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The Republican Party tried to rebrand the Democratic Party as the Democrat Party a few years ago. It was a subtle distinction making some kind of incomprehensible political point that nobody could figure out or care about. It just made all Republicans sound like Southerners from rural regions of Mississippi.
More successfully they have rebranded the word "liberal" as "socialist" For the last 60 years, most liberals have wanted to distinguish themselves from socialists and most socialists have wanted to associated themselves with liberals. This is a reverse of the situation from 1890 to 1950, when most liberals wanted to associate themselves with socialists and most socialists wanted to disassociate themselves from liberals. The Republicans have been so successful that now anybody who supports higher taxes for the rich and social security is a socialist. Anyone who supports governments cooperating to control global warming and universal healthcare through a single payer system is now a communist.
It is now time, I believe, for all of us socialists and communists to repay the favor. According to Wikipedia:
People engaged in branding seek to develop or align the expectations behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that make it special or unique. A brand is therefore one of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme, as it demonstrates what the brand owner is able to offer in the marketplace.
When Medicare and Medicaid was proposed in 1966, almost half of the elected Republicans voted for it, 40% (13 out of 32) of Republican Senators and 50% (70 Republicans out of 140) of Republican House members. This week 0% of Republicans voted for health care reform, excuse me, "Obamacare." It is clear that the Republican Party of today is not the Republican party of yesterday.
What distinguishes the new Republican Party from the old Republican Party which was apparently almost half socialist? It is clearly two things. It is their open and enthusiastic support for torture and theiir embrace of the Teabag movement.
The idea that torture is a good way of getting information from enemy prisoners had really not been publicly propounded by anybody in the United States until Bush and Cheney rejected all known scientific evidence of the past 300 years and embraced the practice. This is such a seismic shift that it should be part of their name. Let us add the word "Torture" to the word "Republican" to let people know that the new Republican Party does not shrink from practices previously considered barbarian, evil and unAmerican. Thus the name "Republican Torture Party" immediately identifies this new and unique aspect.
The term "Teabagger" refers to both a movement of people who want to get rid of the American government which they consider a tyranny like King George's in the 1770's and to a particular sexual practice which, judging by the number of Republicans caught up in sex scandals, is quite common among them. Therefore the term "Teabagger" should be part of their new title.
I humbly suggest that whenever we socialists refer to the new and present day Republican Party, we refer to them as the RTT or their full new brand name the Republican Torture Teabagger Party.
Oh, and to make sure this catches on, we must not forget to use the conservative Murdochian practice of repeating every talking point at least 100 times until people accept it as a given fact: Republican Torture Teabagger Party, Republican Torture Teabagger Party, Republican Torture Teabagger Party...
