Democrat Party (epithet)

Democrat Party (epithet)

"Democrat Party" is a political epithet used in the United States for the Democratic Party. The term has been used in negative or hostile fashion by conservative commentators and members of the Republican Party in party platforms, partisan speeches and press releases since 1940.

Multiple reasons are suggested for the use of the term. A 1984 New York Times article suggested Republicans began to use the term when Democrats used their own party name to imply "they are the only true adherents of democracy." Republicans "feared that 'Democratic' suggested Democrats a monopoly on or are somehow the anointed custodians of the concept of democracy." New Yorker commentator Hendrik Hertzberg wrote, "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.'" Political analyst Charlie Cook attributed modern use of the term to force of habit rather than a deliberate epithet by Republicans. Ruth Marcus stated that Republicans likely only continue to employ the term because Democrats dislike it. Marcus stated that disagreements over use of the term are "trivial", and Hertzberg calls use of the term "a minor irritation" and also "the partisan equivalent of flashing a gang sign." Theologian William Dinges, however, argues:

Names and labels count in public discourse. They have social and political consequences. They carry residual imaginative meaning and shape how we remember and perceive something. The power to name is the power to define. The power to define is the power to socially locate and designate and (in some cases) to condemn what is labeled deviant or non-normative.

Similar two-word phrases using "Democrat" as an adjective have been deemed controversial when used as a substitute for "Democratic" (as in "Democrat idea"); National Public Radio has banned the use of "Democrat" as an adjective. The term "Democrat Party" was in common use with no negative connotations by Democrats in some localities during the 1950s. The Dictionary of American Regional English gives numerous examples of "Democrat" being used as an adjective in everyday speech, especially in the Northeast.