When a conservative deliberately says, the “Democrat Party,” instead of the “Democratic Party,” s/he usually means that s/he does not think that party’s principles are democratic but rather are communistic, socialistic, authoritarian, dictatorial, or some other quality that runs counter to traditional American democratic, people-oriented values.
Sometimes, however, conservatives and even liberals whose speech patterns have been influenced by southern dialects will omit the “–ic” from Democratic when referring to that party. Much was made about President George W. Bush’s referring to the “Democrat majority” and “Democrat Party” in his 2007 State of the Union message. He made light of the issue by his self-effacing rejoinder, “Now look, my diction isn't all that good. I have been accused of occasionally mangling the English language. And so I appreciate you inviting the head of the Republic Party."
Upper and Lower Case
The real distinction of meaning lies in the use of upper and lower case letters: the lower case “democratic” refers to the people/citizen-centered government that Americans so revere, while the upper case “Democratic” refers only to the Democratic Party.
Linguistically and by extension, if one disdains the use of “Democratic” for the party, then one should also disdain “Republican” for that party, but no one has yet to submit that the Republican Party should be called the “Republic Party,” that non-entity to which President Bush humorously referred.
The fact is that both political parties are democratic and republican—lower case. Both parties work within the American system of government, which is a democratic republic.
Democratic vs. Republican
Some students of history enjoy showing off their expertise by pointing out the original difference between a democracy and a republic. A “democracy” is, in fact, a utopian idea that cannot work; rule by all the people would be impossible, an unwieldy, time-consuming experiment that would clog and grind government to a halt. Modern usage of the term “democracy” simply means that the government is people-friendly, instead of authoritarian or hereditary.
It is true that the U.S. government has always been a republic, where the citizens send representatives to do the work of government for them. The distinction between the terms democracy and republic has diminished in contemporary parlance, as American politicians of both major parties refer to “democracy” with utter respect as a valued and preferred form of government.
The term “democratic” means that the citizens of a democracy are not subject to authoritarian or hereditary rule; the citizens have a say in how they are governed, even though it is done through representatives. In this sense, the American president is always a “democrat,” because s/he is elected by the people, and s/he works for the people.
The term “republican” means that the citizens elect representatives to vote for them in the governmental setting, thereby relieving them of having to travel and vote on every policy issue. Thus, every American president is always a “republican,” because s/he works within the system that allows its citizens to send representatives to vote for them.
Complex History
The term “democratic” is used only as an adjective, while the term republican is used both as an adjective and as a noun. A member of a democratic society is a “democrat,” and a member of a republic is republican. This same linguistic function remains when referring to the current major parties. A member of the Republican Party is a Republican, and although it might therefore seem that a member of the Democratic Party should be a Democratic, such is not the case, because that form is perceived solely as an adjective.
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Hu Jintao, Fidel and Raul Castro, and Kim Jong-il are not “democrats” nor are they “republicans”—they are not elected by and accountable to the people of their countries.
The current terms for the two major political parties have a complex history; the Founding Fathers did not condone and therefore did not anticipate political parties, but by the time the third president, Thomas Jefferson, was elected, the party system was taking hold. Jefferson’s party was called the “Democratic-Republican” Party. And as one might expect, both current parties can trace their roots, at least in part, back to Jefferson.
Trivial Distinctions
The truly unfortunate result of the constant carping on this trivial distinction between “Democratic Party” and “Democrat Party” is that it serves as a distraction; therefore, instead of addressing the issues, the aggrieved Democrat retorts that the offending Republican uttering the shortened form ”insults the party,” as partisan hack Paul Begala complained about Bush’s use. Other sword-swallowing partisan Democrats such as those of the DailyKos ilk like to pounce on any and every use of that term by conservatives, even when many times that use is inadvertent, as in Bush’s case, and therefore meaningless.
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