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The name for the US republican party has always surprised me, especially because the other party is "democrat". Here in France too, "republican" mostly means "a

The name for the US republican party has always surprised me, especially because the other party is "democrat". Here in France too, "republican" mostly means "a non royalist administration". Democratic then precises what kind of organization. So, it kind of sounds like US republicans do not stand for democracy.

eli 13y ago
Being an anti-royalist was a good thing in early American politics.
ricree 13y ago
If I'm remembering my history right, there were two main reasons for the name. It was, in part, a callback to the older, defunct, Democratic-Republican party that had been around in the early US. It was also a mild dig against the Democratic party, implying that their support of slavery stood against republican ideals.
- oelmekki 13y ago
  I see, thanks for clarifying. I don't know much about early US history, I think I'll dig in, because having democrats being pro slavery and republicans anti slavery is something I wouldn't have expected.
  - xionon 13y ago
    The Democrats used to be pretty racist; before the American civil war, they supported slavery, and afterwards supported segregation, while the Republicans generally opposed slavery (Lincoln was a Republican, for example). As a result, the US South used to be heavily Democrat, and the north was heavily Republican. They basically flipped in the 40's and 50's due to the Democrats support for civil rights and the "southern strategy" (basically: appeal to racism, sometimes subtly, sometimes not, to get votes in the South) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy Today's (US) Republican party is nothing like the Republicans from 100+ years ago. It's kind of sad.
  - coldpie 13y ago
    It was 150 years ago. The parties have changed quite a lot since then.
  - ecopoesis 13y ago
    In the US, we had six party systems since the revolution. Each time we translation, we get two mostly new political parties which sometimes reuse the names of the defunct parties. Wikipedia has a good description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_system#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_system#United_States
    - tehwalrus 13y ago
      you (GP) could also check out the XKCD of american political history. it has quite a few of the party names that people used throughout (which are entertaining, in a geeky kind of way): http://xkcd.com/1127/ http://xkcd.com/1127/ full res: http://xkcd.com/1127/large/ http://xkcd.com/1127/large/
      - oelmekki 13y ago
        Thanks you all, this has been very instructive. I realize I had a massive misinterpretation about left and right in the US. That's because, in France, left wing has always been associated to humanism (humans first, economics then) and universal rights (the whole world deserve to have rights), while right wing is most about economics and nationalism. From what I understand, US left wing is historically about equality for the "real USians" (kind of nationalism of the poors) while right wing, until getting own by far right in XXth's end, was for a very liberal society, be it in term of economics or in term of social rights. This would explain a lot in the recent NSA reactions, where we were very shocked that the debate seemed to focus on whether or not US citizen were spied, rather than if mass surveillance was a problem at all. Am I correct, here ?
  - hnal943 13y ago
    I don't think the parties have changed much. The same moralist convictions that caused Republicans to be anti-slavery in the past are the same ones that make them anti-abortion today, for example.
- moocowduckquack 13y ago
  For extra comedy points, the American Republican party formed largely from the American Whig party, which named itself after the British Whig party, which is today known in the UK as the Liberal Democrats.
lotsofcows 13y ago
In modern English, republic and democrat are virtually synonymous.
- shellac 13y ago
  Is that a crack concerning the state of US politics? :-) I'm not sure that's quite right, but I see your point. 'Republic' in modern parlance indicates a democracy with an elected head of state. There are many democracies with monarchs, but constitutionally they have little or no power.
  - canvia 13y ago
    Both parties: 1) support larger government with more power 2) support unending wars 3) refuse to go after Wall St. for financial crimes 4) make their entire platform about social issues that shouldn't even be within the realm of government 5) work to exclude 3rd party candidates from the political process 6) refuse to address in ineffectiveness of the unending federal "war on drugs" that has made the US the #1 country in the world for prison population, with over 1% of our population involved in the prison system, over 25% of which are only for non-violent drug charges, a victimless crime that is a personal choice 7) refuse to address corporate personhood which has grossly corrupted the political process 8) refuse to address the revolving door between big business and the regulatory agencies responsible for policing them 9) refuse to address the destruction of our currency by the Federal Reserve system, and how the current fiscal policy greatly benefits a small group of bankers 10) refuse to address the broken copyright and patent systems that have been changed to benefit a tiny number of large corporations at the expense of every member of society
    - jordan0day 13y ago
      While nothing you wrote (aside from the first half of #9) is wrong, per se, I'm not sure it really has much place in this particular discussion.
  - lotsofcows 13y ago
    Modern English with a capital M.

eli 13y ago

Being an anti-royalist was a good thing in early American politics.

ricree 13y ago

If I'm remembering my history right, there were two main reasons for the name. It was, in part, a callback to the older, defunct, Democratic-Republican party that had been around in the early US. It was also a mild dig against the Democratic party, implying that their support of slavery stood against republican ideals.

oelmekki 13y ago
I see, thanks for clarifying. I don't know much about early US history, I think I'll dig in, because having democrats being pro slavery and republicans anti slavery is something I wouldn't have expected.
- xionon 13y ago
  The Democrats used to be pretty racist; before the American civil war, they supported slavery, and afterwards supported segregation, while the Republicans generally opposed slavery (Lincoln was a Republican, for example). As a result, the US South used to be heavily Democrat, and the north was heavily Republican. They basically flipped in the 40's and 50's due to the Democrats support for civil rights and the "southern strategy" (basically: appeal to racism, sometimes subtly, sometimes not, to get votes in the South) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy Today's (US) Republican party is nothing like the Republicans from 100+ years ago. It's kind of sad.
- coldpie 13y ago
  It was 150 years ago. The parties have changed quite a lot since then.
- ecopoesis 13y ago
  In the US, we had six party systems since the revolution. Each time we translation, we get two mostly new political parties which sometimes reuse the names of the defunct parties. Wikipedia has a good description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_system#United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_system#United_States
  - tehwalrus 13y ago
    you (GP) could also check out the XKCD of american political history. it has quite a few of the party names that people used throughout (which are entertaining, in a geeky kind of way): http://xkcd.com/1127/ http://xkcd.com/1127/ full res: http://xkcd.com/1127/large/ http://xkcd.com/1127/large/
    - oelmekki 13y ago
      Thanks you all, this has been very instructive. I realize I had a massive misinterpretation about left and right in the US. That's because, in France, left wing has always been associated to humanism (humans first, economics then) and universal rights (the whole world deserve to have rights), while right wing is most about economics and nationalism. From what I understand, US left wing is historically about equality for the "real USians" (kind of nationalism of the poors) while right wing, until getting own by far right in XXth's end, was for a very liberal society, be it in term of economics or in term of social rights. This would explain a lot in the recent NSA reactions, where we were very shocked that the debate seemed to focus on whether or not US citizen were spied, rather than if mass surveillance was a problem at all. Am I correct, here ?
- hnal943 13y ago
  I don't think the parties have changed much. The same moralist convictions that caused Republicans to be anti-slavery in the past are the same ones that make them anti-abortion today, for example.
moocowduckquack 13y ago
For extra comedy points, the American Republican party formed largely from the American Whig party, which named itself after the British Whig party, which is today known in the UK as the Liberal Democrats.

lotsofcows 13y ago

In modern English, republic and democrat are virtually synonymous.

shellac 13y ago
Is that a crack concerning the state of US politics? :-) I'm not sure that's quite right, but I see your point. 'Republic' in modern parlance indicates a democracy with an elected head of state. There are many democracies with monarchs, but constitutionally they have little or no power.
- canvia 13y ago
  Both parties: 1) support larger government with more power 2) support unending wars 3) refuse to go after Wall St. for financial crimes 4) make their entire platform about social issues that shouldn't even be within the realm of government 5) work to exclude 3rd party candidates from the political process 6) refuse to address in ineffectiveness of the unending federal "war on drugs" that has made the US the #1 country in the world for prison population, with over 1% of our population involved in the prison system, over 25% of which are only for non-violent drug charges, a victimless crime that is a personal choice 7) refuse to address corporate personhood which has grossly corrupted the political process 8) refuse to address the revolving door between big business and the regulatory agencies responsible for policing them 9) refuse to address the destruction of our currency by the Federal Reserve system, and how the current fiscal policy greatly benefits a small group of bankers 10) refuse to address the broken copyright and patent systems that have been changed to benefit a tiny number of large corporations at the expense of every member of society
  - jordan0day 13y ago
    While nothing you wrote (aside from the first half of #9) is wrong, per se, I'm not sure it really has much place in this particular discussion.
- lotsofcows 13y ago
  Modern English with a capital M.