What's in a name?

Mark me down as one of those who think it's time for the NDP to change its name.

The party is running on fumes. Were it not for the better-than-average communications skills of Jack Layton and the tepid voter affection for the Conservative and Liberal options in the last two elections, the NDP would be in deep trouble.

The problem for the NDP is three-fold.

First, the political context has changed, but the party hasn't kept pace. The party that campaigned for Crown Corporations, bigger and stronger unions, higher corporate taxes, making the rich pay, nationalizing banks, and scuttling free trade and NAFTA, has found fewer and fewer people agreeing with it. True, it has tiptoed away from much of this agenda, but the public doesn't notice when you tiptoe away from bad ideas that have become emblematic of your brand. You need to make a show of it.

Second, once the new Conservative Party was formed, the main event in media coverage of national politics became the question of whether elections would result in Liberal or Conservative governments, and the news hole left little oxygen for any other party. This ratcheted up the need to be bold, to carve out some provocative new territory, in order to have a share of voice. I don't think the NDP has met that challenge.

Third, many of the support groups that formed the grass roots base of the NDP have wandered off in different directions. The labour movement can no longer be counted on for big money and a great ground game. Women's issues are now the domain of almost everyone in politics; same with environmental issues, minority rights, health care and poverty. The party has seen its blue-collar male base splinter to the benefit of the Conservatives, its female vote drift towards the Liberals and BQ, its environmental voters go Red or Green, and its youth vote get old and/or move to the centre.

All of these things are bad enough. But even together they aren't the best reason for NDP members to consider a radical change. The best reason is that the progressive ideas they care about are less likely to succeed, as long as the centre-right is united and the centre-left is not. The math is pretty hard to get around, and that's before you add in the effect of the BQ.

If it's the cause that matters, the hard truth is that maybe the party is getting in the way. The NDP should consider a name change all right. To the Liberal Party.