Democrats and Republicans, What’s in a Name?

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Juliet speaks through the words of the Bard to express the sentiment that a person is more than their family or family’s name, in this case that her love, Romeo Montague, is simply a label separate from who he truly is and distinct from the perennial enemy of her family, the Capulets.

With due deference to the greatest of English writers, one of the most basic courtesies a person can pay another is to acknowledge them by the name of their choice, whether a given name, nickname, or a different name of their choosing.

Contrary to the Beatles complicating this in the song “Rocky Raccoon” in which,

“Her name was Magill, and she called herself Lil
But everyone knew her as Nancy”

In actuality, the process is much simpler: just ask the person what they would like to be called. Simple!

In politics, members of the Republican Party are known as “Republicans.” In this case, “Republican” serves as both an adjective modifying the noun, “Party,” and as a noun itself.

The Democrats, who are members of the Democratic Party, have it somewhat differently. “Democratic” acts as an adjective modifying the noun, “Party,” while “Democrat” serves as a noun in the absence of and not followed by the term “Party,” or “Senator,” or “Representative,” and so on.

In other words, Republicans are members of the Republican Party, and Democrats are members of the Democratic Party. Simple!

But many Republicans not only purposefully complicate the issue, but, in fact, they do so as a discourtesy and as a sign of disrespect. By referring to the so-called “Democrat Party” rather than the official “Democratic Party,” with the deletion of the “-ic,” Republicans turn it into a partisan epithet, something derisive to imply that the party is not actually democratic small-d.

In 2006, Hendrik Hertzberg wrote in The New Yorker, an article titled “The Ic Factor”:

“There’s no great mystery about the motives behind this deliberate misnaming. ‘Democrat Party’ is a slur, or intended to be — a handy way to express contempt. Aesthetic judgments are subjective, of course, but ‘Democrat Party’ is jarring verging on ugly. It fairly screams ‘rat’.”

Though popularized by President Donald Trump and most Republican members of Congress, this derisive usage has existed for decades even before such Republican notables as Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, and conservative radio host, Rush Limbaugh, used it.

Even as far back as 1956, the Republican National Committee authorized the use of “Democrat Party” to indicate that not all Democrats subscribed to small-d democratic values.

Controversial Wisconsin Senator, Joseph McCarthy, often used the pejorative term during his contrived anti-communist campaigns in the 1950s. Kansas Republican Senator, Bob Dole, infamously referred to 20^th-century American conflicts as “Democrat wars” in his 1976 vice-presidential debate with Democratic Senator, Walter Mondale.

The style manuals of most major news outlets advocate for the use of the full term without dropping the “-ic.” Many Democrats suggest to members of their party that they do not comment when Republicans refer to their party in pejorative terms since many Democrats believe that Republicans’ intent is to enrage them and knock them off balance.

So, we can conclude that Democrats are the only real adults in the room and in legislative halls? Or, on the other hand, should Democrats refer to individuals as “Republics” and to the “Republic Party”?

I think not to the second question!