Political Metaphors 201 Nature Navigation
Political Red Herring, Political Tide, Gerrymandering, Logrolling, Swift Boat Politics, Political Crossroad, Political Compass , Political Mudslinging, Political Quagmire
Use of Color in Political Metaphors
In the 1990’s, the American media started to use the color red to signify states where voters predominantly voted for Republicans and blue for Democrats. A purple state in America features roughly even numbers of Democratic and Republican supporters in a presidential election.
A Blue Dog Democrat (now close to being extinct) was referred to a member of Congress who is moderate or more conservative in their voting record and political philosophy than other, more liberal, Democrats in the House and Senate. The equivalent analogs were called “Country Club Republicans or Rockefeller Republicans”.
Some media content that demonstrates this usage:
“The pandemic is dividing blue cities from their red states” was speaking about when many cities led by Democrat officials enforced sanctions when the Governors of the states, who were republican, refused to take action.
“Three reasons why the Democrats’ Blue Wall crumbled” was talking about the 2016 Presidential election when democrats lost states that had previously been predominantly Republican-won states.
There is even a book titled “Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority”.
Political Metaphors related to Nature
Water related metaphors
Water metaphors (Waves, tides, ripples, tsunami, splashes, surfing, draining the swamp) are especially used in the context of election results, sometimes in combination with the metaphors for color.
Some examples are :
“A red wave swept through”
“They’re a Blue Tidal Wave—If They Vote” when referring to teenagers voting.
“Why the blue wave is dying in the fight for the Senate” talks about the Democratic Party surfing a tide of discontent.
“Experts: It is indeed a women’s wave, but is it a blue wave?”
This headline uses the ripple metaphor to show that one party did not make make big gains in the election “A Blue Wave Election? Maybe More of a Ripple”
Political tides ebb and flow. Sometimes there are political tsunamis, as happened in Malaysia when the ruling coalition collapsed and the Prime Minister quit. Candidates create splashes and political pundits wonder if the splash can be turned into a wave.
Political candidates have used the rallying cry of draining the swamp to their advantage in the past, but it seems to have lost its luster on disaffected voters. The phrase comes from the physical draining of swamps in the past to combat malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and sometimes to make way for settlements. It is meant to signify a holistic reform of the government, or to root out corruption. A prior US President’s successful campaign mantra was indeed, “It’s time to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C.“. The underlying fact that Washington, D.C. is built on a swamp is not known to many.
Per this article from the Wall Street Journal, titled “Draining the Swamp: Up From the Muck—and Also From Corruption“, the original use of the phrase for politics was in an essay titled Draining a Political Swamp in 1899, where the author argued that the drainage of the swamplands around Toledo should be followed by “the conquest of the swamp of machine politics”.
Political parties or candidates are often accused of conducting fishing expeditions on their opponents. The comparison is that they will pull up whatever they happen to catch. If the catch happens to be a herring, it might be used to to create a diversion. Although these expeditions are unlikely to occur on a swift boat, those tactics can also be employed.
A “political red herring” is a diversion tactic used in politics as these examples show
“Foreign oil disdain a political red herring?”
“Is the undervalued yuan is a political red herring?”
The origin of the phrase is a little mysterious . A herring changes color to red after being smoked and has a very strong smell. There are references in literature to it being used by bandits to throw bloodhounds off their trail or being used to throw dogs off trail in hunts to deliberately prolong the hunt.
“Gerrymandering” which is used to refer to the redrawing of voting district boundaries to favor a specific political party. The word is a combination of the name of an early Massachusetts Governor, ‘Elbridge Gerry’, and the political boundary that he drew in the shape of a salamander.
A swift boat was a class of vessel used by the American Navy during the Vietnam war. In the past, an attempt was made to tarnish a prior presidential nominee’s campaign which was based on his heroism as a swift boat commander, by a group called the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth”.
The term is now popularly used in politics to mean an unfair political attack or a smear campaign as the following example conveys.
“The essence of Swift Boat tactics, which—far from disappearing from American life —have become a mainstay in politics. They have been perfected over time, and are deployed in current Presidential campaigns”.
Other metaphors from nature
There is often political mudslinging during campaigns , but often it does not damage the reputation of the candidate being targeted who can score a landslide victory.
A Political Quagmire represents a complex situation, similar to the marshy land where one would sink into.
“Why is Medicare for all (Single Payer system) such a political quagmire?”
“The political quagmire of the prime minister accepting his country’s complicity in genocide”.
The origin of the phrase “Logrolling” comes from America in the frontier days where neighbors would help each other roll logs into heaps for burning after the trees had been cut to clear land. Sometimes also called horse-trading, it is commonly used in politics to refer to reciprocal (quid pro quo) voting for each other’s proposed legislation. It represents trading of political power.
“How old-fashioned logrolling produced Congress’ massive budget deal”
” Could our legislative leaders would get a lot more accomplished if they were willing to try logrolling on public projects? ”
Another phrase tied to the clearing of land is “Slash and burn”, which involves lighting fires to clear land. Slash-and-burn political ads and practices have minimal to no regard for the truth, and rely on frightening voters with damaging lies and half-truths about the opposition.
Political Metaphors related to Navigation
Political ads and messages constantly seem to be steering America in a direction – up, down, turning it around.
Obama, George W.Bush and Ronald Reagan have all consistently used the phrase “stay the course” when campaigning for president. Mitt Romney’s website implored donors to help him “turn America around“. A political ad ended with Obama stating that “America is on the way up.” In another ad, Paul Ryan promised to “put the nation back on a path to renewed prosperity for all,” suggesting that the country has been derailed and needs to be put back on track. It always seems that there countries or governments are at a “political crossroad”.
In America, directional metaphors as “left” and “right” are used to signify a progressive or conservative candidate respectively. There is an interesting story on the origin of these metaphors going back to the French Revolution. Once you realize that there is a political ideology spectrum, the terms far-right, right-leaning, far-left and radical-left, all start to make sense. Your Political compass shows where you stand with left, right , libertarian north and authoritarian south.
“US election: How left-wing is the Democratic field?”
“How radical left-wing US presidential candidates have fared”
“How right-wing pundits are covering coronavirus”
“You know that right-wing stunt? ”
For many more metaphors, check out my blog post on Boxing Metaphors, Football Metaphors , Baseball Metaphors, Political Metaphors-Part I and Political Metaphors-Part III