Where everything is bipartisan until it is not.
Supreme control, sovereignty, or ownership over a territory or domain—the kind of power that gets historical empires to wake up sweating. It's dominance with a fancier medieval accent.
A voluntary act of kindness or political support given without obligation. In government, favors are the unspoken currency of influence, though they're technically supposed to be transparent.
Using personal attacks and negative accusations against a political opponent rather than discussing policy.
A nation's ability to influence others through culture, values, and persuasion rather than military force or coercion.
The legal process of transferring an accused criminal from one jurisdiction to another for prosecution.
A sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government, typically abbreviated to 'coup.'
A formal parliamentary procedure to end debate and force a vote, because apparently talking forever was so big a problem that Congress needed a specific rule to stop it.
Hawks favor aggressive military intervention; doves prefer diplomatic solutions and restraint.
A formal written agreement between nations on matters like trade, military cooperation, or human rights.
Someone on an unchecked spending spree, typically dropping government stimulus checks on frivolous purchases with zero financial planning.
Playful acronyms for Men in Black and Women in Black—the tongue-in-cheek term for federal government workers, especially those in military, intelligence, or Homeland Security who always look like they're about to ruin your day.
An initial election within a political party to select the candidate for the general election, allowing party members to choose between ideological variants of basically the same group.
A verbose person who talks constantly and says almost everything in a misleading or dishonest way; basically all words, no truth.
Nowhere On Planet Earth—an environmental stance that rejects a project's existence anywhere, not just refusing it locally.
The mere possibility that a senator might filibuster, which is so powerful that the actual filibuster almost never happens anymore because the threat alone kills the bill.
A group of high-ranking executive officials (Secretary of State, Defense, Treasury, etc.) who advise the chief executive and collectively demonstrate why political experience often translates poorly to actual results.
A legislative official whose job is to enforce party discipline by convincing, threatening, or bribing fellow party members to vote the right way, which sounds dystopian but is basically just normal politics.
A formal comment issued by the executive when signing legislation, ranging from 'nice bill' to 'I'm not actually going to follow the parts I disagree with', which is technically unconstitutional but happens anyway.
A joint conference between House and Senate to resolve differences in bills they've both passed, where haggling happens behind closed doors and the public gets whatever they decide.
A collection of routine, non-controversial items that legislative bodies vote on as a package without individual discussion, assuming nothing controversial got snuck in, which is always a dangerous assumption.
A bureaucrat, politician, or institutional mastermind who designs rules from the comfort of abstraction, confident that other people will deal with the messy reality. Policymakers craft the grand strategies while staffers handle the actual paperwork.
An elected representative who specializes in translating ideology into legislation—usually written in deliberately impenetrable legalese so that only other lawyers can argue about it. Lawmakers are the original architects of bureaucratic complexity.
Historically, a Christian missionary; today, especially in the LDS Church, one of the twelve top church executives who set doctrine and policy. It's the ecclesiastical equivalent of being on a religion's board of directors, except your decisions are treated as divine law.
A tongue-in-cheek term for a government or system dominated by female elected officials and leaders—a playful (if crude) neologism celebrating female political power and representation.