What the hell is a democrat?

[lordmetroid]

Why can't they just stick to their principle and rename the party when they change ideology. They are screwing our means of communication over big time. How am I suppose to be able to discuss liberal things when the word means socialism. For science sake, this is insanity!

[Jason Orr]

Not only is name recognition comforting for Americans, but the political system actively discourages the creation of third parties.  Third parties used to be relatively successful, but over time the two largest parties have regulated the competition to death.  Also, the shifts in ideology are gradual and were made to seem like a natural progression of the party's old platform.  It's complicated.

[Johnny_]

I thought democrats was pretty much socialists. But wikipedia says Centre-left, progressive, liberalism(Global terminology).

Found the reason.

Don't be hating.

I [heart] wikipedia.  I also know who's ass things get pulled from, which is anyone's.  If you can find just one person to reference something to, you can throw it in Wikipedia even if every other scientist disagrees.  If you're lucky, a mod or concerned reader might add the "this article may be biased" stub, but not always. 

[AbsurdParadox]

You guys know any Democrats that are over 50? They're Democrats from the 70's... in otherwords, they're Republicans that believe in civil rights, lol. Its really interesting to see how parties change over time.