There has been understandable chortling among Republicans that at the Democrats’ first debate they finally came clean on the “s-word.” Long considered almost taboo in American politics, the term socialism can now be considered mainstream in the party of (for now, anyway) Jefferson, Jackson, and FDR.

What color is a socialist? Red

Snarkiness aside, it’s about time.  Whether some of us conservatives like it or not, approximately half of our fellow citizens are attracted to ideas tilting to portside.  In that sense, the Democrats’ “outing” themselves as socialists is simple truth-in-labeling and not an excuse-for-libeling.

After all, some of America’s best foreign friends are avowed socialists, for example the British Labour Party’s Tony Blair, a/k/a “Bush’s Poodle.”  One could add the Socialist, Social Democratic, and Labour parties of our NATO allies in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, and so forth.  Let’s not forget Canada’s answer to Bernie Sanders, Liberal Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau.

One thing common to all these parties is their signature color: some shade of red.  Red is also the color of the European Parliament’s Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and of the worldwide Socialist International (SI), of which almost all these parties are members.  (Red was also the color of the SI’s rival, the now-defunct Communist International.)

Historically, America’s Republicans and Democrats had no official color.  Campaign colors varied from year-to-year and candidate-to-candidate (remember Jimmy Carter’s green?), though some combination of red-white-and-blue was standard. In 1980 and 1984, Ronald Reagan’s deep blue became close to a Republican trademark.

Color-coding of states on TV networks’ Election Night maps also varied by year, though generally Republicans were blue and Democrats red.  “‘It’s beginning to look like a suburban swimming pool,’ the television anchor David Brinkley noted on election night 1980, as hundreds of Republican-blue light bulbs illuminated NBC‘s studio map, signaling a landslide victory for Ronald Reagan over the Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter.  Other staffers, Time magazine wrote, called it ‘Lake Reagan.’”

The GOP-blue vs. Democrat-red scheme not only accorded with the profiles of conservative and socialist parties internationally, it reflected the subliminal and emotional impact colors have on the human psyche:

That is, the cooler color blue more closely represented the rational thinker and cold-hearted and the hotter red more closely represented the passionate and hot-blooded. This would translate into blue for Republicans and red for Democrats. Put another way, red was also the color most associated with socialism and the party of the Democrats was clearly the more socialistic of the two major parties.

[Clark Bensen, “RED STATE BLUES: Did I Miss That Memo?”, POLIDATA, 5/27/04]

Who flipped the red and blue, and why?

The current counterintuitive scheme arose only during the prolonged Bush-Gore standoff in 2000 as (argued implausibly by numerous sources, most of them liberal-leaning) the supposed “need for consistency across media outlets became paramount.”  And since the Democrats just happened to be blue in some outlets that year (so the story goes), the current pattern was established – and stuck with the monikers “red states” and “blue states” attributed first to NBC’s Tim Russert.

Many conservatives, including this writer, suspect but can’t prove that the real reason was the MSM’s desire to scrub socialistic red from the Democrats and strip the GOP of Reagan’s color. [NOTE: If you have any proof of how the red/blue switcheroo actually happened, tweet me!]  Republicans have reinforced our reputation as the Stupid Party by meekly allowing the Evil Party to get away with it.

Enough is enough! In 2014 the Republican National Committee declared blue to be the party’s color.  The same year activists in the California Republican Party called for the party to return to its chromatic roots: “‘Should the Republican Party choose its own principles and symbols, or should we let the national media do that for us?’ asked Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R- Richvale, in an email to delegates. ‘Well, the answer should be obvious.’”

Yes, it should be obvious but evidently it isn’t – even to Republicans.  Amazingly, contrary to its own 2014 declaration the RNC itself displays red logos on its official website, on its Twitter account, and on its Facebook page!

Will the Republicans reclaim their proper color, or not?

Now that the Democrats are openly a red socialist party, it’s time Republicans got serious about reclaiming our color.  RNC, please change the logo to blue and display it consistently on party sites.  GOP candidates, please ensure that blue predominates on your campaign materials.  Republican voters – refuse to accept paraphernalia in red.  Ask for blue instead: a deep, rich Reagan blue, not the insipid shade favored by the Democrats.

And everybody, please stop enabling of the Democrats’ appropriation of the GOP’s cool, trustworthy, responsible, if slightly boring true blue by parroting the “red state” “blue state” dichotomy – and insist on the same when speaking with media. (One admirable example: WorldNetDaily’s Joseph Farah rejection of the “media-manipulated color narrative.”)

As Congressman LaMalfa (see his principled blue campaign site!) observed, we can’t let someone else choose the GOP’s symbols. Symbols matter.  They tell the world who we are – and who our opponents are.

It’s time to set the visual record straight.

My Pledge:  Starting now, and especially if I am selected for the Republican Vice Presidential nomination and am privileged to assume that august post in January 2017, I pledge to maintain consistently the GOP’s historic blue identification in all relevant contexts and insist on referring to the Democrats as the red socialist party they now acknowledge themselves to be.

Reprinted from RepealFATCA.com.