Political Dictionary

Our Politics

Political Dictionary

Introduction

This is a massive undertaking for myself to construct a dictionary of political terms and it will not be done anytime in the near future. The reason I have started this project stems from my experience with other political dictionaries. I found some to be too comprehensive for the average American, with the dictionaries being geared towards political scholars and historians. Others I found to have long and drawn out definitions, inaccurate definitions, a lack of modern terms with an overabundance of old and archaic terms, and political bias evident in the definitions. My goal in constructing this dictionary is (1) have a list of political terms & definitions geared towards the average American rather than a Political Scientist, (2) concise and accurate definitions, (3) only containing relevant terms that appear in modern political discourse, and (4) no political bias.

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50-State Strategy – (see Fifty-state strategy)

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ACLU – American Civil Liberties Union; it is a non-profit, non-partisan litigation and lobbying organization.

Affirmative Action – laws mandating increased numbers of women and minorities, especially in employment.

America – In 1507, Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere “America” after the first name of Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci.

Anarchic order – order resulting from cooperation and mutual coordination in the absence of a higher authority.

Anarchism – (1) belief that all government is unnecessary and evil; (2) belief that a particular government is illegitimate and must therefore be overthrown.

Anarchy – simply means a state-less society. However, the use of the term implies chaos and disorder in modern vernacular. Unlike libertarianism, anarchists do not believe government is necessary.

Aristocracy – a form of government in which a minority rules under the law.

Astro-turfing – public relations campaigns, which seek to create the impression of being spontaneous “grassroots” behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf.

Authoritarianism – an ideology that calls for more government in both economic and social issues. There are both left-wing and right-wing authoritarianism.

Authority – political power that is both legitimate and accepted; the person or state exercising power that has a perceived right to do so.

Autocracy – a system of government in which one person has full control.

Axis of evil – a term coined by US President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 in order to describe governments that he accused of helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. He named Iran, Iraq, and North Korea in his speech. This an attempted allusion to the World War II Axis Powers, comprised of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

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Balance of power – the distribution of power in a system such that no one state may overwhelm others.

Battleground state – (see Swing state)

Bible Belt – an informal term for an area of the US in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a dominant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is extremely high. Although exact boundaries do not exist, it is generally considered to cover much of the area stretching from Texas in the southwest, north to most of Missouri, northeast to Virginia, and southeast to northern Florida.

Bicameralism – a system of government in which the legislature is divided into two chambers. The Congress is a bicameral legislature because it is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Big government – a government which is excessively large, corrupt, and inefficient, or which is inappropriately involved in certain areas of public policy.

Bill – a piece of legislation that has yet to be passed into law. For a bill to become law, it must be approved by majority vote in each house of Congress and then approved by the President.

Binational state – two nations co-existing within one state. This poses a danger of Civil War. The US Civil War is one example; the North and South were culturally distinctive.

Blowback - unintended consequences of foreign covert operations. Two specific examples of blowback are (1) the CIA’s 1953 overthrow of the Iranian Premier Mossadeq, and (2) CIA support of Muslim extremists in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union; both operations would later lead to confrontation with the United States.

Bradley effect – sometimes known as the Wilder effect, it is a theory proposed to explain observed discrepancies between voter opinion polls and election outcomes in some US government elections where a white candidate and a non-white candidate run against each other. Instead of ascribing the results to flawed methodology on the part of the pollster, the theory proposes that some voters tend to tell pollsters that they are undecided or likely to vote for a black candidate, and yet, on election day, vote for his white opponent. It was named after Tom Bradley, an African-American who lost the 1982 California governor’s race despite being ahead in voter polls going into the elections.

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Campaign finance reform – regulatory restrictions on fund-raising sources and expenditures affecting candidates, political parties and advocacy groups.

Capitalism – the organization of the bulk of economic activity through private enterprise operating in a free market—as a system of economic freedom and which is a necessity for political freedom.

Carpetbagger – a term that is used to describe outsiders’ attempting to gain political office or economic advantage, especially in areas (thematically or geographically) to which they previously had no connection. The word originally was what southerners gave to northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877. They formed a coalition with freedmen (freed slaves), and scalawags (southern whites who supported Reconstruction) in the Republican Party. Together they politically controlled former Confederate states for varying periods, 1867–1877. The term carpetbaggers was used to describe the white northern Republican politicians who came South, arriving with their travel carpetbags. Southerners considered them ready to loot and plunder the defeated South. Although the term is still an insult in common usage, in histories and reference works it is now used without derogatory intent.

Caucus – a meeting of legislators of any one party to discuss strategy and policy.

Checks and balances – a system of government in which power is divided between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, and these powers check and balance each other. Free press is a checking power on government even though it is outside the system of government

Chicken-hawk – a politician, bureaucrat, or commentator who strongly supports a war or other military action, but has never personally been in a war, especially if that person actively avoided military service when of draft age.

CIA – Central Intelligence Agency; formed 1947, it is a civilian intelligence (and counter-intelligence) agency of the U.S. government. Its primary function is collecting and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons in order to advise public policy makers. The CIA performs both overt and covert operations. The CIA is often criticized for its failures in intelligence analysis and its questionable and controversial tactics.

Coalition – an alliance between two or more political units in response to opposing forces.

Coercion – a form of power based on forced compliance through fear and intimidation.

Collateral Damage -

Columbia – a poetic name for the American continent and for the feminine symbolic personification thereof. Columbia is a New Latin neologism, based on the surname of the discoverer Christopher Columbus. The ending -ia is common in Latin names of countries, e.g. Britannia “Britain”, Gallia “Gaul” or “France”. The meaning may be understood as “land of (or discovered by) Columbus”. Though the name is no longer commonly used, it can be found in Washington DC (District of Columbia), Columbia University (originally King’s College), Columbia Pictures (also using the personification as its logo), and Space Shuttle Columbia.

Communism -

Confederation – a federal system of government in which sovereign constituent governments create a central government, but the balance of power remains with the constituent governments.

Conscription – (a.k.a. “Compulsory Service,” “The Draft,” “the Call-up,” or “National Service”) a general term for involuntary labor demanded by an established authority. It is most often used in the specific sense of government policies that require citizens to serve in the armed forces. It has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War. The US discontinued the draft in 1973, moving to an all-volunteer military force, thus there is currently no mandatory conscription. However, the Selective Service System remains in place as a contingency; young men between the ages of 18 and 25 are required to register so that a draft can be readily resumed.

Consent of the governed – people’s acceptance of the form of government under which they live.

Conservationism – the attempt to manage natural resources in order to maximize benefits over a long period of time.

Constitution – the fundamental rules and principles by which a state is organized. A state’s constitution is not always an official document. For example, while the US has an official document we call our constitution, the UK’s constitution is comprised of fundamental rules and principle from various legal documents.

Constitutionalism – the belief that governments will defer to the rules and principles enshrined in a constitution and uphold the rule of law.

Corporate socialism – (see corporate welfare)

Corporate welfare – coined by Ralph Nader in 1966, it is a term describing a government’s bestowal of money grants, tax breaks, or other special favorable treatment on corporations or select corporations. It is sometimes known as corporate socialism. Note that business subsidies and bailouts are forms of corporate welfare.

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Coup d’état -

Cronyism – partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications, rather than appointing people based on merit.

“Cut and run” – a pejorative phrase used in the context of a war or battle meaning cowardly retreat. Thus, stripped of emotional connotation, the phrase simply means withdraw or retire from the conflict at issue. The added pungency of the phrase comes from the partially obscured implication that this withdrawal is a course only undertaken by dishonorable fools whose fear and confusion has overcome their better judgment.

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Dark horse – a candidate who is nominated unexpectedly, without previously having been discussed or considered as a likely choice. Often a dark horse is selected as a compromise when other, more prominent candidates’ factions cannot come to an agreement. The term comes from horse racing; a dark horse was a race horse that wasn’t known to the bet-makers and thus was difficult to place betting odds on.

Deficit -

Demopublican – (also Demoblican) a portmanteau of the names of the two major political parties in the US (the Republicans and the Democrats) to form a pejorative term used 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.

Deregulation – a government policy designed to remove regulations on market activity.

Despot - an individual ruling through fear without regard to law and not answerable to the people.

Dictator – one who assumes absolute control without the free consent of the people. In Roman Law: an appointed individual given exceptional powers in times of crisis.

DINO - Democrat In Name Only; a disparaging term for a member of the modern-day US Democratic Party whose words and actions are thought to be too fiscally or socially conservative. Many DINOs come from the socially conservative Bible Belt.

Diplomacy – a system of formal, regularized communication that allows states to peacefully conduct their business with each other.

Direct democracy – a system of government based on public decisions made by citizens meeting in an assembly or voting by ballot.

Doublethink – the act of simultaneously accepting as correct two mutually contradictory beliefs. Doublethink is an integral concept of George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Draft – (1) political draft / draft campaign; used to encourage or compel a certain person to enter a political race, by demonstrating a significant groundswell of support for the candidate. (2) military draft; (see conscription)

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FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation; formed 1908, it is the primary investigative arm of the US Department of Justice, serving as both a federal criminal investigative body and a domestic intelligence agency.

Fifty-state strategy – a political strategy which aims for progress in all states of the US, rather than conceding certain states as “unwinnable”. In a presidential campaign, it is usually implemented as an appeal to a broad base of the American public in an attempt to win, even if marginally, every state, since even a marginal victory is effectively total victory for electoral purposes.

Free World – a Cold War-era term often applied to or used by non-communist nations to describe themselves. The term was used to contrast the greater personal freedom enjoyed by citizens of non-communist countries that were democratic, with the totalitarian rule of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European allies, along with other communist nations such as China. The term, however, does not take into account the many non-democratic states allied with the “Free World” during the Cold War. Because of the U.S.’s prominent role in the Cold War, the President of the US was often dubbed the “leader of the Free World”, particularly within the US itself. The phrase implies that the U.S. president, as leader of the principal democratic superpower, was by extension the leader of all the worlds’ democratic nations. Although it had a Cold War origin, it is still used to describe the U.S. Presidency today.

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Gay agenda – (see Homosexual agenda)

General election – It comes every 4 years, on the first Tuesday, following the first Monday, in November.

Gerrymandering – a form of redistribution in which electoral district or constituency boundaries are manipulated for electoral advantage. Gerrymandering may be used to help or hinder particular constituents, such as members of a political, racial, linguistic, religious or class group. The term gerrymandering is derived from Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts from 1810 to 1812. In 1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill into law that redistricted his state to benefit his Democratic-Republican party.

Get-out-the-vote – (see voter outreach)

Grassroots – the ordinary people in a society or an organization, especially a political party. Grassroots election campaigns, thus, are run from the bottom-up instead of top-down.

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Hockey mom – (see Soccer mom)

Homosexual agenda – it refers to the advocacy of cultural acceptance and normalization of non-heterosexual orientations and relationships. There are some who believe that there are conspiratorial elements in this effort.

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“I approve this message“ – a phrase said by candidates for federal office in political advertisements on television and radio in order to comply with the “Stand By Your Ad” provision of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), enacted in 2002, that requires “a statement by the candidate that identifies the candidate and states that the candidate has approved the communication.” The provision was intended to force political candidates running any campaign for office in the United States to associate themselves to their television and radio advertising, thereby discouraging them from making controversial claims or attack ads.

Independent – may be variously defined as (1) a voter who votes for candidates and issues rather than on the basis of a political ideology or partisanship; (2) a voter who does not have long-standing loyalty to, or identification with, a political party; (3) a voter who does not usually vote for the same political party from election to election; (4) or a voter who self-describes as an independent.

“Inside the Beltway“ – a phrase used to characterize parts of the real or imagined American political system. It refers to the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495), a beltway that encircles Washington, D.C., and is meant to invoke matters that are important primarily within the offices of the Federal government, its contractors, lobbyists, and the media which cover them.

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Jim Crow laws – state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure segregation in all public facilities, with a “separate but equal” status for black Americans and members of other non-white racial groups. Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms and restaurants for whites and blacks. These Jim Crow Laws were separate from the 1800-66 Black Codes, which had also restricted the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans. State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education. Generally, the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

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Lame Duck -

Line-item veto – the power of an executive to nullify or “cancel” specific provisions of a bill, usually budget appropriations, without vetoing the entire legislative package. There is a debate on whether the President’s use of the line-item veto is constitutional.

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Nonpartisan – denotes an election, event or organization in which the participants declare or do not formally have a political party affiliation even if they support a certain position on a given issue.

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October surprise – a news event with the potential to influence the outcome of an election, particularly one for the presidency. The reference to the month of October is due to the fact that the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November is the date for national elections (as well as many state and local elections), and therefore events that take place in late October have greater potential to influence the decisions of prospective voters.

Outposts of tyranny was a term used in 2005 by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and subsequently by others in the U.S. government to describe the governments of certain countries as being oppressive and showing contempt for democracy and human rights. In addition to specifically identifying Belarus, Myanmar, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Zimbabwe as examples of outpost of tyranny, Rice characterized the broader Middle East as a region of tyranny and despair and anger. The characterizations drew strong reaction from those countries.

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PAC – political action committee; a type of political committee organized to spend money for the election or defeat of a candidate.

Parachute candidate – similar to a “carpetbagger,” it is a pejorative term for an election candidate who does not live in and has little connection to the area he or she is running to represent. The allegation is thus that the candidate is being “parachuted in” for the job by a desperate political party that has no reliable talent indigenous to the district or state or that the party (or the candidate himself/herself) wishes to give a candidate an easier election than would happen in one’s own home area.

Pentagon -

PETA -

Political Philosophy – the study of the rationale for politics & political behavior, and also the rationale for public administration, which examines the practices of governance.

Political Science – the study of political behavior and the examination of acquisition and application of power.

Political Studies – (see Political Science)

Politics – the social relations involving authority, the regulation of political units, and the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.

Pottery Barn rule – political jargon alluding to a “you break it, you bought it” policy, by which a retail store holds a customer responsible for damage done to merchandise on display. It is used to signify accountability for the consequences of political decisions, particularly in the case of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ongoing occupation of that country. Ironically, Pottery Barn—the well-known chain of home furnishing stores in the United States—in reality does not have a “you break it, you bought it” policy, but rather writes off broken merchandise as a loss, as do most large American retailers.

Presumptive nominee – a candidate who is all but assured of his or her party’s nomination, but has not yet been formally nominated.

Primary election – an election to decide the party nomination for a race. The candidate nominated will then face off against the candidates of the other parties competing for the particular office. Most primaries are closed, meaning that only party members are allowed to vote.

Prime Minister of the United States – The position does not exist, but the term has sometimes been applied, either as a pejorative term, a bon mot, or through ignorance, to an official within the government of the US.

Purple state – (see Swing state)

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Reaganomics – refers to the economic policies promoted by US President Ronald Reagan. The four pillars of Reagan’s economic policy were to; (1) reduce the growth of government spending, (2) reduce marginal tax rates on income from labor and capital, (3) reduce government regulation of the economy, (4) control the money supply to reduce inflation.

RINO – Republican In Name Only; a disparaging term for a member of the Republican Party of the US whose political views or actions are perceived as insufficiently conservative or otherwise outside the party mainstream.

Republicrat – (also Republocrat) a portmanteau of the names of the two major political parties in the US (the Republicans and the Democrats) to form a pejorative term used 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.

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Safe state – (see Swing state)

Selective Service (or Selective Service System) – is the means by which the United States administers military conscription. It entails registering all males between the ages of 18 and 25 with the system for the purpose of having information available about potential soldiers in the event of war. (also see Conscription)

Silent majority – an unspecified large majority of people who do not express their opinions publicly. This is in contrast to the vocal minority.

Smoke-filled room – a secret political gathering or decision-making process. The phrase is generally used to suggest a cabal of powerful or well-connected individuals meeting privately to nominate a dark horse candidate or make some other decision without regard for the will of the public. The origin of the term is an Associated Press report describing the process by which Warren G. Harding was nominated as Republican candidate for the 1920 Presidential Election. After many indecisive votes, Harding, an unlikely and little-known candidate, was chosen by Republican senators and party power-brokers in a private meeting at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago.

Soccer mom – broadly refers to a middle-class suburban woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to activities such as soccer practice and music lessons^. The phrase became popular during the 1996 United States presidential election campaign. Hockey mom is basically the same thing except it is more commonly used in Canada and Alaska.

Soft money – political contributions by corporations, political action committees, unions, industry groups and other organizations – essentially any contributions not made by a specific individual.

State-less Society – a term synonymous with anarchy, but without the negative connotations. A state-less society has an absence of government and law, but order is maintained through voluntary associations. If a state-less society is really capable of having a reasonable degree of order, it would be allow for the absolute individual liberty. Unlike libertarianism, those who advocate for a state-less society do not believe government in necessary.

“Stay the course“ – a phrase used in the context of a war or battle meaning to pursue a goal regardless of any obstacles or criticism. The modern usage of this term was popularized by US presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Bush originally used the phrase to describe the Iraq War, but has since abandoned the phrase due to continual pressure to change his Iraq War strategy.

Swiftboating – political jargon that is used as a strong pejorative description of some kind of attack that the speaker considers unfair or untrue—for example, an ad hominem attack or a smear campaign. The term comes from the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth (formerly “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” (SBVT)) and that group’s widely publicized campaign against 2004 Presidential candidate John Kerry.

Swing state – (also, battleground state or purple state) a state in which no candidate has overwhelming support, meaning that any of the major candidates have a reasonable chance of winning the state’s electoral college votes. Such states are targets of both major political parties in presidential elections, since winning these states is the best opportunity for a party to gain electoral votes. Non-swing states are sometimes called safe states, because one candidate has strong enough support that they can safely assume they will win the state’s votes.

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“(to) Throw (someone) under the bus” – an idiomatic phrase meaning to scapegoat or reject.

Truthiness – a term first used in its current satirical sense by TV comedian and satirist Stephen Colbert in 2005, to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or “from the gut” without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. Truthiness was named Word of the Year for 2005 by the American Dialect Society and for 2006 by Merriam-Webster. By using the term as part of his routine, Colbert sought to satirize the use of appeal to emotion and the “gut feeling” as a rhetorical device in contemporary socio-political discourse. He particularly applied it to US President George W. Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court and the decision to invade Iraq in 2003; Colbert later ascribed truthiness to other institutions and organizations, such as Wikipedia. Truthiness is now used as a legitimate word given its usefulness.

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Un-American – a term which is sometimes applied to people or institutions in the US in an attempt to deny the targets the identity of American. It implies a substantial deviation from US norms and may extend to internal subversion, espionage or treason. The use and meaning of the term is by no means uniform in the US. Due in part to these historical associations with political abuses and jingoism, the attitudes of Americans toward the pejorative use of “Un-American” are often critical or suspicious. Moreover, Americans may vary widely in what they believe to be un-American.

United States of America –

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Voter outreach – includes voter education, voter registration, and voter mobilization.

Voter registration -

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War chest – refers to the stash of money that a candidate or party has to use for an anticipated election campaign.

War Hawk – a term used to describe someone of a political stance of preparedness for aggression, by diplomatic and ultimately military means, against others to improve the standing of their own government, country, or organization. Thus the hawk (a bird of prey), and is usually contrasted with the term dove, which alludes to the more peaceful bird.

“Waving the bloody shirt” – refers to the demagogic practice of politicians referencing the blood of martyrs or heroes to inspire support or avoid criticism.

Wilder effect – (see Bradley effect)

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“You break it, you bought it” – (see Pottery Barn rule)

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Sources:

• Myself, notes from classes
• Safire Political Dictionary
• Wikipedia
• Nelson Education