Where everything is bipartisan until it is not.
The feel-good moment when people admit they see and value what you've done—officially, legally, or grudgingly. Basically when society upgrades you from 'we'll pretend you don't exist' to 'fine, we acknowledge your existence.' Example: International recognition of the new government came quickly.
An intense or irrational fear and hatred of foreign people, cultures, or anything perceived as foreign or different. Often manifests as discriminatory attitudes or hostile behavior toward immigrants and international groups.
Mentally compromised or brainwashed by consuming biased, propagandistic media—particularly Fox News. A clever play on words suggesting someone's thought process has been corrupted by misinformation.
A promise by politicians to limit the influence of money in politics, never actually implemented because the money currently controls who makes the promises.
When different branches or chambers are controlled by different parties, generally producing legislative gridlock and mutual recrimination. It's democracy's version of a dysfunctional marriage counseling into permanent separation.
An unpledged party official who can vote for any nominee at a convention, allegedly ensuring party establishment control over the nomination process.
The polite euphemism for legalized bribery where wealthy donors and corporations purchase favorable legislation through campaign contributions.
The geographic area a representative is supposed to serve, unless gerrymandering has made that area look like a Rorschach test.
The informal measure of how long a senator can continue speaking, constrained by bladder capacity and the tolerance of C-SPAN viewers.
The archaic system where a legislator's power is determined by how long they've been holding a seat, ensuring that entrenched incumbents run everything.
Adjective describing districts that have been distorted beyond recognition to ensure a particular party's electoral advantage, from geometry to insanity.
The congressional committee that controls how much money each agency gets, making them vastly more powerful than policy committees.
Unofficial term for a legislature dominated by elderly members, leading to policy debates that sound like someone's grandpa yelling about the internet.
Redrawing districts specifically to pack or crack opposition votes—pack them into a few safe districts or crack them across many others.
A provision quietly inserted into a bill at the last minute, often unrelated to the bill's main purpose and designed to avoid public scrutiny. It's legislative jaywalking on a massive scale.
A district that is vastly overrepresented compared to its population, often rural and reliably conservative. Democracy's losers.
Repeated calls to fix the filibuster that fail because fixing it requires eliminating it, which requires 67 votes (or the nuclear option).
The practice of collecting completed absentee ballots from voters, either legitimately or as a vector for fraudulent ballots. It's controversial because both sides use it and both sides claim the other side is committing election fraud.
Using technical rules and parliamentary procedure to delay or block action without a substantive argument against the underlying policy. It's what you do when you know your idea is bad but still want to prevent others' ideas.
The decennial reallocation of House seats among states based on population, guaranteeing that rural states stay overrepresented.
When multiple legislators formally support a bill, signaling partisan agreement or in some cases just trying to look active without doing actual work.
When a politician retreats from a previous statement, usually using euphemisms like 'misspoke' or 'was taken out of context.' It's controlled deletion with plausible deniability.
When election officials remove people from voter registration rolls, often based on criteria that can be mistaken or discriminatory. It's spring cleaning for democracy, except it deletes the wrong people.
When one legislator or small group threatens to block legislation unless their demands are met, essentially hostage-taking with a procedural justification.