I often hear news anchors, reporters, political pundits, and chatterboxes mention the so-called Democratic Party. After all, that’s its official name by tradition back to its early days in the 1830s and 1840s. But how does such a grammatical inconsistency get so entrenched?
As you search online for Democratic Party Grammatical Error you will find several sources explaining this. I was amused to find some rich history at:
https://www.quora.com/Which-is-correct-Democrat-Party-or-Democratic-Party?share=1
wherein it is explained that democrat is/was used pejoratively.
Assuming I and almost all others are not enlightened to the lurid history of democrat, I don’t see proper grammar in a pejorative vein. I’m more likely to regard intentionally bad grammar as snarky toward other parties, to say the least. However, I am most likely to regard someone using democratic, an adjective, as a noun as merely ignorant—me not knowing the history.
And almost all people do not know the history of using democrat pejoratively. So why not change the name to The Democrat Party and the DNC to the Democrat National Convention? Get over it! After all, the party is not a group of democratics (ouch!) and, likewise, the convention is not a meeting of democratics (ouch!).
I am offended by bad grammar, especially my own. Why should I or anyone else take the proper usage of democrat and democratic as an offense? If I were a democrat, I would be embarrassed by the bad grammar emboldened in my party’s name. I would think, “Are the leaders of my party illiterate? Can’t we at least call ourselves a name that includes proper English?”
Please note that I am no longer associated with any political party and strive to be even handed against or for issues without respect to party affiliations. Additionally, I regard this as an ethical requirement to voice the notions I do.