The American Party

       Here is an idea I’m confident you have not heard before: In response to the current political crisis in the United States, I am suggesting that we change the name of the Democratic Party.

      “Huh?” my friends responded when I first ran this by them.

      “So now, you want to change the name of a party?” was my wife’s initial—and a bit hasty, I thought—response.

      But hear me out.

      The Democratic Party is the oldest continuing political party on earth. It began when Thomas Jefferson’s anti-Federalists began to see themselves as an entity, as united—under the name (oddly in retrospect) of “Republicans” or “Democratic-Republicans.” Populist President Andrew Jackson was leading that party when it began being called, simply, the Democratic Party.

      And “Democratic” was and might have continued to be a fine name for a party, particularly at this moment when democracy is under threat in the oldest continuing democracy on earth. But by now that name has been around for too long. It may have too much history.

      Many of the long-ago elements of that history were unconscionable: from Jefferson’s slaves to Jackson’s treatment of Native Americans to most Democrats’ support for slavery before the Civil War to the racism of Southern Democrats, which lasted for much of the 20th century.

      On the other hand, Franklin Roosevelt was very much a Democrat when he fought for a New Deal and defeated the Nazis. And the Democratic Party was the party of John Kennedy as he imagined a New Frontier and of Barack Obama when he insisted, “Yes we can!”

     So, most recently it has been a mostly positive history. The Democratic Party was not the rage-against-alleged-welfare-cheats-while-giving-huge-tax-cuts-to-the-rich party of Ronald Reagan, nor has it been the afraid-to-say-anything-that-might-offend-Donald-Trump party.

      But the Democratic Party has been failing lately, failing at what must be its primary purpose: opposing the president with the most tyrannical instincts in American history and his dupes, his lackeys and his henchman.

      For the Democratic Party, as it tries to stand up to what is probably the largest threat to American democracy since the Civil War, somehow has managed to turn off the majority of the American electorate.

      Indeed, only 27 percent of registered voters, according to an NBC survey earlier this month, view the Democratic Party positively. The percentage with negative views of the Democratic Party was, in that survey, 55 percent.

      This doesn’t mean that the bulk of Americans are particularly fond of the slash-and-burn, lying, Putin-loving Trump-Musk administration. But you don’t have to be a marketing expert to see that the Democratic Party” lately has looked tired, stodgy, out-of-date, poorly led and apparently in some ways rather elitist—a brand in need of a makeover.

      Why not start with a fresh, more effective name for this party?

      “People’s Party” or “Worker’s Party” are out—too left for these times, when the struggle is not left versus right, but about honoring the separation of powers, about respecting the Constitution, about resisting a possible slide into dictatorship.

     Here is my suggestion for a new name for what is now the opposition party: the American Party.

      Sounds a bit jingoistic, I know.

      But what’s wrong with a little bunting? Why can’t we liberals, for a change, rock a little red, white and blue?

      And we are the party now that opposes dictators—the Putins, the Orbáns. Opposing current and wannabe dictators around the world should be very much an American cause. The founders of the United States of America freed themselves, of course, not just from a colonial power but—audaciously, creatively, precociously—from the rule of a dictator, a king.

      The idea that a president of the United States would support a corrupt, election-fixing, territory-grabbing dictator like Putin—and insult a democratically elected native-son leader like Zelensky—would indeed have struck most of the people who founded and have led this country as un-American.

      Helping others—at home and, when the need is dire, abroad—should also be very much an American idea. At its best, this has been a country that is well-off enough, decent enough to lend a helping hand. Closing USAID was not just stupid and heartless, it was un-American.

Standing up for working people was Franklin Roosevelt’s idea, JFK’s idea, Obama’s idea. It is a variety of American idea. It wasn’t Ronald Reagan’s idea of an American idea. Anyone who thinks it is Donald Trump’s idea better keep an eye on what happens to Social Security and Medicaid and veterans hospitals. They should also keep an eye on how large a tax cut billionaires like Musk, Trump and their friends end up getting—thanks in part to all Musk’s disassembling of programs that helped the poor.

      There is also a style of governing that is just not American. That’s where everyone in the party has to adjust their views to make sure they are in perfect alignment with everything Great Leader says: even if that requires defending the notion tariffs will lower prices, Ukraine invaded Russia or (thank you Mr. Orwell) “up” is “down.”

      Let us rededicate and rename our not-boss-dominated party as the American Party:

•      Because we are Americans and we agree that disagreement and dissent are part of a healthy political process.

•     Because we are Americans and want a leader not a bully, a loudmouth or a Mafia don.

•      Because we are Americans and our sense of self does not come from crushing our opponents; it comes from working together with people—those with whom we agree and, when productive, those with whom we disagree.

•      Because we are Americans and we negotiate we don’t dictate.

•      Because we are Americans and we do not believe that being born rich—as was Donald Trump—entitles you to lord it over those who have to work their way up.

•      Because we are Americans—living in the land of the free and the home of the startup—and we believe in free enterprise, in capitalism, in business opportunities, in good jobs and fair wages. We do not believe in selling access to the government, in monopolies, in allowing conflicts of interest and ripping people off to make more money. And helping the richest man in the world—a white South African, yet—get richer is not an American cause.

•      Because we are Americans and we believe that universities are places where people should be allowed to question, disagree and peacefully protest without being expelled from the campus or the country.

•       Because we are Americans and believe in scientific and medical research—indeed our country has led the world in scientific and medical research. We believe, in particular, in vaccines, once their efficacy has been proven and their safety tested.

•      Because we are Americans and we built this remarkably strong, free and rich country by aligning our beliefs to truth—not by bending truths so that they suit our beliefs.

•       Because we are Americans and we can handle disagreement, but we will always agree on the right to disagree.

• Because we are American and we believe in lending a helping hand to those in need.

      These are ideals to be patriotic about. These are beliefs that make us not just Democrats but Americans. Why not enshrine them in the founding document of a grand new party: The American Party.

(And I also wouldn’t mind if we lost the donkey.)

Mitchell Stephens, one of the editors of this site, is the author of nine books, including the rise of the image the fall of the word, A History of News, Imagine There’s No Heaven: How Atheism Helped Create the Modern World, Beyond News: The Future of Journalism, and The Voice of America: Lowell Thomas and the Invention of 20th Century Journalism. He is a professor emeritus of Journalism and Mass Communication at New York University, lives in New York City and spends a lot of time traveling and experimenting with video.