Where everything is bipartisan until it is not.
The practice of professionally pestering politicians until they do what you want, which is basically what children do but with more expensive suits and fancier dinners. It's free speech for people whose speech comes with a corporate expense account.
A politician who's still in office but has already lost their next election, making them about as powerful as a substitute teacher on a Friday. They can technically still govern, but everyone knows the vibes are off.
A professional persuader who gets paid obscene amounts of money to convince politicians that corporate interests somehow align perfectly with the public good. Armed with campaign contributions and expensive lunches, they turn access into legislation. Technically legal, morally questionable, and absolutely essential to understanding why nothing ever changes in Washington.
A legislative session held after an election but before newly elected members take office, where defeated or retiring lawmakers vote on policy with zero accountability. Democracy's equivalent of a going-out-of-business sale.
A victory so overwhelmingly lopsided that the losing candidate's concession speech is written before polls close. While technically referring to any decisive electoral win, pundits love throwing this term around whenever someone wins by more than 5 points. The political equivalent of a mercy rule that nobody asked for.
The institutional equivalent of everyone getting sent to their rooms without dinner, whether it's students confined to classrooms during a threat, prisoners locked in cells after a disturbance, or entire populations quarantined during a pandemic. Essentially turns freedom of movement into a nostalgic memory until authorities decide the coast is clear. The ultimate "you can't fire me, I quit" of security measures—nobody gets to leave until we say so.
A strategic information leak where you confess to something juicy but relatively minor to distract people from the full scandal. Think of it as throwing investigators a bone so they stop digging for the entire skeleton. Popularized during Watergate, this tactic is the political equivalent of admitting you ate one cookie when you actually demolished the whole jar.
The branch of government with the power to make, amend, and repeal laws — essentially where elected representatives turn campaign promises into actual rules. Ranges from small city councils to national parliaments and congresses. Where laws are made like sausages, and watching the process might turn you vegetarian.
The past-tense action of attempting to influence politicians or decision-makers, usually on behalf of special interests with deep pockets and specific agendas. This is the polite term for what cynics might call 'legal bribery,' where professionals schmooze, persuade, and 'educate' lawmakers about why their client's position is definitely what's best for society. It's democracy in action, assuming your definition of democracy includes whoever can afford the fanciest steak dinner.
The practice of trading votes on different bills, where legislators support each other's pet projects in a you-scratch-my-back arrangement. It's political horse-trading without the horses or any pretense of principle.
The practice of attempting to influence legislators on behalf of special interests, conducted by professionals who get paid handsomely to take lawmakers to expensive dinners and explain why their client's interests perfectly align with the public good. Pure coincidence, really.
A member of the LGBTQ+ community who supports the Republican Party, named after the Log Cabin Republicans organization. Political unicorns who confuse pundits expecting everyone to fit neat partisan boxes.
An elected official whose primary job is to create laws that the rest of us have to follow, theoretically representing the will of the people but often representing whoever donated to their campaign. These governmental architects spend their days debating, amending, and voting on legislation, when they're not busy explaining why they voted against their own stated principles. Every country has them, and every citizen loves complaining about them.
What lawmakers supposedly meant to accomplish with a law, as opposed to what it actually says. Judges invoke this constantly when the actual words are inconvenient.
A somewhat dated term for someone advocating liberation for a particular group, most famously attached to "women's libber" in the 1960s-70s. This label was often wielded by detractors to dismiss activists fighting for equality. It's the kind of word that tells you more about when it was used than who it described.
A political action committee established by a politician to fund other candidates' campaigns, supposedly to build alliances but mostly to maintain relevance and influence. A clever way for ambitious legislators to buy loyalty while keeping their own campaign funds untouched.
Sauerkraut rebranded during WWI as a patriotic alternative to remove its inconvenient German associations—proof that nationalism has always had a flair for absurdist marketing. It's the original example of renaming food for political optics, predating 'freedom fries' by nearly a century.