The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
Pejorative terms have become all the rage in American politics. They also encourage people to rage at one another, as we have seen in and as a result of recent congressional impeachment hearings.
Pejorative words are those whose intention is to make something or someone appear in a worse light than the words ordinarily imply. Those who use such words take relatively neutral words and give them an intentionally negative spin.
Increasingly over the last several years, some very conservative, hyper-capitalistic Republicans have begun to call all Democrats in Congress “socialists.” The word “socialist,” at least in American English, has long carried a negative connotation anyway because of the strongly capitalistic foundation of our nation’s economy and political system. Therefore to call any Democrats socialists, with the exception of the self-misidentified Bernie Sanders and the two new equally misidentified Democratic members of Congress who were elected as socialists in 2018, is a pejorative slur.
In the USA, the most conservative and partisan members of the Republican Party have long described the most partisan members of the Democratic Party as members of the “Democrat Party.” Strangely, the Democrats have not widely picked up on this snarky slur, nor have they taken widespread umbrage at the subversive alteration of their political party’s name.
Furthermore, for at least the past decade, an increasing number of highly partisan Republicans have been calling the Democratic Party the “Democrat” Party. It is obviously a pejorative term. It is intended to sound like calling all Democrats “socialists” or fifth columnists” or “anarchists.” It is meant to be received as a teeth-grinder.
In light of the behavior of the majority of the Congressional members of both of our major political parties, juvenile Democrats might refer to the “Republic Party” with the same nasty intent of those Republicans who derisively refer to the “Democrat Party.” Extremists on both sides of the American political spectrum (who sadly appear to be the majority of both sides of our political spectrum) deserve the derision which “Democrat Party” and “Republic Party” connote.
Far too many Democrats and Republicans have become more devoted to their parties than to the people they are elected to represent. The election of Donald Trump as president has turned the USA into a colossal partisan warzone, and too few in Congress seem willing in a reasonable manner to ask, “How do you solve a problem like The Donald?”
The impeachment process has brought the divisive political trends of the years since Ronald Reagan to a head under the presidency of Donald Trump. Our two major parties seem determined not to work together but to tear one another and thus the country apart.
As long as the leadership of the “Republic Party” treats the leadership of the “Democrat Party” as pariahs, and vice versa, this country will continue its slide into political chaos. The failed impeachment process almost certainly shall further widen our deep political divide, and will make it far more toxic.
For the good of America, elected American politicians need to grow up and to stop calling one another hurtful names. Those who refuse to attain political maturity in the next few months must be ushered out of office the next time they are on the ballot. For all House of Representative members and for a third of the Senate members, that will occur on November 3, 2020.
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org. Feel free to share this essay with anyone you think may benefit from reading it.