Many of us may recall a subtle shift in political language that began during the last decade, maybe longer ago now. Prominent members of the Republican Party began to refer to the opposing party as the “Democrat” Party. We had all grown up knowing it as the “Democratic” party, and its candidates as the “Democratic” candidates. Now, to the GOP, they are the “Democrat” candidates . . . or it is the “Democrat” position, and etc. From Republican mouths, the word often sounds as if an epithet is being spit out. For them, it has come to be a term of derision if not of disgust, much more (and less) than the name of an opposition party. No matter: some even in the mainstream media appear to have adopted the term.
When I first noticed this change several years ago, my first lazy and hazy hunch (I did not think much about it early on) was an innocent one. I figured that Republican Party officials simply had come to object to any implication that only one major party in the nation represented and favored the democratic form of government, while the other favored—what? No, the GOP also supports democracy and its underlying values.
How preciously naive that half-baked hunch was. After all the terminological shift occurred just as bi-partisanship in national politics was being put on a ventilator. And in that spirit the GOP had decided to weaponize the language, erasing a word of historic approbation in our culture and replacing it with . . . well . . . an epithet.
But I was doubly naive. It turns out that the Republican Party is not at all small-d “democratic.” Not anymore, and its support of the Trump Administration is the proof in the pudding. As the President and his Administration have attacked one after another of the norms required to uphold democracies, and with some notable successes to date, the GOP can no longer claim to be supporting–let alone defending–democratic governance rooted in the free participation of all citizens.
So, as a registered Independent, and in the interest of accuracy in language, I say another shift is required. Apart from its use as a slur, I can support the “new” 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁 Party label. And its opposition in the GOP: the “new” 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁 Party.
If you agree, make it viral. So much else is in our culture.
And another word that I care about a lot is “patriotism.” It always infuriates me the way the right wingers have appropriated the flag and patriotism. So I especially enjoyed the beautiful renditions of “America the Beautiful” and other patriotic songs, plus the kids reciting the Pledge of Allegiance that we saw in the opening night of the Democratic Convention last night.