The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Fifteen

After long negotiations by President Jimmy Carter and his administration to secure the release of the American hostages being held in Iran, a deal was struck in the final hours of Carter's term, but the hostages did not leave Iranian airspace until Ronald Reagan was officially president.

Republicans controlled the United States Senate for the first time since the early part of the 1950s, and while Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, conservative Southern Democrats, who were called "Boll Weevil Democrats," provided enough support to some Reagan supported legislation to help pass that legislation. There were contradictions in Reagan's life and rhetoric, as one of his core groups of supporters was the "religious right," which pushed a theme of "family values," including opposition to divorce. Reagan was divorced from his first wife, actress Jane Wyman, and he was estranged from a couple of his children: nevertheless, religious right leaders Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson loved Reagan, who rarely went to church and who was not an especially religious person. Reagan's rhetoric opposed abortion, but Reagan never did much on the political front in support of that position. Reagan and his wife, Nancy, came from a Hollywood background in their earlier years, and, as such, they had many gay friends and acquaintances, but neither spoke out about political ads aired on television in the former Confederacy during the 1980 campaign knocking Jimmy Carter's support of equal rights for gay Americans.

President Reagan was shot by John Hinckley on March 30, 1981. Besides wounding the president, Hinckley also wounded Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, DC police officer Thomas Delahanty and White House Press Secretary James Brady. Brady was shot in the head which caused speaking difficulty and the need for a wheelchair for the rest of his life (he died in 2014). President Reagan required surgery and it took more than six months for the president to recover (he was 70 years old).

In August of 1981, a large economic package pushed by Reagan passed Congress. The package included large tax cuts skewed toward business and the wealthy, but not exclusively. The most crucial vote in the House was 238 FOR to 195 AGAINST. Democratic members in states of the former Confederacy voting for the bill: 2 from Alabama, 6 from Florida, 7 from Georgia, 2 from Louisiana, 2 from Mississippi, 1 from North Carolina, 3 from Tennessee, 8 from Texas and 1 from Virginia (none in either Arkansas or South Carolina). So, to put this into some perspective, the bill passed with 48 Democrats voting for it, with 32 of those Democrats being from the former Confederate states. In contrast, only one Republican from Vermont voted against the bill.

In a controversial act, in early August of 1981, Reagan fired thousands of the nation's air traffic controllers who went on strike. The controllers wanted better pay, but the main issue was a shorter work week in the stressful job. Reagan had voiced support for the controllers' cause during the 1980 campaign and the union endorsed Reagan over Carter in the election. During the campaign too, Reagan touted how he had twice been the president of a union, the Screen Actors Guild (now combined with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). In states of the former Confederacy, Reagan's action likely caused little concern, as unions were relatively weak in the southern part of the country, where they even existed there.

Meanwhile, the economy was slipping, as the high interest rates of the Federal Reserve took more of a toll on economic growth, and the nation went into a severe recession, with unemployment reaching nearly 11 % by 1982. In the election of 1982, the first held under the redistricting of the 1980 Census, Republicans weren't spared the wrath of voters, and they lost a combined 26 seats to Democrats in the House of Representatives. Changes in the delegations in the former Confederate states: Democrats gained 3 seats in Virginia, making that delegation 6 Republicans and 4 Democrats; Republicans gained one seat in Mississippi, making that delegation 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans; Democrats gained 3 seats in Texas, all newly created by redistricting, making the delegation 22 Democrats and 5 Republicans, in Tennessee, Democrats gained one newly created seat, making the delegation 6 Democrats and 3 Republicans; Democrats gained a seat in South Carolina, making the delegation 3 Republicans and 3 Democrats; in North Carolina, Democrats gained two seats, making the delegation 9 Democrats and 2 Republicans; in Florida, four new seats were created due to reapportionment, with each party winning two of those new seats and the other seats remaining in control of the same party from the previous election, but now the increased delegation being 13 Democrats and 6 Republicans; Democrats gained one seat in Alabama, making the delegation 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans (states not listed saw no change in party representation in their delegations). In Senate elections, the Republicans gained a seat in Virginia, for the only change in former Confederate states. In elections for governors, George Wallace once again was elected in Alabama as a Democrat, but he replaced a Democrat, so no change in party control. In Arkansas, Democrat Bill Clinton defeated the Republican who had defeated him in the previous election, thus changing the party control there. In Texas, Democrats defeated the Republican incumbent, thus Democrats gained the governorship there.

WORD HISTORY:
Issue-This word, with both noun and verb forms, is related to "exit" (a word borrowed by English). The first part of "issue" goes back to Indo European "eks/eghs," with the notion of "out from, out of, out." This gave Latin "ex-," a prefix with generally the same meaning. The rest of the word goes back to Indo European "ei/ey," which meant, "to go." ^ This gave Latin "eo," with the same meaning. Together, Latin had "exeo," which produced the infinitive form "exire," which meant "to exit, to leave, to go out (from)." This passed to Latin-based Old French as "eissir/issir," with the same meanings. One of its participle forms in Old French was "issue," and it was this form that was borrowed by English in the late 1200s. The meaning of a person's or couple's "children" derived from the notion of "children coming from the parent or parents," and developed not all that long after the word was borrowed into English. It was the legal system in England where the meaning, "legal matters," developed, a meaning that then broadened beyond court. The verb meaning of, "to send out, to give notice, to present to an individual or to the public," was also sometimes used in legal matters, as well as governmental matters, as it usually conveyed a sense of authority ("The court issued a summons to the man," or, "The traffic cop issued a ticket to me for speeding." Ah, unfairly, of course!) Later it also came to be used for "handing out, distributing, supplying," as in, "The commander issued weapons to the civilians in the town."

^ It "seems" that Old Germanic also had a form from this Indo European word, which gave Old English "eode," which later became "yode," and was the past tense form used for "go," although it was unrelated to the word "go." To confuse matters more, "yode" itself was replaced by "went," a word related to neither eode/yode" nor "go," but rather was the past tense of "wenden," which is now simply "to wend."

The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Fourteen

The 1980 election proved to be decisive, as former Democrat turned Republican, Ronald Reagan, defeated incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter. Reagan, a former actor, had previously been governor of California, while Carter was a former governor of Georgia and a peanut farmer. The hostages being held in Iran certainly weighed on the election, although as I recall, Reagan didn't directly exploit the issue, because he didn't have to, everyone knew about it, and no one really knew what to do about it, including Republicans. Instead, Reagan talked about a military build up and "a strong America" as a way to get respect abroad. The economy was really the central issue of the campaign, as high inflation, led by the high oil and gas prices of the 1970s, dragged on the economy. Carter appointed Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve in 1979 and the Fed began a policy of constant interest rate hikes to wring inflation out of the economy. The whole process was very painful, as interest rates soared, and borrowing money became an expensive proposition, if it could even be done. As part of this, the 1970s had seen an increased issuance of what was becoming an ever more popular form of credit... CREDIT CARDS! The interest rates on these cards soared right along, and the economy slowed. Many Americans didn't necessarily blame Carter for the country's economic problems, or for the hostage situation in Iran, but he also couldn't solve the problems; at least, not as quickly as Americans wanted. A decade and more earlier, Southerner and segregationist George Wallace had often claimed, "There's not a dime's worth of difference between the Republicans and Democrats;" thus, Wallace ran for president as a third party candidate. In the 1980 election, we began to see a shift in ideas, as the more conservative Reagan laid out his plans, including large tax cuts, which were touted to largely "pay for themselves," and large increases in military spending; thus, drawing some sharp contrasts to Democrats, whom Reagan and conservatives termed, "liberals," not that that this was the first time that designation had been used. The thing was, Reagan's conservatism worried many people, but after a reassuring performance at the lone presidential debate in Cleveland, polls shifted dramatically and Reagan won a big electoral victory over Carter, including in the former Confederacy. Overall, Reagan won 489 electoral votes, including those of all former Confederate states, except for Carter's native Georgia, although Reagan won Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee by close margins.**

In the Senate, Republicans made gains in the former Confederacy, as they took seats in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. In the House of Representatives, Republicans gained a seat in Florida making the state's delegation 11 Democrats and 4 Republicans, while Republicans gained two seats in North Carolina, making the delegation 7 Democrats and 4 Republicans, in South Carolina, Republicans gained two seats, making the delegation 4 Republicans and 2 Democrats, in Texas, Republicans picked up one seat, making the delegation 19 Democrats and 5 Republicans, and in Virginia, Republicans gained 3 seats, giving them 9 seats to 1 for the Democrats. In a hotly contested  governor's race in Arkansas, Republicans defeated incumbent, and future president, Democrat Bill Clinton.
 
* During the Republican nominating process (primaries and caucuses), Reagan's major opponent was George H.W. Bush, who dubbed Reagan's economic ideas as, "voodoo economics," a term which continued to be used long after Reagan defeated Bush for the nomination. 

** Reagan talked about support for "states' rights," a term that drew fire from civil rights groups and Democrats for its history as a "cover or code term" for pro-slavery positions, and later, for support of suppression of civil rights for black Americans and for pro-segregation positions. Reagan said he meant he supported things like education being turned totally over to states and local communities, and that he felt the federal government had been unsuccessful in many endeavors, declaring that the government had declared war on poverty (under Lyndon Johnson), but that poverty had won. He also would often say that one of the most fearful things for a person to have happen, was to have a knock at the door and be told, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help" (he often tended to pronounce the word as, "govment"). It all played well with people in the former Confederacy, who perpetuated the South's long contentiousness with the federal government over slavery leading up to the Civil War, then the war itself and then the occupation of the former Confederacy by federal troops in the aftermath of the war (Reconstruction). Of course, the contentiousness and hatred continued with many of the things I've covered in previous parts in this series, including the battles over segregation and civil rights. 

WORD HISTORY:
Trend-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, but it goes back to Old Germanic "trandijanan," with the notion of, "curve or bend in a rounded course." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) the verb "trendan," meaning, "to turn about/around, roll." This then became "trenden," before the modern form. It wasn't until the mid 1800s that the meaning, "events moving in a particular direction," became fixed to the word, as this developed from a late 1500s seafaring meaning, "the course of a shoreline or coast." The old form also spawned "trundle," of "trundle bed;" "a low setting bed on wheels" (round objects), and also the verb of that spelling, "to roll something on wheels." English also once had "trendel," "orb, ring," and "trinde," "lump, rounded mass." The various meanings over time make it difficult to research other Germanic relatives, but an interesting relative is Danish "trind," meaning, "plump, rounded." 

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."

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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." 

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

"Clinton Leaves In More Controversy, Bush Takes Office"

Bill Clinton's controversial time in office closed with ... ah ... controversy. On his last day, Clinton, as most presidents do, made some pardons and sentence commutations, many of them involving a certain amount of controversy, but his pardon of Marc Rich drew a resoundingly negative response, even among many Democrats. Rich, who had been born in Belgium, but whose family fled to the United States to escape Hitler, was an American citizen who later became involved in the oil markets, including with Iran, even during the American hostage crisis and in spite of sanctions against Iran put in place by President Carter.* Rich's extensive overseas business dealings had him out of the United States for considerable periods of time. By the 1980s, Rich had been indicted by the U.S. government on criminal charges of tax evasion and illegal dealings with Iran. Rich was in Europe and remained there, thus becoming a wanted man. Later, the U.S. government changed its policy on tax evasion, choosing to pursue such matters in civil suits, rather than as criminal cases. Clinton said the criminal charge should be dropped in favor of the updated civil suit tax evasion procedure,** favoring a position argued by Rich's attorney, one "Scooter" Libby, a Republican, later heavily involved with Dick Cheney. One of the problems was, Rich's wife had made donations to Democrats, making the matter smell like a political deal, but the real problem was Rich's dealings with Iran during the hostage crisis.

Also as Clinton left office, the economy sagged, as high gasoline prices and the bursting of the so called "dot.com bubble" took a toll. The mid to late 1990s had seen a growth in the Internet and in companies doing business on the Web. The lure of the new technology brought stock buyers to these companies in large numbers, but the failure of some businesses to reap fast rewards eventually brought the stock prices tumbling and an uncertainty to the economy. Enter George W. Bush....

As Bush took office, the party division in Congress further highlighted the national split, just as the presidential vote had. Republicans retained control of the House by a narrow margin and the Senate was 50-50, but with Republicans in control by virtue of Vice President Cheney, as the vice president has a Senate vote in case of a tie. The new president proposed to use part of the then record budget surplus for tax cuts to help boost the economy.*** Many Democrats argued the proposed tax cuts would disproportionately favor the wealthy, and the battle was on.

Next... "Tax Cuts and 9/11"

* Rich's idea was, maintain good business relations with as many international leaders of oil nations as possible, including, or "perhaps especially," those out of favor in western countries. With oil scarcities, use the connections to buy oil at relatively cheap prices and then sell it to those willing to pay premium price, thus making millions.

** The pardon did not exempt Rich from civil suits and it levied a multi million dollar fine on him.

*** 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.
   
WORD HISTORY:
Spear-This word traces back to Indo European "sper/spar," which had the notion of "pole." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "speri," which meant "spear." This gave Old English "spere," which meant "spear, lance," and this then became "spear." The verb form developed from the noun. Other Germanic languages have: standard German and Low German Saxon "Speer," Dutch "speer," West Frisian "spear." The North Germanic languages use a different word for this meaning.   

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Thirteen

"Conservatism Takes Power-Reagan"

In January of 1981 Ronald Reagan became President of the United States. The ordeal of the American hostages in Iran, which had lasted well over a year, reached an end on Jimmy Carter's last full day in office, after extensive negotiations, but in an apparent effort to give Carter as little attention as possible, the Iranians only released the Americans from custody the next day, right after Reagan took the oath of office.
 
Reagan and Republicans began to try to implement their agenda, which included big tax cuts and large increases in military spending. To achieve his goals, Reagan worked with conservative Democrats, particularly in the House of Representatives, which was under Democratic control. By appealing to these Democrats, Reagan forged a coalition in the House which often provided him with a working majority. The country faced an inflation rate in the double digits, and the Federal Reserve, under Carter appointee Paul Volcker, sought to squeeze inflation out of the economy through interest rate hikes and a slowing economy. Interest rates reached 20% during 1981, and more than 21% the next year. Gradually the high interest rates slowed the economy considerably, bringing about a severe recession, which technically began in the summer of 1981. In the meantime, an assassination attempt on Reagan in March 1981 left the President hospitalized, and others wounded, including James Brady, Reagan's White House Press Secretary, who suffered a severe wound to his head, which left him disabled thereafter. The gunman was a mentally ill man named John Hinckley, who had also worked on plans to kill President Carter. Reagan was rushed to surgery and he remained in the hospital for about two weeks, but it took a few months for him to fully recover.

As Reagan recovered, but the economy moved lower, the President pushed his initial economic plan through Congress later in the summer of 1981, by which time the economy was in full retreat and unemployment eventually soared to nearly 11% in 1982. Democrats quickly pinned the severe downturn on Reagan and his policies, but in my opinion, the recession was overwhelmingly the result of policies implemented by the Federal Reserve to curtail inflation. Reagan's plan cut taxes for high incomes from 70% to 50% and from 14% to 11% for the lowest bracket, and the rate of taxation on capital gains fell from 28% to 20%.* More than a year later in the fall of 1982, the economy had worsened and Reagan's popularity had diminished considerably. Democrats scored significant gains in the House in the midterm election that year, but Reagan was still able to use conservative Democrats as part of his legislative coalition to get things passed. The severe economic downturn brought about a decline in inflation and a gradual lowering of interest rates by the Federal Reserve. Huge budget deficits from the tax cuts, high unemployment, and increased military spending helped stimulate the economy, in spite of Reagan's anti deficit rhetoric. Unemployment, the worst since the Great Depression, began to slowly recede.

All in all, a year or so before the presidential election of 1984, Reagan looked like a one-term president, but Reagan had a knack for keeping his coalition together, although his rhetoric often actually contradicted his policies or real life experience. The "religious right" became a force to be reckoned with in American politics during Reagan's presidency, and its leaders, like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, preached "family values" and they loved Reagan, although Reagan had been divorced and had estrangement problems with a couple of his children, plus he rarely attended church. In the end though, most Americans liked Ronald Reagan and that helped to sustain his presidency. Polls showed his likability, while Americans were lukewarm or out and out cold toward some of his policies or ideas. Reagan loved to joke, including about himself, a characteristic seemingly liked by most Americans. Reagan tended to be in his White House office from like 9 to 5,** a preference he in fact admitted to, and Democrats dubbed him "lazy," but Reagan cracked a joke about his office hours that generally sticks in my mind to this day. When asked about his hours by reporters, Reagan told them something like, "My mother always told me hard work never hurt anybody, but I decided to take it easy, just in case she was wrong." (Although I've put this in quotation marks, this is NOT an exact quote, but rather a paraphrase from my recollections, and Reagan "may" have used variations on his quip at different times.)

With Social Security facing financial problems, Reagan worked with Democrats in 1983 to keep the popular program solvent. Reagan had long advocated that Social Security be voluntary, but in 1983, he completely reversed himself and joined with Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill to bring more revenues (deductions from paychecks) and reforms to Social Security, including gradually raising the retirement age. Reagan proved himself to be far less dogmatic than many had feared, while still keeping his conservative base intact. Americans tended to see in Reagan what they wanted to see, something that has continued to this day, as the now far more conservative Republican Party talks how Reagan didn't increase taxes, or that he had firm convictions, while all of the historical evidence on such matters shows them to be wrong, and that doesn't count the enormous budget deficits run during his presidency, even AFTER the economy had recovered from the terrible recession earlier in his term.*** Reagan regularly met with Democrats, and while he and Speaker O'Neill did battle in public, they frequently shared a drink and joke telling at the White House. This was politics on a personal level, something never done much or well by Jimmy Carter.

Next, "Conservatism Consolidates Power-Reagan"

* You can see the entire bill or its major provisions at various sites. The actual law was termed, "The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981," although it is also called the "Reagan tax cuts." Capital gains taxes are paid on profits from the sale of assets, and therefore tend to largely, but not entirely, benefit wealthier people. For example, just to keep this simple, you buy stock for $100 and you sell it for $300, you therefore pay capital gains based on the $200 profit. Since wealthier people own a huge percentage of all stocks, bonds, and property, they tend to benefit more by a lower capital gains tax rate. The actual percentage of such assets owned by the wealthy is somewhat in dispute, but it seems that the top ten percent in wealth own somewhere between 80% and 90% of these assets. The idea of capital gains taxes was to tax "non earned income;" that is, income not derived from working at a job or business.

** Democrats made an issue of Reagan's office hours, but by all accounts, he did take lots of work upstairs to the White House residence each day, and let's be honest, in spite of criticism by both parties of presidents from the opposing party going on vacation or not working hard enough, no president is EVER truly on vacation or off duty. Both parties get silly about some things, when there are far more important debates to engage in.

*** It is important to note about the deficits in this manner, because recessions cause budget strains, as higher unemployment brings a drop in tax revenue, while simultaneously increasing spending on  unemployment payments and programs like food stamps or public works. "Ideally" when the economy is stronger, deficits would be low, non existent or turned into surpluses. None of this happened under Ronald Reagan by the time he left office in January 1989, nor was he close to achieving such. 

WORD HISTORY:
Smite-This word traces back to Indo European "smeid," which had the notion of "rub, smear," and further, "hit, strike." This gave Old Germanic "smitanan," which meant "to throw, to fling, to smear," with the "throw" meaning likely a development from "smearing mud or lime onto a wall or object, after throwing it there." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "smitan," which meant "to smear, to make dirty, to hit." In this case, "hit" likely expanded beyond the "throwing" of mud or lime, to include other things, more generally. This later became "smiten," before the modern version. The word came to be used in Biblical translations with the meaning "slay," again likely from the notion of "hitting an enemy with a spear, rock or other thrown weapon," and it is this general meaning that has persisted into modern times. While not an every day word in English anymore, it is still in use, and it still has relatives in the other Germanic languages, which largely retain the "throw, fling" meaning (unless otherwise noted): German has "schmeissen," Low German Saxon has "smieten," Dutch has "smijten," West Frisian has "smite," Danish has "smide," and Swedish has "smita" (this has come to mean "run off," probably from the notion of "throw, projecting something away from the speaker"). Norwegian and Icelandic apparently no longer use forms of the word.

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Twelve

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

With the Republican nomination locked up early on, Reagan had to turn his attention to winning over millions of Americans who thought him to be too conservative; after all, not only had he supported staunch conservative Barry Goldwater in 1964, Reagan made television commercials for Goldwater, thus placing himself squarely in Goldwater's corner, a corner that ended up receiving only 38.5% of the vote. John Anderson, a moderate Republican congressman running for president as an independent, tried to capitalize on Reagan's conservative image and attract votes from the still potent moderate wing of the Republican Party, from truly independent voters and from disaffected Democrats. President Carter led most opinion polls for quite a long time, but his lead was soft, as people were not really sold on him for a second term, but Reagan troubled many voters and Anderson faced the skepticism of many independent or third party candidates for president; the strongly held feeling that he could not win and that a vote for him would be wasted.

Democrats and Anderson were quick to remind voters of Reagan's support for Goldwater, but some attitudes since the 1964 election had changed. The role of government in the lives of Americans had come much more into question since Johnson's day, as conservative economists and social policy critics, joined by even moderate Republicans, attacked the policies of former President Lyndon Johnson with quips like, "Johnson declared a war on poverty and poverty won," * and "Government isn't the solution to the problem, government IS the problem." Presenting good slogans in Americans politics almost always works better than presenting good policies. Further, the divisive issue of abortion turned many an eye of southern evangelical Democrats to the Republican side of the ballot, as Reagan was anti-abortion. The American hostages continued to be held in Iran** and the economy, crippled by high gas and oil prices and rising inflation, was shaky, at best. Carter faced the task of trying to hold traditional Democratic voters who saw him as too conservative, and well known actor and staunch Democrat Henry Fonda took to television to plead with Democrats to remain in the fold and vote for Carter.

Just days before the election a televised debate was held between Carter and Reagan in Cleveland. Polls showed the race to be close, but with an edge to Carter. Carter had never, in my opinion, been a terribly inspiring presence or speaker, and while Reagan had taken many a hit for his acting talents (more would come later),*** his presence and demeanor on the public stage made him appear more than adequate to lead the country. With many voters now assured of Reagan's ability to lead, within hours of the debate, polls showed a decisive shift to Reagan, something communicated to Carter by his own pollster. On election night, the returns quickly and decisively gave Reagan a big win, as Carter only carried six states and the District of Columbia, with 49 electoral votes, while receiving only 41% of the vote. Reagan won an electoral landslide of 489 electoral votes, but he received a bare majority in the popular vote of slightly less than 51%. Anderson won no electoral votes and received more than 6% of the popular vote. Democrats were stunned as they lost control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since the mid 1950s, although the collective Democratic popular vote for senators still remained heavily Democratic. Republicans picked up 34 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, but remained in the minority, although conservative Democrats would prove to give Reagan a working majority at times.

American conservatism gradually took control of much of the political agenda, as it became the dominant philosophy.

Next, conservatism and the political right in governing the nation...

* The vast expansion of post World War Two suburbs gradually left mother cities with poorer residents, something that has generally continued to this day. The migration of poor southern black Americans seeking job opportunities in northern, often industrial, cites intensified the move of middle class whites to the suburbs, in what came to be called "white flight," a trend that has subsided to some degree. The decline of manufacturing jobs further limited opportunities for average and poor families. With poorer residents and shrinking revenues, cities struggled to maintain services, which only made more people move to suburbs, including, after a time, many middle class blacks. In the mid 1960s, poverty was strong in many southern states and in northern cities, although the general prosperity of the era had reduced the poverty rate. President Johnson implemented programs to help lift people out of poverty by providing training for jobs, education, and food and financial assistance to those in need. Some programs, like Head Start, are still fairly popular, although such programs have never been popular with the political right, which has essentially dismissed such programs as wasteful and unsuccessful. They have touted economic growth as the answer. The programs and the arguments over these programs would require a whole series of articles to even approach adequately explaining and covering them, but in my own opinion, some programs worked better than others (the poverty rate did decline, but it dropped only so far and basically stagnated), and some programs needed refinement (cash payments to individuals and families, for instance) or rejuvenation. Conservatives have some point about making people dependent on government programs, but their basic opposition has never allowed them to admit that any of these programs have worked to any degree. On the other hand, since Reagan's election, Republican administrations have generally cut or dismantled many of the programs hated by the right, and condemned as "wasteful," only to run huge budget deficits, partially incurred in tax cuts for very wealthy individuals, families, and businesses, a sort of "welfare for the rich." Poverty has increased, with the wealthiest 400 American families now controlling as much of the nation's wealth as the bottom 50% of the population! and the transfer of wealth from low and middle income Americans to the wealthy continues. I have yet to hear the right wingers call any of this "wasteful" or "failed," even with regard to the deregulation and lax regulation of the banking system, a major part of their initiatives, which helped bring about a near depression in 2008. No, they refuse to admit to anything; in fact, blaming Barack Obama for anything and everything, as if the whole situation started on January 20, 2009, the day Obama took the oath. (Note: Part of the conservative philosophy has been to push for deregulation of businesses, but some Democrats have been complicit; that is, they have helped them, so they are not totally innocent.) 

** An attempted secret rescue mission by American military forces in the spring of 1980 had failed.

*** For those unaware, Ronald Reagan had been a Hollywood and television actor for much of his life. Reagan also spent two distinct periods as president of the union for actors/actresses, the Screen Actors Guild. He was also a former Democrat, supporter of the New Deal and Franklin Roosevelt, whom he occasionally quoted.

WORD HISTORY:
Race-This is the noun (and later verb) involving a contest or the fast movement of something, including water. The ultimate origins of this word are unknown, but it goes back to Old Germanic "raeso," which had the idea of "intense movement, anger." This gave Old English "raesan," which meant "to rush, to run quickly, to attack," which either died out over time or was reinforced by Old Norse (Old English also has a noun form "raes"). Old Norse brought the close relative of then English "raes" to northern England as "ras," where it became part of the regional lingo in the late 1200s or so, with the meaning "run quickly, raging water flow." It may have simply combined with the existing, but weakening, English form, which then took a couple of hundred years to really spread throughout English as "race," and the verb was derived from the noun in the mid 1600s. German still has "rasen," which means "to race along, to speed along," but also, "to rage," Dutch has "razen" (rage, storm, bluster), Danish and Norwegian have "rase" (rage), Swedish has "rasa" (fall, romp) and "ras" (landslide). Forms of the word "apparently" died out in Low German, but it once had "rasen" (rage, extreme anger). I could not find words in either Frisian or Icelandic, but that doesn't mean they don't have them, as subtlety in meaning can make it difficult to find them, and they undoubtedly at least had forms at one time, just as the other Germanic languages. 

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Ten

First published September 2012 
See NOTE at bottom of article for update


The Reagan Coalition and the Rise of the American Political Right, Part Two

You can't really understand the election of Ronald Reagan, unless you understand the presidency of Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter and the nation faced a serious problem over a continuing energy problem, or perhaps it would be better to say, over a lack of energy. Oil and gasoline prices soared, dragging the price of everything else along. The long time Democratic coalition continued its disintegration, and overseas, a fundamentalist Muslim revolution in Iran brought down the American supported government of the Shah of Iran, only to be replaced by a fanatical fundamentalist Muslim cleric, the Ayatollah Khomeini. Iranian students and revolutionaries took over the American embassy in November 1979, along with more than fifty Americans who were held hostage. The crisis had grave consequences, which are still with us today.* As the crisis went on, it was eventually covered by the news media as, "Day 79 of the Iran Hostage Crisis," .... "Day 101 of the Iran Hostage Crisis," .... Day 250 of the Iran Hostage Crisis..." and so on and so on. Americans were angry and frustrated, as no one really knew what to do. After the first couple of months of the crisis, it was revealed that Canada had hidden several American diplomats in their embassy in Iran, eventually granting special "Canadian passports" to the Americans and then flying them out of Iran to safety. All over the United States the announcement was greeted by standing ovations for the Canadians and Canadian flags were displayed and the Canadian national anthem played on radio stations and at sporting events, it was a little victory in a dismal situation, as the actual hostages remained in Iran.

In the midst of all that was going on, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. This prompted President Carter to have the American team boycott the 1980 Olympic Games, which were held in Moscow. It was a decision that brought mixed reviews, as many critics, fairly or unfairly, believed the Olympics should have been free of international politics.** 

President Carter also negotiated a treaty with Panama to turn control of the Panama Canal over to Panama on December 31, 1999, while maintaining the neutrality of the canal, so it could be used by all nations, and giving the U.S. the right to enforce that neutrality. Conservatives exploded, accusing Carter of giving away control of a necessary American shipping passageway to a dictator (which was true, as the ruler of Panama had taken power in an overthrow of the government several years before). The Senate ratified the treaty anyway, but conservatives fumed for years over the loss of what was "like sovereign American territory," as I believe some of them put it, and perhaps even Ronald Reagan said it, I just forget, as he opposed ratification of the treaty.

With inflation a constant problem, and gasoline prices at record highs (the Middle East/Iran situation),*** the economy stumbled along in a period of what was termed "stagflation;" that is, stagnant economic growth, but persistently high inflation which was threatening to climb to double digits. President Carter wore a sweater, told Americans to adjust their thermostats to help control energy costs, and a 55 mph highway speed limit had already gone into effect under President Nixon in 1974. At first, many Americans saw the need for such measures, but Americans were not used to such things, and many people began to resent the conservation measures. In an effort to get control of rising prices and restore economic growth, President Carter, a moderate, appointed Paul Volcker as Federal Reserve Chairman. Volcker began to raise interest rates, but with rate increases came a downturn in economic growth, which brought Carter trouble from labor unions and businesses. The 1980 election season was then underway. 

* The U.S. imposed economic sanctions against Iran back then, which were later intensified over other matters, and these sanctions continue to the present, President Obama having turned the screws even more tightly. The American public was so outraged over the hostage taking (countries had long agreed to the non arrest of foreign diplomatic personnel and to help protect such personnel from harm), that politicians were careful not to be seen as in any way associating with Iran, thus keeping any diplomatic ties from being reestablished, and preventing talks aimed at averting other crises. With no presence in Iran, when the anti-government protests developed there a year or two ago, the U.S. was pretty much out in the cold. Now, the other side of this is certainly true; that is, while Khomeini died in 1989, the religious fundamentalist governmental system he established is still in place, and this government not only allowed American embassy personnel to be held captive, but actively supported it. The problem is, no one, Republican or Democrat, really knows what to do about the situation, in spite of hot-air rhetoric to the contrary. The Middle East has been a powder keg for decades, seemingly waiting for the lit match. The world dependence on oil from the Middle East has given countries there a daunting trump card, as anything that threatens the world oil supply sends oil/gasoline prices skyrocketing, threatening economic turmoil everywhere. 

** In retaliation, the Soviets boycotted the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.   

*** For much of the 1970s gasoline prices were high compared to previous decades, and this was in large part due to the Middle East being so unstable, including war between Israel and Arab nations, and revolution in Iran.

NOTE: The situation with Iran goes far beyond the revolution there and the taking of American hostages in late 1979, but the tensions between many nations, including the U.S., and Iran do trace back to the Iranian Revolution. In more recent times, Iran began research and development in the nuclear field. This brought more sanctions from the U.S. and others. In 2015, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, and several other countries reached an agreement with Iran over nuclear research and sanctions against Iran. 

WORD HISTORY:
Shot-This word, closely related to "shoot," goes back to Indo European "skeud," with the notion of "to project, to throw, to move quickly." This gave its Old Germanic offspring a noun "skot(an)," "something thrown or discharged, the result of shooting." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sceot," with the same meaning, but also "a payment, a contribution" presumably from the notion of "handing over; that is, projecting the payment to another." It had this same ("payment") or similar ("tax") meaning in the other Germanic languages too, but this meaning has died out, except in the expression "scot free;" literally, "payment free," and the original hard "c" or "k" sound is still present, while in "shot" the sound softened. Common in various forms in the other Germanic languages: German has "Schoss," which means "lap (of a person);" that is, "a projection from a sitting person," and also "a young sprout from a plant, for which English uses the related "shoot;" further, German has "Schuss," meaning "shot." Low German Saxon has "Schott" (shot) and "Schoot" (lap of a person). Saterland Frisian has "Schoat" (shot) and "Schoot" (lap); Dutch has "schot" (shot) and "schoot" (lap of a person). Danish has "skud" (shot) and skød (lap); Icelandic has "skot" (shot); Norwegian has "skudd" (shot); Swedish has "skott" (shot). Notice that the North Germanic languages, Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish have all retained the "k" sound.