"Republicrat" or "Demopublican" (or the shorter "Demolican" or "Democan") are portmanteaus of the names of the two main political parties in the United States, the Republicans and the Democrats. The terms are used pejoratively by those on both the right and left who allege the policies of the two parties are in practice indistinguishable, and so form essentially one party with two names. One of the earliest uses of the term online was a net.politics.theory usenet post from 1985^[1] Look up Portmanteau word in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A political party is an organization that seeks to attain political power within a government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... Look up pejorative in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A right is the power or privilege to which one is justly entitled or a thing to which one has a just claim. ... Look up left in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Usenet is a distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ...

Republicans have often portrayed themselves to be pro-business and have favored an aggressive foreign policy; Democrats have tended to campaign on more liberal social policies and a more important role of government-funded social programs. Some commentators, such as right-wing radio talk-show host Michael Savage and left-wing Ralph Nader who have both used the terms, have opined on how it is often hard to tell the parties apart, leading to the term's popularization. This was a view shared on the left by the Green Party during the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, whose bumper stickers read, "Bush and Gore make me want to Ralph". Jello Biafra has used the term during interviews as well. In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ... Michael Savage Michael Savage is the pseudonym of Michael Alan Weiner, PhD (born March 31, 1942). ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (born February 27, 1934) is an American attorney and political activist. ... In United States politics, the Green Party has been active as a third party since the 1980s. ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ... A bumper sticker is, usually, an adhesive label or sticker with message attached to, or designed to be attached to, the bumper of a vehicle (almost invariably an automobile, van, pickup truck, minivan or the like), for the purpose of being read by the driver and/or passengers in following... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American businessman and politician, was elected in 2000 as the 43rd President of the United States of America, re-elected in 2004, and is currently serving his second term in that office. ... Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. ... Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (born February 27, 1934) is an American attorney and political activist. ... Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), better known by the stage name Jello Biafra, is an American punk rock musician and political activist best known as the former lead singer of the Dead Kennedys. ...

The term is also used in a pejorative sense by members of one party to attack members of their party who are either centrist or who have the "wrong" ideology. The term Republicrat is commonly used by liberal Democrats to attack conservative and centrist members of the party, such as Senators Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton. Another term used by liberal Democrats to describe conservative and centrist members of their party is "Democrat in Name Only" or "DINO." Likewise, a conservative Republican term for liberal and centrist Republicans is "Republican in Name Only" or "RINO." Joseph Isadore Lieberman, (born February 24, 1942) is a Democratic U.S. senator from Connecticut, best known as Al Gores running mate on the Democratic ticket in 2000. ... Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947), was First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001, as the wife of President Bill Clinton. ... DINO stands for Democrat In Name Only, a disparaging term for a member of the modern-day United States Democratic Party whose words and actions are thought to be too fiscally or socially conservative. ... RINO stands for Republican In Name Only, a disparaging term for a member of the United States Republican Party whose positions are too far from the party mainstream. ...

There is also a lesser known usage of note. In the song "I'm Nuthin'" written and performed by actor Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites (1994), he sings, "I ain't no Republicrat or Demican, ain't nothing in between." In this usage, the words are put together in order to voice the not unheard-of opinion that the two mainstream American political parties are two sides of the same coin. Often this usage expresses the sentiment of working class Americans that see all politicians as serving the interests of the bourgeois ruling class and make little distinction between the two parties. Similarly in the song "Slow Down Gandhi" off of Sage Francis's album A Healthy Distrust, the following line appears "republicrat, democran, one-party system.". Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, writer and film director. ... Reality Bites is a 1994 film written by Helen Childress and featuring the directorial debut of Ben Stiller. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal. // Events January Bill Clinton January 1 : North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect. ... The term ruling class refers to the social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that societys political policy. ... Sage Francis, September 12th, 2005 Paul Sage Francis (born 1968 in Miami, Florida) is a hip-hop artist based in Providence, Rhode Island. ... A Healthy Distrust is an album by underground rapper Sage Francis. ...

Notes

1. ^ "Turkey in the Straw," Robert D. Zarcone, net.politics.theory, April 4, 1985

April 4 is the 94th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (95th in leap years). ... This article is about the year. ...

See also

• Duverger's law
• Two-party system