Reply #21: Here is why 'Democrat legislators' is an insult. It's because Democratic is not just

[Peace Patriot]

a party designation, a name. It is an adjective--with a small d. The democratic procedures for choosing a leader. The democratic values of a free people. It has GOOD connotations that go above and beyond the Democratic Party itself. And it is an ikon word--democratic, democracy. It sums up all our values.

By saying the Democrat Party, I believe that the Republicons are implying that the Democrats are not all that democratic, or don't deserve to be described as summing up all the values of our country's political system. They are depriving the Democrats of the natural adjective they achieve by the words Democratic Party. We are the party that best sums up the values of the country.

And why I propose something other than the 'Republic Party' as a response, is that 'Republic Party' is meaningless. It does not have any such dissing and negative implications. To be a republican--small r--is simply to be a person who has certain beliefs about the organization of the state (a republican as opposed to a monarchist). But to be democratic is much more resonant. It describes what kind of a person you are. You are open-minded, a believer in the will of the people, a believer in dispersed power, in one person/one vote--not tyrannical, not autocratic.

To deprive Republicans of the "can" says nothing. But to deprive the Democrats of the "ic," in Democratic/democratic, is very meaningful.

And it is particularly annoying because it is so unfair--given who the Democratic Party represents, vs. who the Republicon Party represents.

Someone upthread said that 'Republic Party' has gained currency in Congress. Fine. They have to work with Republicons, and may not want to openly insult them. And possibly--just possibly--one or two of the people they are dealing with, on the other side of the aisle, are NOT Cons--are genuine representatives of the people. So the Dems in Congress would have their reasons for not wanting to use "Republicon." Doesn't mean WE can't use it!

I remember way back when--pre-80s, I think--when I first heard 'Democrat Party,' and it was from the extreme rightwing--possibly somebody in the John Birch Society. Real wingers, in those days. Considered wacko, and way out of the mainstream. Now they run the country (or, in any case, these days, the White House). What a coup. And quite literally that, I think. A coup. Not a genuine representation of the majority of Americans, at all. So it's time to fight back, and call the Bushites what they really are: Cons. And any real Republicans who don't want that smell of corruption, crime and hypocrisy, had better distance themselves from it quickly.