well with many voters, but he later began to display some erratic behavior, at one point even withdrawing from the race, only to later say he had dropped out because Republicans had planned dirty tricks to disrupt his daughters wedding. Further, Perot asserted that the CIA was involved in trying to destroy his campaign by tapping into his stock trading program to prevent him from financing his campaign, and there were other unsubstantiated charges of assassination plots, etc. The White House and the Bush campaign leaders called it all nonsense. Perot's poll numbers tumbled and Bill Clinton's rose, putting the Democrat ahead of the field. Later Perot decided to get back into the race. On top of the display of paranoia, Perot had selected retired, highly decorated Vice Admiral James Stockdale as his running mate. During the vice presidential debate, Stockdale, who had had little time to prepare for the debate, looked into the television cameras and asked, "Who am I? Why am I here?" Stockdale's apparent confusion and lack of focus throughout the debate produced a series of one liners from comedians and it further called into question the judgment, if not the very sanity, of Ross Perot. The thing was, Perot's paranoia and conspiracy theories played right into the minds of a number of Americans obsessed with such things, and to whom Republican tricks were assumed to be commonplace, no proof required.

Clinton and Gore put the South back into play for Democrats, and Bush seemed to be mired in low poll numbers. On election day, the voters had their say: Clinton/Gore received 43% of the popular vote and 370 electoral votes, including those of former Confederate states Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. Bush carried the other states in the South, but he received only about 37 1/2% of the national popular vote. Perot won no states, but he received about 19% of the popular vote. In the U.S. Senate elections, Republicans gained a seat in a close election in Georgia, and defeated the Democratic incumbent in North Carolina, too. In elections for the House of Representatives, based upon redistricting from the 1990 Census, Republicans gained a seat in Alabama, making that delegation 4 Democrats and 3 Republicans; in Arkansas, Republicans gained a seat to make the delegation 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans; in Florida, a state which saw an increase in representation because of population growth, Republicans won 13 seats to 10 for Democrats; Georgia added one new seat and the new delegation was 7 Democrats and 4 Republicans; Louisiana added an additional seat and the new delegation was 4 Democrats and 3 Republicans; Mississippi's delegation remained totally Democratic, with 5 Democrats; North Carolina gained one seat and after the election the delegation was 8 Democrats and 4 Republicans; South Carolina saw Republicans gain a seat to make the delegation 3 Republicans and 3 Democrats; Tennessee remained steady at 6 Democrats and 3 Republicans; Texas added new seats, and after the election, the delegation was 21 Democrats and 9 Republicans; Virginia added one seat, and after the election the delegation was 7 Democrats and 4 Republicans. In elections for governors of former Confederate states, the only change was that Democrats won the governorship from Republicans in North Carolina.   

WORD HISTORY:
One-This word, closely related to original English words of Germanic derivation "only," and to the second part of "alone," ultimately goes back to Indo European "oinos." The Germanic branch of Indo European continued with "ainaz." This was passed down to Old English and Old Frisian as "an" (long "a" sound). There seems to have been a wide variety of pronunciations for the English word, and it later tended to have a long "o" sound for quite some time in many areas of England. The "w" sound, however, seems to have developed in western England, and it eventually was accepted as "standard," although not until the 1700s. The Indo European word was also passed along to other branches of its family, as Latin had "unus," for example, and that word further developed into French "un," and Italian and Spanish "uno." The other Germanic languages have: German "ein," Low German Saxon "een," Dutch "een," West Frisian "ien," Danish "en," Icelandic "einn," Norwegian "en," and Swedish "en" (Swedish also has "ett").

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.

The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Eighteen

As Ronald Reagan's time in office drew near its end, his vice president, George H. W. Bush, made his own run for the presidency. While Bush was born and raised in New England, and his wife, Barbara, was born in New York City, they had made their permanent residence in Texas for several decades, and raised their family there (future president, George W. Bush, however, was actually born in Connecticut). Hardcore conservatives were uneasy about Bush, as he had opposed Reagan in the early primaries in 1980, and the term, "voodoo economics," about Reagan's economic plans, was used by George Bush in that primary campaign against Reagan. One of the major controversies for Bush was his role in "Iran-Contra." * Bush's defense was that he "was out of the loop;" and that he hadn't known about the illegal diversion of funds from the sale of weapons to Iran to Nicaragua. Since Reagan was then president, the main focus of investigation into the affair was to determine his role in it, as well as that of the active participants, and the independent counsel investigating the matter later admitted that Bush was not given the scrutiny he should have had. (More on this in the next part)

No question about it, racial issues were the initial matters that pulled Southerners into the Republican column over the decades, but another major issue to develop was over abortion. With religious fundamentalism so prominent in many parts of the South, and with Roman Catholicism having many adherents in Louisiana and Florida, the more Southerners who switched to the Republican Party, the more socially conservative the party had to become, and the more diminished social conservatism became in the Democratic Party. While this isn't always easily proven, politicians of whatever political party will say a lot of things just to get votes, or to mute criticism, even though their personal feelings may well be indifferent to a particular subject, or perhaps even on the other side of an issue. It's always been my feeling that Reagan announced conservative positions on some issues, because he and his advisers felt he had to do so, not because he necessarily agreed with a particular position, or that he was passionate about his "announced position." We saw that he would mention abortion in some speeches, but he never terribly pursued the issue in his policies. Still, fundamentalist religious people, led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, both from former Confederate state, Virginia, never abandoned Reagan. On the other hand, Robertson actually entered the 1988 Republican presidential race, which included Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, besides then Vice President George Bush. Bush had been more to the pro-choice side of the abortion issue, and, over time, he and his family had generally supported family planning, an issue that was highly controversial in the United States in Bush's younger days, as contraception was illegal in many states and the promotion and mailing of contraceptive literature or devices was long against the national law (Comstock Law), and Catholicism and some Protestant fundamentalists were against contraception. Even sex education was not always supported by some. In the Republican primaries, George Bush, who had, at least nominally, gotten on board the anti-abortion wagon while serving under Reagan, had to declare his opposition without hesitation. Lee Atwater, who was born in Georgia, and who lived much of his life in South Carolina, was Bush's campaign manager. Bush easily won the Republican nomination, and he ran well in the former Confederate states, even though Pat Robertson remained in the race until mid May. To shore up his conservative credentials, and to appeal to the young conservatives of the 1980s, Bush chose Dan Quayle a senator from Indiana as his running mate. While a controversial pick, in that Quayle did not have much experience, he was very socially conservative.
   
On the Democratic side, Senator Al Gore of Tennessee dropped out of the race in April, although he won primaries in North Carolina and Tennessee. Jesse Jackson, of South Carolina, won primaries and caucuses in: Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas (a primary and caucus state, where he split with Dukakis. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, won only in Florida (and split in Texas) in the South, but he won a large number of states in the northern and western parts of the country to clinch the nomination. In an effort to appeal to Southerners, Dukakis chose Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas as his running mate.

In the general election campaign, Republicans tagged Dukakis, who was the governor of Massachusetts, as a "liberal," a word that had been so besmirched by conservatives during the 1980s, that some Democrats tried to avoid it, giving Republicans the glee of pointing out what they came to refer to as, "the 'L' word." Democrats took many a swipe at Dan Quayle for his inexperience and that, if the Bush-Quayle team were elected, that Quayle could turn out to be president. Bush appealed to the growing conservative element in the Republican Party by trying to assure doubters about his commitment to not raising taxes by saying, "Read my lips... no new taxes." There were other aspects to the 1988 campaign, but there is no point in going into detail, as Dukakis was very unlikely to carry southern states, and in the November vote, that proved to be the case, as Bush swept the states of the former Confederacy by wide margins. In total, Bush received about 53 1/2% of the national vote, to 45 1/2% for Dukakis. In the all important Electoral College, Bush won in a landslide, 446 to 111, and 1 for Bentsen, as one Democratic elector in West Virginia (a state carried by Dukakis/Bentsen) abandoned his pledge to support the Democratic candidate, and chose to vote for Bentsen for president.

In the U.S. Senate races in former Confederate states, Democrats captured a Republican seat in Virginia, while Republicans won Democratic seats in Florida and Mississippi. Overall, Democrats gained one seat nationally. In the House of Representatives in former Confederate states, Republicans gained 2 seats in Florida, making the delegation 10 Democrats and 9 Republicans; Democrats gained a seat in Georgia, making that delegation 9 Democrats and 1 Republican; in Texas, Democrats gained 2 seats to make the delegation 19 Democrats and 8 Republicans. Nationally, Democrats netted a 2 seat gain. Only North Carolina had a 1988 election for governor in the former Confederate states, and Republicans held that governorship. 

* I covered the basics of "Iran-Contra" in Part Seventeen" of this series. This is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-former-confederacy-modern-american_12.html

WORD HISTORY: 
Abort-This compound word, the second part of which is related to Latin-derived words borrowed by English, "origin," "original" and "originate," and now almost always used as a verb, but once used somewhat more commonly as a noun, goes back to Indo European "heri," which had the notion, "to spring forth, to arise:" thus by extension, "to come into existence, to be born." This gave Latin "oriri," with the same meanings. The "ab" part of the word is related to words of the Germanic languages meaning "off" and "of" (including these two English words) through Indo European "apo," which meant "away from, off (from)." The combined terms gave Latin "aboriri," meaning, "to miscarry, to end a pregnancy, to disappear." Its participle was "abortus," which was borrowed by English as "abort" in the mid 1500s.

GOP Fearful Of Government Success and Any Credit To Obama

For more than thirty years an anti-government philosophy has been escalating within the conservative movement in the United States. Conservatives were never all that taken with government in the first place, except to fight wars, but for about thirty-five years they've been perfecting their hatred. Fairly early on we heard then President Ronald Reagan declare something to the effect that government was not the solution to our problems, that government was the problem. A further little quip of Reagan's was that people were fearful to hear "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." As time went on, so did the anti-government rhetoric from conservatives. In the mid 1990s, the Republicans, by then virtually a conservative only party, took control of Congress and essentially declared war on  government. In a famous confrontation with President Clinton, the government was shut down, but the conservatives found their ardent philosophy lacking among much of the populace, as many Americans weren't as fearful of their government as Reagan's quip implied.* Conservatives lost that particular battle, but the war continued, and their ideas actually framed much of the debate.

Reagan gave huge tax cuts tilted toward the wealthy and increased military spending, and though Reagan had criticized his predecessor Jimmy Carter for deficits, Reagan's deficits made Carter's almost look like balanced budgets. Into office came George Bush Sr. to grapple with the financial mess bequeathed to the nation by Reagan and his philosophy. The staggering economy went into recession, only making the financial mess worse, but President Bush and Democrats in Congress worked out a compromise to bring deficits down as the economy healed. George Bush was followed by Bill Clinton, who reversed the role previously played by President Bush, as Democrat Clinton worked with Republicans in Congress to turn deficits into surpluses.**

Then came George W. Bush who sent Americans into action in two wars, but chose not to pay for those wars. He also pushed for and got a prescription drug benefit for Medicare, an admirable achievement, but he didn't pay for that either, with deficits accumulating into the trillions. When the economy went into meltdown mode in the waning months of Bush's presidency and into the early months of Barack Obama's first term, the deficits of Bush's two terms made many Americans a bit skittish about more deficit spending to combat the severe downturn, although economists and governments around the world called for just that. Republicans, who had "spent like drunken sailors," according to Joe Scarborough, a former GOP congressman turned cable TV host, now changed their tune once a Democrat was president, and they began a relentless campaign to advocate reductions in spending. They also denied any responsibility for the economic meltdown. Nope, not their fault: after all, the downturn and deficits all started on the day Barack Obama took office, January 20, 2009.*** After a major Republican victory in the 2010 midterm elections (they took control of the House of Representatives and cut the Democratic majority in the Senate), the shrillness of the cry for more spending reductions spiked to new highs. The economy, staggered by the massive fraud perpetrated by Wall Street bankers in the mortgage industry, was not about to take off, as the country then faced the Gulf oil spill, which shut down a large element of the economy in states along the Gulf of Mexico. Then a major earthquake struck Japan, halting that nation's ability to send needed auto parts to this country. All the while the drumbeat of the slow economy was trumpeted by Republicans, as they hoped for a takeover of the White House in 2012. Whether it was hope for Obama's defeat or fear of reprisals by right wing fanatics in their own party, or perhaps something of both, Republicans held ranks, with few Republican votes ever going to support any of Obama's proposals in Congress.

So now we hear how "government is broken." Let me tell you what I think. This is exactly what the right wing fascists want. They have told us for decades how government can't do anything and government is something to be feared. Funded by the likes of the Koch brothers and other right wingers, they have to make sure that government fails, for if government works to actually help Americans, conservatives may not see the White House for quite some time, and their big money supporters want tax cuts, as well as cuts to any and all government programs that actually help those who aren't wealthy. They don't have to like or agree much with President Obama and Democrats, but their blatant attempts to do anything to bring down his presidency is shameful to say the least, and is more like treason, in my opinion. Think about it folks. If Democrats had stood united against George W. Bush, the Republicans would have screamed how "unpatriotic" they were. It was no sheer coincidence when in Barack Obama's early days as president Rush Limbaugh said he wanted Obama to fail. This has been the strategy for decades of the fascists and right wingers who have become such a part of the GOP and some of them desperately want to bring down and humiliate the nation's first black president to satisfy their racist element. Right now, Republicans want to win elections more than they want to rid themselves of fascist and right wing nutcases.        

* Reagan was right about one thing, the money people ARE afraid of government, because it's the only thing that can rein them in, outside of a total revolution, in which case they would all lose their heads, literally. That's why so many wealthy people contribute to the war on government. They're afraid of it and they want to destroy it. These are SUPEREGOS. Are there foolish regulations? I'm sure there are, but without regulations the public would be exposed to anything and everything so that wealthy business people could make more money. Remember folks, like capitalism or not, it is not about anything except making money. It is NOT about your life, sending kids to school, taking care of the sick or injured, feeding the hungry, or anything else associated with being a decent human being. It is about MONEY and only about MONEY! Like the trickle down nonsense spouted by conservatives, unrestrained capitalism might let a few crumbs fall off the table, but its fundamental principles can be ruthless endeavors to make money.

**  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.

*** The other day, I saw a post online by an obvious Republican woman who claimed, "Obama has started all of these wars, but refuses to give our troops the weapons they need." To be fair, Democrats have some folks who say similar way out things, but it just shows how people can ignore events they've actually lived through and reconstruct those events to fit into what they want to believe. In the early part of 2009 just after the passage of the stimulus bill, an acquaintance of mine, a Democrat turned Republican because Obama is black, told me he had been listening to one of the right wing radio shows (I just forget which one). He asked me, "Randy, what are we going to do about all of this inflation Obama is causing with this stimulus money? It's only going to get worse according to the guy on the radio." Folks, at that point in time, prices on many things were FALLING, not rising, and the threat of DEFLATION, not inflation, was the concern of many economists. Right wing and fascist propagandists count on people relying on the lies, I mean, "information" they provide. They can convince their "flock" that day is night and night is day. Don't be fooled! There needs to be a "truth squad" to relentlessly pursue these lying bastards! It's no coincidence the Nazis burned books, for knowledge is the enemy of these types. In my opinion, Republicans have been in a flight from reality for decades, as they wanted so much to believe that Reagan's economic policies would benefit the country, they couldn't face the reality that his policies were exactly the "voodoo economics" they were tagged with by George Bush Sr.   

WORD HISTORY:
Shall-This word "seems' to go back to Indo European "skel,' which had the notion of "be obliged to do something, owe." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "skulan," which meant "to owe, be obligated;" thus also, "have guilt;" that is, "owe a debt for an illegal act." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sellan/sculan" (the "sc" pronounced like "sh"), with many of the same meanings. The notion of "ought to, be obliged to," eventually gave "shall" a future tense use, now in modern English often replaced by "will" ("I shall go," but more likely today, "I will go."). The other Germanic languages have: German "sollen," Low German Saxon "schölen," Dutch "zullen," Icelandic "skal/skulu," Danish and Norwegian "skal," and Swedish "skall." I could not find a form in modern Frisian, but I believe, like modern English, they use a form of "will" to express future actions.

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Twenty-Four

"The 1992 Campaign and Election" Part Two

Bill Clinton, the Democratic governor of Arkansas, won the Democratic presidential nomination and he chose Senator Al Gore of Tennessee as his vice presidential running mate; the two men were both in their mid 40s, which was perhaps a plus to some younger voters. Clinton's reputation for word play began in earnest when he admitted to having tried marijuana, but "I didn't inhale." Then he caused some Republicans to have a stroke when he told voters, "Vote for one, but get two," in reference to his activist wife, Hillary. This brought scrutiny to Hillary's life too, especially her business dealings and legal representations (she was an attorney), something that would continue for years. Questions of Bill Clinton's infidelity became rather common, but he went on national television to deny such. This too was an issue that would continue to haunt Clinton and the country in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the talk of the nation still centered around Ross Perot, who still was riding high in the polls, although a bit less so as spring turned into summer. Perot appeared to be thin skinned as the media checked into his life, and by July, Perot announced he would not run, citing the potential for the election to be so split in the Electoral College, that it would have to be decided by the House of Representatives.* Later Perot said he had dropped out as Republicans had planned dirty tricks to disrupt his daughters wedding. Later, Perot asserted that the CIA was involved in trying to destroy his campaign by tapping into his stock trading program to prevent him from financing his campaign, and there were other unsubstantiated charges of assassination plots, etc. The White House and the Bush campaign leaders called it all nonsense. Perot's poll numbers tumbled and Bill Clinton's rose, putting the Democrat ahead of the field. Later Perot decided to get back into the race. On top of the display of paranoia, Perot had selected retired, highly decorated Vice Admiral James Stockdale as his running mate. During the vice presidential debate, Stockdale, who had had little time to prepare for the debate, looked into the television cameras and asked, "Who am I? Why am I here?" Stockdale's apparent confusion and lack of focus throughout the debate produced a series of one liners from comedians and it further called into question the judgment, if not the very sanity, of Ross Perot. The thing was, Perot's paranoia and conspiracy theories played right into the minds of a number of Americans obsessed with such things, and to whom Republican tricks were assumed to be commonplace, no proof required.   

President Bush struggled throughout the campaign and his poll numbers remained in the upper 30s. The economy weighed on Bush, and his numerous public appearances after the Gulf War may have taken the edge off of having a presidential visit, as some Bush rallies were sparsely attended, and the campaign took to using celebrities, and up and coming conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh to draw people in. By the time election day arrived, the Republican coalition had melted to a great degree, as so called "Reagan Democrats" often returned to the Democratic fold, and even some southern states returned to the Democratic column after a substantial absence.** In the end Bill Clinton won 43% of the vote, but a large margin of 370 electoral votes, while George Bush received only 37 1/2% of the popular vote and 168 electoral votes. While Perot did not carry a single state, he got nearly 19% of the national vote, and he received more than 20% of the vote in some states. The Republicans had controlled the White House for 20 of the past 24 years at that point (only Jimmy Carter's four years broke the chain). The question now was, could Clinton put together a new Democratic coalition to gain 50% or more of the vote?

* Just to be clear, the process of getting Perot onto the ballot in all states was still in the process, although it was becoming pretty much of a certainty. 

** There's no question that having Clinton and Gore, two Southerners, on the Democratic ticket helped in the South, but still the election showed how much the South had changed politically, as Bush carried most southern states, even with the two Southerners running against him.

WORD HISTORY:
Clothe-Like its close relatives covered here recently (cloth, clothes, clout, clod, and clot), this verb, meaning "to put on clothing, to dress, to put clothes on someone," goes back to Indo European "gleuh," which had the notion of "stick together, adhere." This then gave its Old Germanic offspring "klaut," and then "klutaz," which meant "piece of material," and also, "material used to cover something." and the derived variant "klaithan," with the meaning "material used to cover something," thus "clothing, garments." This gave Old Germanic a verb form, presumed by some to be something like "klaithonan," meaning "to clothe, to put on clothing, to dress." This gave Old English "geclathian," meaning "to clothe, put on clothes." This later dropped the prefix and became "clothen," before the modern version. German has "kleiden," Low German Saxon and Dutch have "kleden," West Frisian has "klean" (notice the "d," "t" or "th" sound is gone), Danish has "klaede," Icelandic has "klaetha," Norwegian has "kle" (notice the absence of an ending present in the other Germanic languages), Swedish has "kläda."

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Twenty-Three

"The 1992 Campaign and Election" Part One

The 1992 nominating process brought hard line conservative Pat Buchanan into the Republican primaries against President George Bush. He challenged Bush about breaking his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge and about the President making deals with Democrats, with Buchanan "essentially saying" the country didn't need two liberal parties, thus moving elements of the Republican coalition to advocate standing firm in beliefs, and making compromise seem like weakness. Buchanan made a strong showing in New Hampshire, but Bush won and he continued on to a relatively easy renomination, but the attacks from Buchanan took a toll, as a part of the conservative base of the Republican Party remained unenthusiastic about George Bush. Buchanan's challenge and his standing with many conservatives led Bush to give Buchanan the keynote address spot at the Republican Convention. Buchanan's address was a full throttle assault on the Democratic candidate Bill Clinton, his wife Hillary, and Democrats in general, who, he said, were in a fight to take over the soul of the country by advocating abortion, gay rights, and a diverse society. The speech energized conservatives to some degree, but the venom dripping words undoubtedly shocked many truly independent voters.

Meanwhile, Texas businessman Ross Perot had entered the national spotlight by focusing on the federal budget deficit, an issue on the minds of many Americans, regardless of party affiliation, although especially so for fiscal conservatives. Like Buchanan, he indicated that the existing politicians were not truly responsive to the public. Unlike Buchanan, Perot was not wedded to many of the socially conservative ideas laid out by Buchanan and some elements of the Religious Right, and he was more libertarian on many issues. A large number of Americans flocked to Perot, who seemed to fill a niche at that time, and he said he would run for president, "if" enough people showed interest in his candidacy by getting his name placed on the ballots in all fifty states, a condition which was fulfilled. A billionaire, Perot didn't have to rely on donations from special interest groups, with such money raising being another growing concern among Americans. In the spring of 1992 Perot led in many national polls, which only increased his appeal to Americans tired of party politics. For George Bush, Perot's candidacy was a plague, as the President had tackled the deficit issue, even breaking his no tax pledge to do so, and by working across party lines, now only to have Perot say not enough had been done to deal with the national debt and that deals between members of the two parties were sort of tainted. So Bush had hard line conservatives furious with him for tax increases to reduce the deficit AND Perot angry with him for not having done enough to deal with the debt. No good deed goes unpunished and Bush's accomplishment ended up being largely negated. Again, many of the people who claimed to be so concerned about the deficit and tax increases under George Bush never held Ronald Reagan to the same standard, although deficits under Reagan were horrible and Reagan increased taxes in several ways, but Bush was not a showman or a "great communicator," and he suffered accordingly. The '92 election also showed how many Americans disregarded facts in favor of showmanship. Hey, we're the country of Hollywood and slick ads telling us why dish detergent "A" is better than dish detergents "B" and "C," even though they're all essentially the same thing.

Next, in "The 1992 Campaign and Election, Part Two," Perot implodes, Clinton surges, and the Republican coalition melts down.

WORD HISTORY:
Cloth-Like its close relatives "clot," "clod" and "clout," this word goes back to Indo European "gleuh," which had the notion of "stick together, adhere." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "klaut," with the same general meanings.This then produced Old Germanic "klutaz," which had the notion of  "piece of material," and also, "material used to cover something." This then gave Old Germanic the variant "klaithan," with the "material used to cover something," meaning; thus "cloth," and by extension "garment," which then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "clath," likely with a long "a" sound, and this later became "cloth." Old English "clath" also had the additional meaning "sail," obviously from the notion of the material used for such, but it was not the primary word for "sail," which indeed was the ancestor of the modern word "sail" (I'll cover 'sail' soon). The original Old English plural form was "clathas," which became "clothes," "wearing apparel, clothing." The other Germanic languages have forms all having meanings to do with "clothes" or "cloth": standard German "Kleid" (garment, dress), Low German Saxon "kleed" (clothing, garment), West Frisian "kleed" (piece of clothing, garment), Dutch "kleed" (garment, carpet), Danish has "klaede" (cloth) and "klaeder" (clothes), Icelandic has "klaethi" (clothes), Norwegian has "klut(en)" (cloth), and Swedish has "kläder" (clothes) and "kläde" (cloth).

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

This was first published in November 2012


 "Bush's Poll Numbers Plummet"

President Bush wanted to deal with the huge federal budget deficit and he had to work with Democratic majorities in both houses to accomplish that. Democrats wanted some tax increases as a part of any deal and Republicans, especially hard line conservatives, wanted only budget cuts. For Bush, his campaign pledge, "Read my lips, no new taxes," was a major obstacle for him, but the President made the commitment to keep tax increases as part of the negotiations. The deal reached cut spending by more than $300 billion and raised revenues by a little more than $150 billion over a five year period. The deal had a provision for any new spending or tax cuts to be offset by some form of spending cuts and/or tax increases elsewhere. The bill passed the Senate with 35 Democrats and 20 Republicans voting FOR the bill and 19 Democrats and 25 Republicans voting AGAINST the measure, and it passed the House with 217 Democrats and 10 Republicans voting FOR and 40 Democrats and 163 Republicans voting AGAINST the bill. President Bush deserves credit for putting the country first and his political party, and his own ego, second. It takes a big person to go against "Read my lips, no new taxes," and his party's increasingly venomous right wing, which attacked him for supporting and signing the legislation. Bush and congressional leaders formed a coalition to get the legislation passed, based upon compromise for the good of the nation. George Bush also drew the wrath of the NRA (National Rifle Association), which had essentially become part of the Republican coalition (with some exceptions), when he supported a ban on the import of some semi-automatic weapons.

Another major event during Bush's presidency was his nomination of Clarence Thomas for a seat on the Supreme Court. Thomas was a black conservative Republican judge chosen by Bush to replace retiring black progressive judge, Thurgood Marshall. Interest groups from both sides of the political spectrum mobilized over the Thomas nomination. The nomination hearings reached fever pitch, with millions of Americans tuned in, when Anita Hill, a lawyer who had worked with Thomas when he was her supervisor, testified that he had made inappropriate sexual remarks to her, perhaps constituting sexual harassment. President Bush, pressed by conservatives to stick with, and to fight for, the nomination, did so. The bitter process ended with Thomas winning confirmation by a narrow margin, as eleven Democrats voted for his confirmation, while only two Republicans opposed it.

The Bush bashing by many conservatives and the slipping economy brought Bush's popularity plummeting back to earth from the stratosphere, where he once had 85-90% approval. The blood was in the water and the political sharks began circling the figure struggling to stay afloat, George Bush, who now looked more and more vulnerable in the upcoming election.

Next, the 1992 Election  

WORD HISTORY:
Clout-Like its close relatives "clot" and "clod,"^ this word goes back to Indo European "gleuh," which had the notion of "stick together, adhere." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "klaut," with the same general meanings.This then produced Old Germanic "klutaz," which had the notion of  "piece of material" ("something put together"), and also, "material used to cover something." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "clut," meaning "piece of cloth or other material used to cover something." This of course carries the original notion of "fixing or having something adhere to." Later, the meaning "hit" developed, and the Oxford Dictionary makes a good point about the possible origin of this change in meaning, as it notes that a target long ago was likely a piece of cloth or some other object fixed to a tree or post, and that the idea of hitting that target transferred the meaning to "clout," likely first through a verb form, and with the noun then meaning "a hit, a blow." In American English the "hit" idea then developed into the figurative "political power; strong influence" as in, "The mayor has clout with the city council." Its use in English for a "piece of cloth," and a "handkerchief" is now archaic. Of the other Germanic languages still retaining the meaning "cloth" in some form: Danish still has "klud," with the meaning "rag" or "piece of cloth," Icelandic has "klútur," meaning "handkerchief," Norwegian has "klut," meaning "rag." If you have been following this progression so far, from "clot" and "clod" to "clout," you may be able to guess what the next word will be. 

^ See the "Word History" in "It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part 21" for "clot/clod."
 http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2012/11/its-about-coalitions-not-purity-part_9286.html
   

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Twenty-One

"Bush's Popularity Soars" 
Manuel Noriega was the leader of Panama who had worked with the CIA for some time, but American leaders knew he was responsible for some of the illegal drug trafficking to the U.S. during the 1980s. After Noriega nullified the Panamanian presidential election when his attempts to "fix" the results were made public, including by election observer Jimmy Carter, President George Bush had more U.S. troops sent to the Canal Zone. The tensions increased and eventually the Panamanian government said that war therefore existed with the U.S. and Bush reacted by sending in troops, as there were thousands of Americans living in Panama. Noriega was deposed, taken into custody and sent to the U.S. for trial on numerous charges having to do with drug trafficking. At his later trial, he was found guilty and ended up being sentenced to 30 years in prison, but he was also wanted by France.

Then in the summer of 1990, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein sent troops into neighboring Kuwait. In response, all sorts of economic sanctions against Iraq were put in place by many nations, but these were just the prelude to military operations, as the U.S. and Britain dispatched large forces to the Persian Gulf area, especially to Saudi Arabia, which, along with Egypt and Syria, provided military support. When operations commenced, there was little doubt about the eventual outcome, as Iraqi forces in Kuwait were routed and fled toward their own border. The complex Middle East political situation between Muslim nations and Israel was one of the primary reasons for not going deep into Iraq and taking down Saddam Hussein. Various restrictions were placed on the Iraqi military thereafter, leaving a running sore for the region and the U.S., but getting Hussein would likely have led to a full-blown war in the Middle East. With the goal of freeing Kuwait met, the war was deemed a success and President Bush's popularity soared in all of the public opinion polls.

The shakiness of the American economy toward the end of Reagan's time in office carried over to Bush's term and the economy slowed further. Then the Gulf War sent oil and gas prices skyrocketing and the economy went into a recession. The recession, developments in Bush's dealings with Congress, strong opposition within his own political party and a third party candidate would combine to threaten Bush's reelection, although initially it was thought it would be a relatively easy campaign for President Bush in 1992, as his high popularity in polls had scared some prominent Democrats, like Mario Cuomo, from running.
  
Next, "Bush's Poll Numbers Plummet"

WORD HISTORY:
Clot (Clod)-This word goes back to Indo European "gleuh," which had the notion of "stick together, adhere," with the further sense, "form into a ball." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "klaut," with the same general meanings. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "clott," which meant "lump, something amassed into a lump." The verb developed later (seemingly the 1300s or early 1400s) from the noun. It is really the same word as "clod" (also spelled "clodde," by some a few hundred years ago), but by the 1500s/1600s, "clod" meant only "lump of earth," whereas "clot" had come to be used more for "congealed fluid," including the medical sense for blood. There are various forms, with varied meanings, in other Germanic languages, and these are only some examples: German has "Klotz" (block or chunk of wood) and "Kloss" (dumpling or meat ball, but the word is used more in the north), Low German Saxon has "Klüüt" (which means both "dumpling" and "clod of earth"), Dutch has "kluit" (lump, clod) and "kloot" (ball bearing, globe), Danish has "klods" (lump, clod, block), Norwegian has "klode" (sphere). I didn't find forms in Swedish, Icelandic or Frisian, but that doesn't mean they don't exist, and the Old Germanic word diverged into various meanings, which I'll be covering in the near future.

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Twenty

First published in November 2012


I will use "George Bush (Sr.)," or just, "George Bush," rather than George H.W. Bush.

George Bush came to the presidency with much, but not all, of the Reagan coalition intact. There was little inkling of the world-changing events that would take place within just a short time in Bush's presidency. Mikhail Gorbachev's liberal reforms in the Soviet Union gave hope to the people of the communist-run states of eastern Europe for reforms in their countries too. With Bush in office just a few months, protests in China took place, with large crowds gathering in the capital of Beijing, in Tiananmen Square. A visit to China by Gorbachev only added to the obvious desire of people in communist countries to have more freedom, as reporters worldwide reported on his visit. This stirred the people of eastern Europe and the Chinese protesters. The gatherings and protests continued, and the Chinese leaders declared martial law, but troops dispatched to various locations were blocked by huge crowds of protesters and the army forces withdrew. The government then decided to use force to restore its hold on the country. Large numbers of troops were sent and protesters again tried to block their deployment, but this time troops, often in armored vehicles, opened fire, prompting a violent response from some protesters. Eventually the troops and the Chinese government regained control and the square was cleared. In the next few days protests elsewhere in China subsided. While actual figures are unknown, apparently hundreds of protesters were killed, with many more wounded, and government forces seem to have suffered something near fifty deaths.*

Meanwhile in Poland in 1989, the Solidarity Movement was legalized and a system of somewhat competitive elections was set up. Solidarity won an overwhelming victory. The Soviet Union of Gorbachev made no move. Within about a year Poland had shifted from a communist nation to a free nation. Similar happened in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and East Germany, where German citizens literally began to tear down the wall that had been put up in the early 1960s by the communists to stop the loss of population to (then) West Germany.** In Rumania matters were more confrontational for a time, and some protesters were killed, but eventually the army joined the revolution and the communist government was overthrown. Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were quickly tried by the army and executed. By 1990 the Soviet Union itself began to come apart, as its various components began to split off. By late 1991, the Soviet Union was no more.

George Bush and his administration offered public support to protesters during all of these historic times, but the President also kept the United States out of direct intervention, and there was no talk of "boots on the ground," although Bush, the U.S. and its allies were more involved in the Middle East at that time. Bush and Gorbachev worked together to reconcile the former opponents.

Next... "Bush's Popularity Soars, Then Plummets"  

* I was in Germany when the violent outbreak occurred, staying in, get this, a Chinese government-owned hotel in downtown Frankfurt (on Niddastrasse). The German manager and I had been friends for several years, dating back to when he managed a different hotel right down the street from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) in downtown Frankfurt. The anxiety among the Chinese employees and guests at the hotel was evident and the faxes were flying fast and furious between Frankfurt and China, as they tried to get information on their loved ones at home.

** As already mentioned, I was in Germany around mid 1989, and if someone, including the relatives I visited, had told me that East and West Germany would be on their way to reunification in a matter of months, I'd have asked, "Seid ihr verrückt geworden?" ("Have you gone crazy?")

WORD HISTORY:
Gulf-The ultimate origins of this word are uncertain, but it goes back to Greek "kolpos," the original notion of which was "bent, curved," which then led to the additional meaning "bosom," and thus to the meaning "water surface between curved land area;" that is, "gulf." Latin borrowed the word from Greek as "colfos" with that meaning, and Old French, a Latin-based language, had "golfe." English borrowed the word from French in the 1300s and it has since taken on the extended meaning, "gap," often in reference to ideas, as in "The gulf between the two countries for an agreement was wide."  

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Nineteen

First published in November 2012


"A Non Reaganite Follows Reagan"

George Bush, also known as George H.W. Bush, or George Bush (Sr.), had been vice president during Ronald Reagan's two terms. Bush had come from a well to do family, where public service was seen as a noble pursuit, and his father had been a senator from Connecticut. Before becoming vice president, George Bush had a substantial public service resume, which included being an ambassador, a congressman, head of the CIA, and chairman of the Republican Party. Bush was generally a moderate Republican, although being appointed GOP chairman by President Richard Nixon during the Watergate investigation and Nixon's disgrace would have left anyone a bit beleaguered. Bush had spent much of his adult life in Texas, where he was in the oil business. During the 1980 Republican nominating process, George Bush was seen by moderate and left of center Republicans (there were still such back then) as the best alternative to Ronald Reagan and the strengthening conservative wing of the Republican Party. Reagan won the nomination early on, but Bush left a mark by describing as "voodoo economics" Reagan's claim that large tax cuts and big increases in defense spending would produce balanced budgets.

Bush was seen by many as the natural Republican candidate for the presidency in 1988, although some conservatives wanted to push a constitutional amendment which would have allowed Reagan to run for a third term. After some early setbacks in the process, Bush recovered, although he turned to the tax issue to gain the upper hand. Reagan and his supporters had cultivated the untrue image of Reagan as an ardent opponent of tax increases,* and, like it, not like it, it worked. Bush hammered major opponent, Senator Bob Dole, over the tax issue, while fending off social conservative Pat Robertson, a televangelist. Bush (and Democrats) faced a somewhat different Republican Party in 1988. The growing conservative element wanted no new taxes, if not outright additional tax cuts, in spite of huge deficits, and the socially conservative part of the political right pushed their issues, like opposition to abortion and advocating prayer in public schools, to the fore, something they had never done with Reagan. In his acceptance speech at the Republican convention, Bush, not on the same public speaking level with Reagan, promised to hold his "charisma in check" and not to raise taxes, "Read my lips... no new taxes." In something of a play to the political right of the GOP, Bush chose little known and young Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as his running mate.** 

Democrats, out of the White House for eight years, nominated Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, as former front runner, Senator Gary Hart, dropped out after a love affair hit the news and Senator Ted Kennedy had declined to run. Dukakis chose Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate. Bentsen was a seasoned veteran, while Dukakis seemed to be anything but warm and fuzzy.

While the economy had been somewhat jittery, unemployment was low and Americans seemed to be satisfied with Republican rule, although early polls showed a lead for Dukakis. The budget deficits were very high, but neither Reagan, Bush, nor Republicans in general, seemed inclined to do anything to staunch the flow of red ink, although always claiming to be against budget deficits and Keynesian economics. (In fairness, Democrats didn't want to do much either.) During the campaign, Dukakis, fearful of GOP attacks accusing him of being soft on defense, appeared in a television ad riding in a tank, wearing a helmet. The ad drew laughs from many, as some compared Dukakis's image to Peanut character, "Snoopy." Then in one of the debates, Dukakis, who opposed the death penalty, was asked if he'd continue to oppose it, even if his wife were raped and killed. Dukakis's technocratic answer, citing statistics unfavorable to the death penalty, only served to reinforce his image as not having an emotional connection to the electorate. While elections usually don't turn on vice presidential candidates, Democrats went after the young and inexperienced Dan Quayle, and the senator played into their hands by comparing his experience to John ("Jack") F. Kennedy, who ran for the presidency while a young senator. Lloyd Bentsen quickly retorted, "Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy. You're no Jack Kennedy." The remark was cutting, and Quayle's image never recovered in the public mind, but the debate did nothing to advance Democratic hopes to defeat the Republicans. In the end, the coalition assembled by Reagan and Republicans triumphed, as Bush received more than 53% of the popular vote to less than 46% for Dukakis. Presidents are actually chosen by the electoral college, and in that, Bush had a landslide of 426 to 111,*** carrying 40 states to 10, plus the District of Columbia, for Dukakis.

Republicans retained the White House.   

* It was untrue, because Reagan had agreed to numerous moderate tax increases during his time as president, although often under the guise of "revenue enhancements." Calling something by another name doesn't change what it is, but Reagan had at least shown himself willing to raise taxes to combat the large budget deficits run during his terms.

** Bush's choice of Quayle ended up not hurting his election chances, although, if I remember right, one Republican political strategist noted sarcastically something to the effect, "Well, at least we know we'll carry Indiana." The point was, Indiana tends to be a very Republican state, so nothing was gained by Quayle's selection, as he was from that Republican state.   

*** One elector voted for Bentsen for president.

WORD HISTORY:
Wreak-This word traces back to Indo European "wreg," which had to notion of "to hunt, to chase, to drive against (shove)." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "wrekanan," which meant "to chase, to drive against, to shove," with the further development of  "to punish" (often by exile; that is, "driving/forcing out," thus also, "avenge." This gave Old English "wrecan," along with variations of the same, which had to do with "avenge, revenge," and this later became modern "wreak," still most commonly used in expressions denoting "bring about vengeance" or "cause damage," as in, "The storm is expected to wreak damage on the area," or, "The jury wants to wreak retribution on the scoundrel." Other Germanic languages have: German "rächen" (to avenge) and the noun "Rache" (vengeance, revenge); at least some Low German dialects have "Rach" (vengeance); Dutch "wreken" (to avenge) and the noun "wraak" (revenge, vengeance); West Frisian "wreke" (to avenge) and "wrek" (revenge); Swedish "vräka" (evict; that is, a specific punishment, with ties to the old meaning "drive against/shove"). I could not find modern versions in Danish, Norwegian or Icelandic. Interestingly, German and Low German have dropped the "w," and Swedish uses a form for a specific punishment/revenge, rather than the general notion of revenge/punishment used by its other Germanic cousins. 

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Eleven

"The Reagan Coalition and the Rise of the American Political Right" Part Three

With Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy opposing President Jimmy Carter for the 1980 Democratic nomination, Carter's weaknesses were magnified. Many labor people, a significant element of the Democratic coalition, went with Kennedy, and many liberal Democrats saw Carter as too conservative. However, just as had happened with Gerald Ford in 1976, when Ronald Reagan challenged him for the Republican nomination, enough Democrats stuck with President Carter to eventually ward off Kennedy's strong challenge.* While Carter has often appeared to be exceedingly idealistic, both then and now, he came to the presidency in 1977 (the election was in November 1976) in the aftermath of the Watergate scandals. Carter slyly would remind voters of Watergate, a Republican scandal, while seeming to be above playing hard nose politics, by often telling reporters, "I'm not here to answer questions about Watergate." He did much the same in 1980 against Kennedy, as Kennedy had been involved in an auto accident in 1969 which claimed the life of a young woman passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, as his car veered off a bridge and into the water. The accident, on Chappaquiddick Island (Massachusetts), saw Kennedy save himself, but leave the scene, only to report the accident many hours later. The deadly accident spawned many a conspiracy theory, and even a number of Democrats were skeptical of Kennedy's story. Senator Kennedy's 1980 run for president brought the issue, which had never completely died out, back to the front pages throughout the country. Carter would steadfastly and repeatedly announce that he didn't want to talk about "Chappaquiddick," which was a way of talking about it. Comedian Bob Hope had a great quip which summed up the whole thing. Carter had a young daughter, Amy, and Hope said something to the effect that while Carter said he didn't want to talk about Kennedy's auto accident, he spent each night teaching Amy how to spell "Chappaquiddick." In the end, Carter won the nomination. Meanwhile, on the Republican side...

Ronald Reagan and his conservative supporters moved quickly to secure the Republican nomination from the Republican moderate wing, then basically led by George Bush (Senior). Bush's campaign was unable to halt the Reagan juggernaut, but he gave Reagan's opponents a highly quotable comment about Reagan's economic proposals of tax cuts and large defense spending increases, calling them "voodoo economics." ** Voodoo or not, Reagan easily captured the Republican nomination and he tagged Bush to be his vice presidential running mate, which caused Bush to use some voodoo of his own to distance himself from his previous remark. John Anderson, a long time moderate Republican congressman from Illinois, chose to run as an independent in an effort to attract moderate Republicans and disaffected Democrats. So the race for the presidency was set.

* For those unaware, Ted Kennedy was the brother of President John F. Kennedy (also known by his initials "JFK"), who was assassinated in November 1963, and Robert Kennedy, a former Attorney General of the United States, assassinated in 1968 as he campaigned for the Democratic nomination. John Kennedy was the first, and thus far only, Roman Catholic to be elected president. Even by 1980, the lingering divisiveness over religion played a role in the primary, as some staunch Democratic acquaintances of mine, who were Protestant, chose Carter, solely based upon the fact that Kennedy was Catholic. Carter was a Baptist and a Sunday school teacher.

**  In 1992 when Ross Perot was running for president as an independent, he recounted how Reagan's policies led to huge deficits and he repeated the "voodoo economics" label, then saying "we are now in deep voodoo." 

WORD HISTORY:
Bring-This word traces back to Indo European "bhrengkh," which generally meant "carry, bring," and also by extension, "worry" ("carry concerns with you"). This gave Old Germanic "bringanan," which meant "to bring, to carry." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "bringan," with the same general meaning, and by extension, "to produce," from the notion "bring forth." This then became "bringen," before the modern version.^  Common in the other West Germanic languages: German and Low German Saxon have "bringen," Dutch has "brengen," and West Frisian has "bringe." The North Germanic languages did not use forms of the word until later, although I "assume" other forms replaced it during the Old Norse period,^^ but Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish all borrowed forms from Low German: Norwegian and Danish have "bringe" and Swedish has "bringa." Icelandic never borrowed a form of the word, as it was already established in Iceland by the time the other North Germanic languages borrowed forms of the word. In some Germanic languages, forms of "bring" can also mean "take," depending upon context.

^ In modern everyday English we have to use two words to represent the infinitive form of a verb; as in, "to bring." In the past however, English, like its Germanic cousins, used just one word, the main word + an ending, typically of "an" or "en," to mean the same thing. This ending then changed according to how the verb was used in a sentence (these changes are called "inflections," see below). Some quaint dialects and non modernized texts, like some Bibles and hymnals, still use the old forms; thus you still see things like "hast" ("have," German still uses "hast"), "cometh" (German uses "kommt"), "sayeth" (German has "sagt"). The other Germanic languages have generally retained some form of this grammar, with lots of inflections, into modern times; thus, in German for example, "bringen" means "to bring" (also "to take," not in the sense "accept," but rather "to take something or someone from one place to another"). English simplified its verbs, thus when "to bring" is conjugated, it is: I bring; you bring; he/she/it brings; we/they bring, so there are only two grammatical forms needed to express ourselves, "bring" and "brings." German, on the other hand, is still like the English of several hundred years ago: infinitive "bringen:" ich bringe; du bringst; er/sie/es bringt; wir/sie bringen, so there are four forms needed.  

^^ Old Norse is the ancestor of the North Germanic languages: Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish and Swedish (actually also Faroese, from the Faroe Islands), having come from Old Germanic, and generally dates from about 700 A.D. until about 1200/1300.   

Conservatism Unravels, Part Three

So Reagan was leaving office having negotiated some substantial deals with Gorbachev, the then leader of the Soviet Union. While Reagan has been given credit by conservatives, Republicans and some Democrats for bringing down the Soviet Union and Communism in eastern Europe, in general, it is, in my opinion, something like the Dems claiming that FDR ended the Depression; that is, there is certainly some truth, but also some exaggeration involved. Reagan developed a good relationship with Gorbachev, a man who also deserves some credit for the demise of the Soviet Union, although he probably didn't want things to actually turn out exactly as they did. Gorbachev's "openness" policy helped curb the police state that the Communist Party had developed from the very inception of Bolshevik rule, which was simply an exchange of a Tsarist police state for a Soviet police state.

While Communism lost control of various nations by the early 1990s, the problems associated with their rise didn't go away. There still remains in the world and in our own society a debate about basic treatment of workers and some sort of basic fairness to society, including income and services like health care. Remember, the old members of the Bolshevik Party didn't just decide one day to form a radical political movement just for the hell of it. They were reacting to brutal treatment by the Russian business class and by the Russian government, a government ruled by the upper class. This is not an attempt to sanitize the Bolsheviks, later called Communists, but the fact remains that what seems to have been a fairly large segment of the Russian population favored some major changes in the economic life of the country, although most did NOT favor the Bolsheviks. In fact, within the particular socialist party from which the Bolsheviks came, the Bolsheviks were a minority. That's how they got their name, as "Bolshevik" means "minority," as opposed to the far larger segment of this socialist party called the "Mensheviks," meaning "majority." Anyway, Reagan certainly helped to bring Communism to its knees in eastern Europe, with his enormous military build up, but he did so at the expense of the American budget deficit, which ballooned to extraordinary heights.

In his campaign for the White House, George Bush (Sr.) had some difficulties within his own Republican Party, as many on the far right were lukewarm, at best, toward him. The media picked up on this tension and dubbed Bush as being the dreaded "M" word, meaning "moderate,"*** primarily based upon his perceived stands on many social issues and possibly on taxes.^^^ The anti tax mantra of the Republicans had become so strong, that in his acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention, Bush felt forced to declare that he would never raise taxes, and uttered a line that helped get him elected, but which then turned on him: "Read my lips...no new taxes!!!" Of course, never to be counted out for doing something stupid, Democrats helped Bush's campaign by putting presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in an army tank, with an extra large helmet that made him look something akin to Snoopy of the Peanuts cartoon strip doing some stunt. The thing was, Snoopy was more popular than Dukakis, and Bush won handily.

I've often felt that politics is so unfair. Sometimes, the wrong people are made to pay for the sins of others. To me, thus it was with Bush. He formed a very formidable alliance, even with many Muslim nations as participants, to oust Saddam Hussein's army from Kuwait. The "Gulf War" sent Bush's popularity soaring higher than any president in history, but then the American economy started to falter. The deficits incurred under Reagan became even worse under Bush, as revenues from the slow economy and spending on the war took a toll. Bush made a deal with Democrats (who controlled both houses of Congress) to raise taxes. The right wing of the Republican Party went ballistic.

As the economy sagged, so did Bush's poll numbers. Conservative Pat Buchanan chose to run against Bush in the Republican primaries and gave Bush a bloody nose, and the "read my lips" part of Bush's 1988 speech was used against him. Bush never really recovered. Further, Buchanan had proven himself to be quite popular with the hardcore conservative base of the party, and he demanded a prominent role at the Republican Convention. Buchanan's speech to the convention turned off many moderate (there's that "M" word again) voters, as he tossed out the red meat of intolerance to the social conservatives and members of the Religious Right. Ross Perot, a billionaire businessman, also entered the general election fray, and at times, led Bush in the polls. In the end, many Republicans "came home" and voted for Bush and saved him the embarrassment of finishing third. Conservatism seemed to be running out of steam... or was it? Bush lost, but Republicans actually gained seats in the House of Representatives!!! Enter...Bill Clinton, the guy conservatives love to hate. (Of course, even some Democrats aren't all that thrilled with him either, at times!) To be continued.... (Some word histories are further below)

***Bush and other Republicans had frequently dared Democrats to use "liberal" to describe themselves, with the implication being that "liberal" had become a sort of dirty word, and that Democrats were trying to disassociate themselves with the term. Bush said that Dems were afraid of the "L word." And he was RIGHT!

^^^And THEY were right! After he left office, Bush talked about being able to express his own views on many social issues, without the worry of having to placate the right wing of his party. As to taxes, just read further in the main text.

Word History:
Skill-The basic idea behind this word is "the ability to make distinctions; that is, to have the knowledge to make distinctions, discernment." It came to English during the 1200s from Old Norse "skil," which also meant "distinction, discernment." Old Norse is a North Germanic language. It is related to the Old Norse verb "skilja," which meant "distinguish, separate." It goes back to Old Germanic "skaljo," (from the root word "skel") also meaning "separate, divide." Middle Low German had "schillen," meaning "to differ," and Dutch has "geschil," meaning "difference" (the notion being, if you can separate things, you can discern the difference). Within a short time in English (by the early 1300s), the word had developed further, with the idea that if you had the mental ability to make distinctions, you were clever. Then finally that progressed quickly to the modern meaning of "being able to do something well."

Conservatism Unravels, Part Two

One thing to keep in mind, Reagan was a POLITICIAN. He often spoke in very direct, ideological terms, but in the end, he was willing to compromise. He "talked" free trade, but, if I remember right, he protected certain businesses, like Harley-Davidson, from foreign competition. He was much taken with "supply side" economic theory that had become quite popular in the 1970s. The thing was, with inflation rampant throughout much of the 1970s, with ever higher...ah...oil and gasoline prices contributing to the spiral, the country was looking for some way to rein in prices. With the idea that inflation was "too much demand chasing too few goods/services," the notion was to spur more production to bring prices down. The major thrust of this policy/theory was to cut taxes of all kinds, with a tilt toward business and upper incomes, so that there would be more production; that is, "supply." Thus began the modern Republican Party's (and the conservative movement's) love affair with tax cuts.

I'm not an economist, and I'm not sure that even matters, as not all economists agree on the effects of various policies, but how much Reagan's tax cuts and economic policies contributed to the American economic scene is debatable.### First, Paul Volker (I believe he's a Republican, but I can't absolutely swear to that) had been appointed by Jimmy Carter to be Federal Reserve Chairman. Volker, literally a towering man at six feet seven inches tall, was a tough, no nonsense guy. He jacked up interest rates until we all screamed "Uncle!!!" In this case, his and the Fed's idea was to cut consumption of goods and services, and thus bring prices down (in other words, the opposite of "supply side"). To be quite honest, it was a Fed driven recessionary period that followed. Beginning in the late 1970s, the economy, virtually choked by sky high interest rates, began to sputter. In the early 1980s, when Reagan was president, the economy went into a major tailspin, with unemployment soaring to more than 10%. Some "liberal" economists and politicians pointed the finger at Reagan, but myself, I don't see how anything he had done up to that point contributed to the downturn. In fact, his tax cuts probably helped bring the country out of recession. The thing for conservatism (and its main "vehicle," the Republican Party) was, if some tax cuts are good for America, then a lot more tax cuts will be even better for America. (Hey, some chocolate is good for you, but a lot of chocolate gives you the...ah...well, you know.) Reagan's policies seemed at war with one another at times,*** as he cut taxes, but increased military spending by tremendous amounts. Some items in the Federal Budget were trimmed, but overall, budget deficits under Reagan soared to previously unheard of heights. Contrary to what some Republicans would have people believe, Reagan did raise taxes, preferring to call some of them "revenue enhancers," rather than taxes. So again, he was NOT the unbending conservative ideologue, and as Reagan prepared to leave office, the Republic was safe, although there was a major Wall Street meltdown during Reagan's last couple of years in office, but the overall effect on the economy was nothing like the 1929 crash, nor, it seems, what we are witnessing today. The economy was a bit staggered, but it remained standing. Reagan became the man other Republicans wanted to emulate, so much so, that some seemed to try to out-Reagan, Reagan. Enter George Bush, Sr. (A word history is further below)

Part Three later...

*** During the race for the Republican nomination, Reagan's major opponent, George Bush (Sr.), dubbed Reagan's economic ideas "voodoo economics," a term perpetuated by the media (and Democrats) pretty much throughout his presidency. For those too young, George Bush (Sr.) became Reagan's vice president.

### I don't think I'm being unfair here, as I've also noted that, while Democrats loved to "claim" that Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal policies ended the Depression, that wasn't really the case, for while a drop in unemployment from 24% to like 15% was certainly a vast improvement, it wasn't exactly heaven come to Earth. FDR's personality and his policies helped make Americans feel better (just as Reagan did), and that deserves note, but it was the start of World War Two, and then our later involvement in the war, that finally put the stake through the heart of the Great Depression. Interestingly, Reagan had been "a New Deal Democrat," and he was noted for frequently quoting FDR in some of his major speeches throughout his presidency.

Word History:
Edge-Noun-This word comes from the Indo European root "ak," which meant "sharp or pointed." This was passed down to the Germanic branch as "agjo," which meant "corner, edge." (You can see the relationship to "pointed.") This in turn gave Old English "ecg," which besides the meaning "corner, edge," also meant the "sharpened side of a sword or knife blade." Indeed, to this very day we say that a blade "has an edge to it." Later, English shifted to a spelling of "egg(e)," and then to the modern "edge." The English verb "egg," as in "to incite," or "to egg someone on," is related to "edge," and was borrowed from related Germanic language, Old Norse, with the idea being of "nudging" (perhaps with a sharpened blade? Hey, that would get me moving!) and the idea also came into English of "edging along," or "edging ever closer to something," with the idea of relatively slow movement toward something. The relatives of English still use the word (obviously in their own form), as German, for example, has "Ecke," meaning "corner," and Norwegian and Swedish have "egg," meaning "edge." Further, a form of the old Indo European root "ak" also passed into Latin and Greek (both related to English further down the "family tree"), and English later picked up words from these two languages; for example, "acrid," ("sharp smelling") "acute," ("sharp pain, or condition," not by the way like, "Look! What acute dog!") "alacrity," ("intense; that is, sharp liveliness, briskness").