The Pittsburgh Press (September 22, 1944)
I DARE SAY —
The overworked word
By Florence Fisher Parry
There are certain things which we should learn by heart; and, once learning them, repeat over and over, so that they become a part of our very being. Prayers learned in our childhood; even certain songs and hymns; our oath of allegiance to our flag: passages of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution; poems that have come to be deeply familiar to us and especially loved; even the words of the oath that is administered in Court: “I hereby swear by the Searcher of all hearts…” There is a strength that can be drawn from the mere repeating of such words, a kind of reaffirmation.
Now it has been coming to mind lately, oh often, the need to repeat the words which were fashioned to hold this republic together and make it the envy and haven of the world: the words found in our Constitution… in our Declaration of Independence… in the oath our President takes when he assumes his office. They are grave and noble words. Millions of lives have been given up early, to keep them true and hive. So, they are words which must be safeguarded.
The slogan is coined
I have been reading these great pronouncements lately, the better to reassure my troubled mind, the better to strengthen me for what I truly and fearfully believe is to be a kind of internal struggle, here in America, to preserve the American way of life.
And in them all – the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights – the word democracy or democratic does not appear.
Now the other night while I was watching Wilson, the great motion picture, I kept waiting to hear the word republic. 1 did not hear it.
I never hear the word from Democrats.
I heard instead, democratic processes, democratic ways, democratic way of life, make the world safe for democracy. I did not count how many times the word democracy appeared in the text. I would have been cheered if I had heard only once that grand old (and for so long discarded!) word Republic!
For this IS a republic; it was always spoken of as a republic before President Wilson introduced to his party and the world the magical, golden slogan, de-MOC-ra-cy!
To what stunning use the Democratic Party has followed up this advantage, can well disturb the Republican Party now. For the grand old American word republic has been so studiously avowed by those who would have the uninformed accept the Democratic Party and democracy as synonymous, that the rank and file are no longer aware of the deception, and honestly have come to believe that all of our allies are democracies.
Indeed, the only time the forgotten word republic figures is when mention is made of “the 21 republics.” How the word survived in this connection alone, I am at loss to know, but am grateful for even this slight concession that the United States of America is a republic, so designated by our Constitution, Section 4, Article 4: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government.”
What’s in a name?
How it was possible for the Republican Party to fail in vigilance and permit the word democracy to be appropriated by the opposing party as its own exclusive synonymous slogan, is beyond me! Now the thing seems to have got past control. In the furthest outposts of the world the assumption prevails that it is the Democratic Party only which stands for democracy.
WHY is it not more vigorously challenged by the Republican Party, which also claims its guardianship of the republic for which it stands?
What’s in a name? A name can sweep the world! A word can change the course of all mankind! Democracy is a wonderful word, among the mightiest! When used in its strict and absolute sense it stands among the greatest words that ever have animated the souls of men.
That it should be employed as a political catchword to snare the honest votes of the unpurchasables; that it should be accepted by the peoples of other nations as a synonym for the Democratic Party (as opposed to the Republican Party) – all this but adds up to a total misconception of our government appalling in its implications.