It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Five

I'm going to backtrack here in the first part of this article, as I feel I should explain a bit more about the political nature of the country in the post-Civil War era, largely during what is known as Reconstruction and thereafter. It was an important era that brought political alignments (coalitions) for decades.

In the last couple of decades our political system has become increasingly polarized, and we "may" have to look back to the Civil War era to find a time when Americans were so politically divided over such an extended period of time and over so many issues. Some Republicans have even mentioned "secession from the United States," not that I believe that anything  is imminent. The Civil War era division largely centered around slavery and federal power to bring it to an end; a concept opposed by many southern states, whose representatives argued that states had a right to do what they wanted. Of course, the major beneficiaries of slavery were wealthy interests, usually plantation owners and exporters,* who were able to make the "states' rights" issue appear to be at the heart of the matter, not the immorality of slavery. By promoting the idea of a bullying Federal government, which was attacking southern independence, the interests were able to rally a "southern nationalism" to help them keep slavery in place. Poor white farmers and town dwellers, essentially receiving little, if any, benefit from slavery, became its staunch advocates, as they saw attempts to end it as an attack on "the South." If some of this sounds similar to today, you are wide awake.

The defeat of the Confederacy brought occupation to the South by troops of the Federal government. Each former Confederate state had to agree to certain laws before they could be readmitted to the Union, mainly those guaranteeing rights to former slaves. Republicans, the big political winners from the Civil War, as the party had been formed largely as an anti-slavery party, gained political control of most southern states by forming a coalition of blacks, northern white Republican transplants, and "repentant" white southerners.** Former slaves made up a substantial percentage of each southern state's population, but remember, at that time, only men could vote, not women, and blacks were virtually 100% Republican, as it was Lincoln and Republicans who helped them gain their freedom. Many southern white Democrats were elected to local offices, and thus began a period of intimidation of blacks and gimmicks (like poll taxes) to keep blacks from voting. Gradually, white Democrats began to regain control of southern states. In an agreement reached in 1877 over the disputed election of 1876, where Republican Rutherford B. Hayes trailed Democrat Samuel Tilden by more than two percentage points in the popular vote, Hayes won the Electoral College by just one vote, but the agreement provided for the withdrawal of troops from the South, and the ascension of Democrats to power there until the latter part of the 20th Century. Cracks began to develop much earlier in the Democratic coalition, however, over race.

Progressive elements within the Democratic Party,*** with support from none other than Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin Roosevelt, wanted black Americans to enjoy the same rights as other Americans, something that was not a fact in those times, even in the north, although the black population was still overwhelmingly concentrated in the states of the former Confederacy. Segregation was the fact, with separate seats for whites and blacks in theaters, restaurants, buses, etc, and separate schools and even separate water fountains. The movement for equal civil rights brought discord among Democrats, as southern whites, although staunchly Democratic, began to voice opposition to such rights for black Americans. At times, some southern politicians like Strom Thurmond, ceased their affiliation with the Democratic Party, at least temporarily, forming the so called "Dixiecrats," with the main aim being the perpetuation of segregation, although as like nearly a hundred years before, under the guise of supporting "states' rights." **** As more black Americans began to move northward to find jobs in northern industrial cites, conflict developed with the indigenous white population, much of it working class.***** The Democratic Party was finding their political coalition being strained, but fear of Republican pro wealthy policies (a carry over from Depression times) kept most Democrats scared enough to keep them in the fold election by election. When President Lyndon Johnson pushed for, and got, civil rights legislation in the mid 1960s, Republican political strategists found a potential opening to bring their stagnant party to possible majority status.******

The 1960s, more specifically the mid to late 1960s and into the early 1970s, were highly tumultuous. The war in Vietnam grew increasingly unpopular and divisive, with bloody protests and riots, at the same time as the civil rights movement for black Americans brought bloody protests and riots. The war brought antiwar people into activist positions within the Democratic Party (a group which also tended to be highly supportive of civil rights). Republicans won a close election for President in 1968 with former Vice President Richard Nixon. Republicans and conservative southern Democrats had been "flirting" for a number of years, but Nixon's appeal to patriotism and "law and order" (code for breaking up riots by antiwar protesters and civil rights groups; that is blacks) brought him a major victory in the election of 1972. Republican momentum to take control of Congress in 1974 or 1976 was derailed by the Nixon administration scandals, sort of collectively called "Watergate." Democrats won big in the 1974 congressional elections, and captured the presidency in 1976, but their era was out of gas, almost literally (oil and gasoline shortages). As the Democratic coalition unraveled, the Republicans were about to build one of their own.     

* The South was highly agricultural in those times, and heavily dependent upon cotton, of which much was sold outside the South, and overseas.  

** I've used the term "repentant southerners," for lack of a better term, but these were southern whites who essentially agreed with meeting the required conditions to rejoin the Union. "Unrepentant southerners" called these folks "scallywags" and they called the white northern transplants "carpetbaggers," after the travel bags they carried, fashioned out of carpet-like material, a fairly common  practice in those times.

*** Many progressives in the Republican Party began to switch to the Democratic Party in the 1930s and thereafter, but the progressive wing of the Republican Party remained fairly strong until 1964 and the nomination by Republicans of highly conservative/libertarian Barry Goldwater. After that, it was pretty much only a matter of time before progressive/liberal Republicans became an endangered species within the GOP.

**** It is worth noting that Thurmond later became a Republican and served in the U.S. Senate until the age of 100. It also is important to note that Thurmond, the staunch segregationist, fathered a child (a daughter) by a black woman. Hmm, I guess he didn't believe in segregation as far as sex was concerned.

***** As I've joked with black friends over the years, "Northerners opposed slavery, but we didn't think you were going to come up here and live next door to us." I'm not naive, and I'm sure someone will take this out of context, but I use it to point out that there were many racists in the North.

****** The 1964 election saw conservative Republican Barry Goldwater carry several southern states in a losing effort against Lyndon Johnson, an indication of how strong racial tempers were flaring in the Old South.

WORD HISTORY:
Slave-The ultimate origins of this word are uncertain, but it goes back to Old Slavic "slovo," the underlying meaning of which had to do with "sounds, utterances;" thus "speech." This then produced "sloveninu," meaning "Slav/Slovene," from the notion "group of people of the same or similar speech/language." This was borrowed by Greek as "Sklabos" ("Slav"), which in turn was borrowed by Latin as "Sclavus," but with the meaning "slave," as many Slavic people had by that time been conquered and enslaved by others. This gave Old French, a Latin-based language, "(e)sclave," and this was borrowed as "slave" by English in the latter part of the 1200s.   

The World In Protest, Revolution or Civil War? Part Six

This was first published in early 2012. 

"Polarization of Spain Brings Civil War" Part 1

The American Civil War was fought over "states' rights," and more specifically over the issue of slavery, and whether states had a right to permit slavery within their own borders, or whether the national government had a right to outlaw slavery throughout the land. The practice of slavery was well established in the southern parts of the country, especially, but not exclusively, on large estates (plantations), and many prominent early Americans, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, owned slaves. More and more Americans of those times came to view slavery as morally wrong, although opposition came to be concentrated in northern states, with states bordering the north and south facing divided public opinion.* Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president,** was a staunch foe of slavery, and his election brought the declaration from a number of southern states that they were leaving the "Union;" that is, the United States, to form a "confederation" of states; thus, the term "Confederacy." Lincoln said states could not leave the "Union," and a violent war began to settle the issue (for those times).***

Spain was a monarchy until 1931, when King Alfonso XIII abdicated (he literally left the country). The king, the Roman Catholic Church, the army and wealthy interests, including industrialists, had had the largest say in the governance of Spain,**** and the strains on Spanish society were becoming more and more evident, as reforms to help protect workers, farmers, and regional interests were not carried through. The Spanish socialist party became increasingly popular, along with strong anti church elements, and pro-democracy elements.***** In elections in 1931, this "coalition" group won a majority in elections, the king left the country, and a "republic" was declared. All seemed well on the surface, and it appeared Spain would move forward, but opposition to the new republic from entrenched interests quickly mobilized to prevent change.

* The southern states of America were generally not as densely populated as northern states, and the availability of land for farming, combined with the longer growing season, made agriculture a major part of the southern economy, with labor intense cotton being one of the main crops, as it was also sold overseas. The long tradition of slave labor in the region carried over from colonial times to the decades after American independence.

** The Republican Party had been established with a strong anti-slavery element. Lincoln's candidacy prompted southerners to flock to the Democratic Party, where they and their descendants remained until the last couple of decades, when they began voting Republican, even if not always at first registering as Republicans. The Democratic Party maintained a staunch segregationist element from the post-Civil War era until a number of prominent Democrats began to push for an end to segregation and for laws to try to make the country fairer. More and more the segregationist elements voted Republican or became Republicans, undoubtedly causing Lincoln several turns in his grave. So historically, neither major political party is without guilt, but at least Democrats basically got over it. Republicans took their party's roots and chopped them off.

*** I say "for those times," because just in the last couple of years some Republicans in southern states, including Governor Perry of Texas, have suggested they might want to secede from the "Union," mainly because of President Obama's health care plan. Such talk has now subsided, but it is interesting that the Republican South, undoubtedly the most fundamentalist Christian (by their definition; keep reading) part of the country, and Rick Perry, who flaunts his Christianity so publicly, would talk of secession from the country, because a president wants to help Americans who don't have health insurance! I'm not saying you have to support Obama's plan (I wasn't especially thrilled by it, but for different reasons), but to essentially say to those who don't have access to adequate health care, "The hell with you! I've got mine, go get yours," is just astounding. It shows how human beings make religion to be whatever we want it to be, AT THE MOMENT. Christianity especially does NOT advocate selfishness, accumulation of wealth, turning your back on the needy or sick, but, quite to the contrary, the OPPOSITE OF THESE THINGS! Going to church, singing hymns, memorizing Bible verses, saying "God loves you," and forming social cliques is not Christianity, although many seem to believe that is its purpose. Oooo, I can feel the condemnations now! But for those condemning me, you'd better go look in that mirror and ask yourself some tough questions. And no "spinning" the answers to come out the way you want them to come out; that is, "making religion be what you want it to be, at the moment."

**** There was a military government throughout much of the 1920s, but it grew increasingly unpopular, including with the wealthy, since the government raised their taxes to help pay for public works projects. Hm, you don't think there's a similarity to modern America here, do you? The government, which was supported by the king, succeeded in angering just about every segment of Spanish society with oppressive policies or by not following through on promised reforms; thus further tarnishing the king, who already had a reputation as anti-democratic.

***** The Roman Catholic Church had had tremendous influence in Spain for centuries. Since the Church tended to support the rulers of Spain, it too was seen by a certain segment of the population as being part of the country's problems.

WORD HISTORY:
Civil-It "seems" this word, closely related to "civic" (not a Honda), goes back to Indo European "k(h)ei," with the meaning "settle, lie down;" thus, "homestead," and also the figurative noun sense, "family" (from the homestead/settle notion). This gave its Latin offspring "civis," which meant "citizen" (here again, the "homestead, settle, and family notions tie in). This then produced Latin "civilis," with the meaning "pertaining to the public, to citizens." Old French, a Latin-based language, "inherited" the word as "civil," and English borrowed it from French in the late 1300s (the Middle English period). The further notion of "courteous, polite," as in "civil discussion," seems to have been picked up by English in the 1500s, as Latin had developed that same meaning, derived from the idea of regular citizens being more polite than military and religious authorities.