Politics and Terms

Mike Huckabee is the underdog, John McCain promises to cut "pork barrel" projects. Missouri is considered the "Bellwether" of the Nation. Listen to a news program on the radio or watch some election coverage on cable tv and you will hear these terms over and over. I started thinking about what the terms actually meant and started thinking about their origins.

I know what an "ear mark" is, that's when you cut notches on a piglets ears to keep track of its litter number and its position in that litter. In political talk earmark refers to certain funds that are designated for a certain usage.

The word caucus is a version of an Algonquin Indian word that referred to the meeting of elders and priest and leaders in secret.

Bellwether refers to a "wether" which is an old word for a castrated ram, the shepherds would tie a bell around the senior "wether" of the flock, this is the ram that the heard followed. This is why you hear the term, "As goes Missouri, so goes the Nation."

The underdog seems quite obvious, however I wonder how many people stop to think of the origin of the term. In a literal dog fight it seems that the dog on the bottom of the pack, the underdog, is the one getting beat up the most. Although one website said it meant something about ship building, I think the thought of a pack of dogs fighting each other seems more appropriate.

As far as pork barrel spending I got this definition from the Smithfield Foods website:

(What's the origin of the saying "pork barrel politics?"
The phrase is derived from the pre-Civil War practice of distributing salt pork to the slaves from huge barrels. By the 1870s, congressmen were referring to regularly dipping into the "pork barrel" to obtain funds for popular projects in their home districts.)--Maybe that's how "earmark" became the term for spending money on "certain" projects, the pig connection in the terms makes sense.

My blogging has slowed down some, and probably will continue to be less frequent then before, there is a reason, if you are someone I know personally and want to hear more just send me an e-mail.