General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe lack of civility in American politics began when Republicans started using "Democrat Party"...
...instead of the Democratic Party. Just like any demeaning remark, it begins with refusing to call a person (or organization) by it's own chosen name. For instance, I prefer Louis to Louie. I am not offended by Louie if someone doesn't know, but once I tell them (or they ask) which I prefer, after that, one only uses Louie as an insult to me.
That's what Republicans have done since around 1992. We can really trace the birth of the heightened lack of civility and respect to about that time (link below).
As long as any Republican knowingly uses "Democrat Senators" instead of Democratic, or "Democrat Party" it should be taken as a deliberate insult and lack of respect.
Link;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet)
at140
(6,110 posts)be getting in the mud with them?
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)CountAllVotes
(20,872 posts)If the shoe fits ..............
& recommend!!
YessirAtsaFact
(2,064 posts)Accurate descriptor, from my POV
PJMcK
(22,037 posts)However, I choose to stay out of the childish game of name calling.
In fact, in my dictionary, the word Liberal has only positive connotations. Contrastingly, the word Republican has only negative descriptions.
at140
(6,110 posts)I wish there was less name calling on all sides.
Seems a bit juvenile. But then I am in my 70's.
At the end of day, derogatory names won't convert any independents. Talking about our compassionate & positive agenda could.
sdfernando
(4,935 posts)maxrandb
(15,330 posts)They've hitched their wagon to this racist orange piece of amphibian shit, so they are all RETRUMPLICANS
It really just rolls off the tongue naturally, and I wish Dems would use it with the same rote way Retrumplicans say "Democrat Party"
at140
(6,110 posts)have joined the temple of orange doom. All because otherwise they would get primaried and lose their precious career!
unblock
(52,234 posts)TeamPooka
(24,226 posts)PatSeg
(47,450 posts)"Democrat" is a noun, not an adjective.
Yes, I agree, this started back with Newt Gingrich who encouraged republicans in congress not to be civil with Democrats.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)While those justifying its usage highlights who the half-wits are.
And finally, those who use it out of mere petulance ("my idiocy triggered a snowflake! I'm such a clever idiot!" ) highlight who currently requires a code-red diaper change.
That said, I'll always point to "freedom fries" as the day the GOP jumped the shark from a political party to a well-dressed gaggle of simpletons (gentleman's bet a quarter-dozen snowflakes are already gnashing teeth as they rationalize its continued use).
Squinch
(50,949 posts)I don't see a lack of civility in politics. I see a lack of civility on the part of republicans, but Democrats pretty much behave themselves.
The hearings were a good example. Who was complaining and snarling and insulting the other party, and who eas simply trying to get some facts out of the hearing?
sanatanadharma
(3,707 posts)Find the movie and locate the boarding house breakfast scene (some 20 minutes in, iirc)
This 1951 movie had dialog showing that the nation then had a sense of this tribal animosity.
The radio is on with news of the spaceman
person 1, "Why doesn't the government do something, that's what I'd like to know?"
person 2, "What can they do, they are just people like us?"
republican, "People my foot, They're democRATs"
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)Last edited Mon Oct 1, 2018, 08:49 PM - Edit history (1)
form of the word Democrat actually started with Joe McCarthy. Such usage didnt become widespread among Repukes until Gingrich began using it incessantly.
No link because I dont know how to do that on my IPad
maui902
(108 posts)The former being the Republican Senator who created "McCarthyism," and the latter being a Democratic Senator who ran for President in 1968? Perhaps not, but I'd be surprised if it was Eugene McCarthy who referred to his own party as the "Democrat" Party.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)I'm afraid my age is catching up to me My mind is gone with the wind
Initech
(100,076 posts)That was pretty much the beginning of the downfall that led to republicans electing every unqualified kook they can find and why we're in the shit storm we're in now.
llmart
(15,540 posts)He was disgusting from the start, but the way he talked about the Clintons was over the top.
Big, fat, bloated, loud mouth deplorable.
Va Lefty
(6,252 posts)yonder
(9,666 posts)He probably didn't, but I was sure I heard him refer to the Democratic Party as the Democrat Party. A couple of times. The first time caught my ear, so I perked up and would swear he did it again.
Could be because of my less than ideal hearing these days. dunno
malaise
(269,004 posts)Every fucking time one of them says it, they MUST be corrected on spot and given the grammar lesson. They will stop when they realize that Democrats repeat Democratic Party over and over. I do to agree with anyone who says they do it to annoy Dems. No they do it because they think they can rename the party while dissing it. You must respect your own name. Fight back. It is a very big thing.
It is not Democrat Party you fucking ignorant morons, it is Democratic Party.
Get thee to the greatest page
Caliman73
(11,738 posts)If we are talking about the current, media fueled name calling and extremism, then I would put its beginnings in the 1968 election and its viral outbreak in the 1990's with the hatred against Bill and Hillary Clinton.
However, American politics has always been difficult and "civility" isn't really what we should be striving for as much as an honest debate about which policies help the most Americans versus which help only a select few.
Here are some articles about "civility" in politics.
https://www.petaluma360.com/entertainment/8516122-181/the-historical-lack-of-civility
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/29/opinion/civility-protest-civil-rights.html
https://www.theringer.com/2018/6/27/17507212/lexicon-civility-buzzword
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/01/politics/civility-in-the-civil-rights-era/index.html
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,340 posts)If I care about the conversation, I correct them. If not, I hang up the phone, walk away, ignore, etc.
a kennedy
(29,663 posts)Cetacea
(7,367 posts)But if you tell them that you are likely to lose them...
It's amazing how "on message" they are with this on various TV news shows. The RNC most likely sends out memos.
If it's meant to enrage, it's highly effective.
DFW
(54,384 posts)Republicans lapped it up like a cat with a dish of fresh milk until the public would put up with it no longer.
McCarthy was publicly shown to indeed have, at long last, no sense of decency. But other Republicans saw the benefits and advantages of having no sense of decency, and passed them on. The trick was getting their base to not only accept a lack of decency, but to demand it (Nixon). It went downhill from there. With Trump, they are entering terminal phase, where decency is something they abhor. The step from here to storm troopers with baseball bats at rallies for Democratic candidates is no longer a great leap, but a small step.
bobbieinok
(12,858 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)and a history of medically treated impotence issues which permitted him to engage in trips to notorious sex-tourism dens (specializing in the availability of young boys), was the one who initiated the whole "Democrat Party" bullshit.
Ms. Toad
(34,073 posts)to refer to themselves?
Seriously, this is a very stupic hill to die on.
Are some Republicans using it to yank our chains? Sure - as long as using it keeps generating outrage disproportionate to the actual offense, of course they're going to have fun using it.
But is is also misused innocently by a lot of people - including a lot of Democrats who just aren't stellar grammarians.
louis c
(8,652 posts)and I don't remember a single person referring to our party as the "Democrat Party". It's an insult to us every time someone uses it. Some may do it because they don't know better, but Republicans use it as an insult.
ck4829
(35,077 posts)Sure the fringe radical right wants to throw Muslims and Jews into camps, but did you know there is a fringe radical left that... (deep breath) wants to make sure everyone has healthcare? Both sides are crazy.
Anon-C
(3,430 posts)...Whitewater and the growth of the right wing conspiracy cottage industry.
Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)That he would never be a 2-term president?
SharonAnn
(13,775 posts)He relentlessly pushed partisanship.
California_Republic
(1,826 posts)Only person I ever saw challenging him on that was a foreign reporter
President Bush played it off that he didnt know that the Democratic Party cared about that with a simple little smile
bobbieinok
(12,858 posts)GOP might say LBJ mushroom cloud ad in 64