Renaming Democratic Party is a foolish priority

The Republican National Committee is meeting this week and the results of that meeting are likely to be disastrous for the party rather than beneficial.

Rather than focusing on the two national electoral smackdowns, the party powers that be want to focus on a name calling agenda item. What's this item - it's to rename (in GOP speak) the Democratic Party to "The Democrat-Socialist Party." Not only is this a waste of time, but it will further isolate the national GOP from mainstream voters. This tells voters that the national Republican Party isn't interested in smaller government, fiscal responsibility, national defense, health care, or any other issue important to the people. Rather, the party is only interested in labels. This move will not help a single national candidate win an election, and in fact, could hurt the chances of state and local candidates. Nor will this labeling of the Democrats help with fundraising or new voter registration. According to a Washington Post poll published last week, the number of self-identifying Republicans stood at 21 percent. That's not a number to be proud of.

Calling Democrats socialists also leaves the national GOP wide open to criticism since the past eight years of national Republican leadership led to the biggest expansion of the federal government in decades. It's not a legacy for the party trumpeting fiscal responsibility and smaller government to be proud of.

If Republicans want to break the stranglehold of the the Democrats on Washington, D.C. and many state capitals, the party needs to focus on engaging the voting public rather than alienating it.