The Democratic Party, not the “Democrat” Party

It is incorrect to use “Democrat” as an adjective or adverb, as in “the Democrat Party,” or “they voted Democrat.” The name of the party is the Democratic Party, and the adverb is also “Democratic”; thus the proper form is: “They voted Democratic.” “Democrat Party” is a cheap shot that all too many Republicans reflexively use to express contempt for Democrats, or to suggest that the Democrats don’t really believe in democracy. But this attempt to subvert the Democrats by changing the name of their party doesn’t bring down the Democrats; it only brings down the Republicans who are engaged in act of subversion, making them sound low-class, nasty, and stupid. This is a major peeve of mine with Republicans and conservatives. We should call things by their proper names.

Just as not an iota of dignity is added to God by capitalizing the pronouns referring to him, not an iota of dignity is taken away from the Democrats by calling them “the Democrat Party.” The attempt to take away their dignity only reflects back on the speaker.

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David B. writes:

I saw your post about Republicans calling the Democratic Party the “Democrat Party.” I remember Bob Dole, and other Nixon partisans, using the term when he was chairman of the RNC when Nixon was president and when running for vice president in 1976.

I have read that Joe McCarthy popularized the term “Democrat Party.”

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 21, 2010 02:56 PM | Send