Political Terms Used In The United States

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AAPI - This abbreviation stands for Asian American Pacific Islanders, which consists of over 50 ethnic groups that speak over 100 distinct languages, with ancestries connected to Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Hawaii among others. According to the 2020 census, in the United States, 24 million people identified as Asian and nearly 1.6 million individuals identified as Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

AAVE - See African American Vernacular English

Ableism - Ableism is discrimination against people with disabilities. This means expressions of fear or hate for people with disabilities, a denial of accessibility, as well as institutionalized discrimination. Ableism was first defined in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1981.

Aboriginal Peoples - A collective name for the diverse Indigenous peoples—the original inhabitants of North America, South America, Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia) before European colonization. While the collective term has offered a sense of solidarity among Indigenous communities, the term has also functioned to erase the distinct histories, languages, cultural practices, and sovereignty of the hundreds of nations that lived on these continents prior to European colonization. As such, its usage is often debated, with communities preferring their own terms of self-identification. Recently, the term Indigenous has become more prevalent, as it is the term adopted in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. https://www.aclrc.com/glossary

Abraham Accords - bilateral agreements on Arab–Israeli normalization signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.

Absent Vote - A vote cast by voters who are out of their division but still within their State or Territory which may be cast at any polling place in that State or Territory.

Absolute Monarchy - a form of government where the monarch (i.e. king or queen) rules unhindered, without any laws, constitution or legally organized opposition. Most often, a ruler inherits their office from a family member and usually rules until their death or their abdication.

Accelerationism - Accelerationism is a range of revolutionary and reactionary ideas in left-wing and right-wing ideologies that call for the drastic intensification of capitalist growth, technological change, infrastructure sabotage and other processes of social change to destabilize existing systems and create radical social transformations, otherwise referred to as "acceleration". Accelerationism has been characterized as the opposite of incrementalism or gradualism.

Acclamation - An acclamation, in its most common sense, is a form of election that does not use a ballot.

Accusation in a Mirror (AiM) - see Mirror-Image Propaganda

Act - A law that has been passed by the legislature and approved by the president at the federal level or by the governor at the state level.

Activist - A person who takes up a social or political cause and campaigns for it – for example, affordable housing or immigrant rights.

Ad Hoc Committee - A committee that is formed to carry out a task and then breaks up when the task is over.

ADOS - This abbreviation stands for American Descendants of Slavery. It refers to all Black Americans who are descendants of formerly enslaved people. The originators of this term are committed to seeking reparations for chattel slavery and its ongoing consequences including the racial wealth gap, incarceration, systemic inequities in education and healthcare, redlining, and gentrification all of which disproportionately affect Black people in the United States. ADOS are also committed to advocating for policies that eliminate the discrimination experienced by Black people of all backgrounds in the US. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Advocacy Journalism - journalism that is openly and transparently non-objective and supportive of a particular viewpoint. Those who practice advocacy journalism reject the traditional ideal of objectivity because, they believe, it is impossible to achieve objectivity.

African American Vernacular English (AAVE) - the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban communities, by most working- and middle-class African Americans and some Black Canadians. Having its own unique grammatical, vocabulary, and accent features, AAVE is employed by middle-class Black Americans as the more informal and casual end of a sociolinguistic continuum. However, in formal speaking contexts, speakers tend to switch (also known as code-switching) to more standard English grammar and vocabulary, usually while retaining elements of the nonstandard accent. Despite being widespread throughout the United States, AAVE should not be assumed to be the native dialect of all African Americans. (Source: Wikipedia)

AFRICOM - The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense. AFRICOM is responsible for all U.S. military operations and activities in Africa. AFRICOM's area of responsibility includes:

Afro-Latino - individuals who have roots in both African and Latin America and/or the Caribbean. Six million Americans identify as Afro-Latino.

Afro-Pessimism - Exclusively focusing on the oppression of African-Americans without a political or economic analysis of how to end the oppression. The term was made popular by author Frank Wilderson III whose book, "Afropessism" provides no restorative solution to the racialized hatred that abounds globally against Black people.

AIPAC - The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States government. It also has connections to the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) which is ostensibly organized around the politics of Israel but in practice has become a weapon wielded by the Democratic Party’s centrist faction against its progressive wing.

ALEC - American Legislative Exchange Council, a right wing organization that claims it is non-partisan but promotes Republican legislators.

Alliance of Sahel States (AES/ASS) -The Alliance of Sahel States (AES/ASS) is a mutual defense pact created between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso on 16 September 2023. These African nations were once members of ECOWAS.

Allyship - a process that involves working and/or acting in solidarity with an oppressed group to undo the effects of past and current oppression. One type of ally is a white ally. A white ally acknowledges the limits of her/his/their knowledge about other people’s experiences but doesn't use that as a reason not to think and/or act. A white ally does not remain silent but confronts racism as it comes up daily, but also seeks to deconstruct it institutionally and live in a way that challenges systemic oppression, at the risk of experiencing some of that oppression. Being a white ally entails building relationships with both people of color, and also with white people in order to challenge them in their thinking about race. White allies don’t have it all figured out, but are committed to non-complacency.

Ambassador - the highest-ranking diplomat accredited to a country. A diplomat is anyone in the foreign service posted to another country. A diplomat is still just a public servant (albeit a glamorous one). An Ambassador, however, has a status closer to a minister and is more than a public servant.

Amendment - A minor change to a law or contract. The U.S. Constitution has 27 amendments. The first ten are known as the Bill of Rights.

American Descendants of Slavery - See ADOS

Amicus Briefs - are legal documents filed in appellate court cases by non-litigants with a strong interest in the subject matter. The briefs advise the court of relevant, additional information or arguments that the court might wish to consider.

AMOC - Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, a major system of ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean. It acts like a global conveyor belt, moving warm, salty water from the tropics northward near the surface and returning cold, deep water southward toward the equator. Climate scientists use this system to measure changes in global weather patterns.

Anarchist - one who embraces and practices anarchy. (see below)

Anarchy - a political theory that holds all forms of governmental authority to be unnecessary and undesirable. Anarchists advocate for a society based on voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals and groups that are non-hierarchical.

Anti-Establishment Democrat – opposes the existing power structure of the traditional Democratic Party especially as it relates to campaigns being funded by the fossil fuel industry, weapons manufacturers, and other deep pocketed corporations that do not prioritize social responsibility or the concerns of working class people.

Antifa - From the word "anti-fascist", Antifa is a political movement that opposes fascism and other forms of extreme right-wing ideologies. Antifa is a leaderless movement comprised of a diverse array of autonomous groups. They aim to achieve their objectives through the use of a series of direct actions rather than engage in policy reform in the traditional way.

Anti-Racist Action - Direct actions that are done specifically to dismantle institutionalized practices of racism. Anti-Racist Actions are also used to identify/call-out and confront racist ideologies which manifest overtly and covertly in institutions, conversations, curriculum, and organizational structures.

Anti-SLAPP Motion - SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. Anti-SLAPP laws often allow defendants to file a motion to dismiss a SLAPP on the grounds that the case involves protected speech on a matter of public concern. The burden then shifts to the plaintiff to show that they are likely to win the case. If the plaintiff can't meet this burden, the court can dismiss the claim and may even require the plaintiff to pay a penalty.

Antitrust - Antitrust laws are regulations that encourage competition by limiting the market power of any particular firm. This often involves ensuring that mergers and acquisitions don't overly concentrate market power or form monopolies, as well as breaking up firms that have become monopolies. Also see cartels. (Source: Investipedia)

Appropriation - “The claiming of rights to language, subject matter, and authority that are outside one's personal experience. The term also refers to the process by which members of relatively privileged groups ‘raid’ the culture of marginalized groups, abstracting cultural practices or artefacts from their historically specific contexts” (Henry & Tator, 2006, p. 347). The term also applies to the economic exploitation of marginalized groups (particularly Indigenous peoples) by producing and selling cultural/intellectual property. In such cases, the communities from which the practices/items originate are neither consulted nor given any share of the profits. This is often the case with dream catchers, Inukshuks, soapstone carvings, inappropriate/unauthorized use of images on clothing or furniture. (Source: https://www.aclrc.com/glossary)

Arab Americans - Arab Americans are immigrants or the descendents of immigrants from Arabic speaking nations in North Africa and Southwest Asia who also identify as American. This includes individuals from 22 modern day nations such as, Egypt, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Somalia, Djibouti etc. There are nearly 3.7 million Arab Americans in the US today. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Aristocracy – a form of government where power is held by the nobility, especially those holding hereditary titles or offices.

Asian - This term refers to individuals from all parts of Asia, including Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Southwest Asia. However, each of these parts of Asia are composed of distinct nations with different cultural, linguistic, ethnic, and racial groups. The term Asian often overlooks and conflates the myriad racial and ethnic identities within Asia. For instance, many people who identify as Arabs or Arab Americans are from nations in Southwest Asia such as, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates etc, and their cultural, linguistic, and ethnic groups are drastically different from Southeast Asia or South Asia. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Asian American Pacific Islanders - See AAPI.

Asian Americans - This term was first coined in the 1960s with the intention of channeling the power of individuals of Asian origin. There are over 20 million Asian Americans in the United States, almost all of them trace their roots to 19 origin groups from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. The six most represented ethnic groups among Asian Americans in the United States include Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese. A smaller segment of Asian Americans trace their roots to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bhutan, Mongolia, and Thailand. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Assembly - A law-making or legislative body. Almost every state in the United States has an assembly as part of its form of civil government. Except for Nebraska, all state legislatures are bicameral bodies, composed of a lower house (Assembly, General Assembly, State Assembly, House of Delegates, or House of Representatives) and an upper house (Senate).

Asset Forfeiture - See Civil Asset Forfeiture

Astroturf - Sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) that make it appear as though their message originated from and is supported by grassroots participants. Fake grassroots.

Attorney General – the main legal advisor to the government representing the public interest. Attorneys general are chief legal officers of the states, commonwealths, and territories of the United States, they serve as counselors to state government agencies and legislatures, and as representatives of the public interest.

AUKUS - a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States allegedly to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable. Initially announced on 15 September 2021, the partnership involves two lines of effort referred to as pillars. Pillar 1 focuses on Australia acquiring nuclear-powered attack submarines and the rotational basing of US and UK nuclear-powered attack submarines in Australia. Pillar 2 entails the collaborative development of advanced capabilities in six technological areas: undersea capabilities, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and autonomy, advanced cyber, hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities, and electronic warfare; and in two broader functional areas: innovation and information sharing.

AUKUS is widely seen as a response to the perception among its members that the People's Republic of China poses a threat to the Indo-Pacific region. Source: Wikipedia

Austerity - a conservative led campaign to cut budgets that began in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008. Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. However, during the post-2008 financial crisis, austerity measures have typically resulted in cutting spending on social programs as opposed to increasing taxes on the rich which is why many economists argue that rather than stimulating economic growth, austerity policies have led to a dismantling of the social systems that operated as a buffer against economic hardship, exposing austerity to be a form of systematic violence.

Authoritarian - a form of government characterized by strong central government that imposes strict obedience of the government at the expense of personal freedom.

Autocratic - A form of government where unlimited power is held by a single individual.

Backdoor Draft - Term used to describe two somewhat covert methods of populating and maintaining a registry of men that can rapidly be deployed to serve in a war or other military action when there is no active draft and those serving are doing so "voluntarily". (Also see: conscription and Selective Service)

Bad Paper Discharge - Being discharged from the military for anything other than an honorable discharge. These kinds of discharges prevent veterans from receiving medical care, disability compensation and education benefits through the GI Bill at the Department of Veterans Affairs. (See: GI Bill)

Baffleds - A term coined by political economist Anthony Downs, to describe swing voters who, by definition, are those who are the least informed and least interested in politics yet live in swing states where their votes are hightly coveted.

Balkanization - the process of a large country or region breaking up into smaller, often hostile politicals. The term is usually used to describe the fragmentation of a region due to differences in culture, ethnity, religion, or geopolitical interests.

The term originated in the early 19th century to describe the breakup of the Balkan Peninsula into smaller states after the Ottoman Empire's rule. It became more widely used after World War I to describe the new states that emerged after the collapse of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires.

Balkanization is often associated with a negative connotation, as it has been used as a policy tool to weaken states that threaten their neighbors. The term has also been associated with violence and atrocities.

Synonyms of Balkanization include carve up, dissever, divide, separate, split, and split up.

Ballot Box Stuffing - An illegal action that involves voting many times to affect the result of an election.

Ballot Freedom - a voting process that allows more than one political party to nominate the same candidate. Ballot Freedom is also known as fusion voting, electoral fusion, cross endorsement, multiple party nomination, multi-party nomination, plural nomination, and ballot freedom. Under this process, if a candidate receives multiple nominations, the candidate will either appear on the general election ballot multiple times or once with all affiliations listed, depending on their state.

Banality of Evil - A term coined by the philosopher and political thinker Hannah Arendt that describes the ways in which normal, average people, not just evil doers, opportunists, narcissists, or sociopaths, play a major role in ushering in totalitarian regimes. Her theory is that the average and mundane person who relies on clichéd defenses rather than thinking through political and social issues themselves is highly vulnerable to be taken advantaged of by opportunists. This, coupled with the equally culpable and as pernicious, motivation of the average person to achieve professional promotion defined by growing personal net worth, fame or status as opposed to developing and holding to a particular ideology.

Bandwagon effect - The tendency for a popular candidate or proposal to gather even more support simply because they appear to be winning; also called the ‘snowball effect’.

BDS - Stands for Boycott, Divest, and Sanction - a resist movement that has been used to disrupt the oppressive governements of South Africa during apartheid and Israel for its treatment of Palestinians, which was also an apartheid regime. The three elements of BDS are:

Boycott -

Beltway - A term that describes the politically and socially insular community of Washington DC. Derived from Interstate Highway 495 which circumnavigates Washington forming a “belt”.

Bicameral Legislature - any lawmaking body of government that consists of two separate houses or chambers. Usually a lower house such as the House of Representatives and an upper house, the Senate. They make up the United States Congress at the federal level. At the state level there is the State Senate and Assembly that make up state legislative bodies in the United States (for each state except Nebraska).

Big Brother - A type of state, envisaged by George Orwell in his novel, “1984”, in which the government tracks each person’s movements and knows everything about all citizens

Bilderberg Meeting - an annual conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America to bolster a consensus around free market Western capitalism and its interests around the globe. (Source: Wikipedia)

Bill - A draft of a new law or change to a current law that has yet to be passed. If approved, at all stages, it then becomes an act and thus law.

Bill of Rights - the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution. Also known as civil liberties.

Binary Thinking - A Western, capitalist form of perceiving the world that conceives of things only in terms of oppositions: either/or, good/bad, right/wrong, winner/loser, for/against thinking. Binary thinking can be a form of denial or resistance; it supposes that there are only 2 mutually exclusive options and nothing in between. For example, when it comes to Indigenous sovereignty, non-Indigenous individuals may feel that if such a group gains rights, they themselves are automatically losing something (perhaps their home or vacation property), when in reality, someone else’s gain is not their loss.

Bird-Dogging - To track down a political candidate to a public event and get in a position to ask him/her questions on issues they would rather not talk about, and to ask follow-up questions if answers are evasive.

Bipartisanship cooperation on an issue where normally opposing political parties come together to agree on an initiative. Technically, the term means two parties coming together.

BIPOC - An acronym for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. BIPOC is meant to emphasize the particular hardships faced by Black and Indigenous People while also acknowledging that other people of color in the US and Canada also experience discrimination. The BI was added to POC because Indigenous people often get forgotten in social justice causes and anti-Black racism is particularly virulent.

Black August - an annual commemoration that takes place during the month of August. It's a prison-based commemoration that highlights Black resistance to racial, colonial, and imperialist oppression. Black August commemorates Black political prisoners, Black freedom struggles, and Black resistance fighters, both living and deceased.

Black August was inspired by the assassination of political prisoner George Jackson, who was murdered by prison guards at San Quentin State Prison on August 21, 1971. Black August was started in California prisons in the 1970s by Black freedom fighters who wanted to honor the lives and deaths of Black political prisoners killed by the state. It officially became an annual commemoration in 1979.

Black Lives Matter - a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by Black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police brutality and racially motivated violence against Black people (Source: Wikipedia)

Black Tax - The Black Tax encompasses the financial transactions and the toll they take on the well-off family member, who may be unable to build wealth like their white peers who don’t share the same financial obligation.

Black Trauma Porn - The portrayal of racism, racial bias, police brutality, and Black people’s ongoing suffering in the media, including social media particularly when it goes viral. Footage of these abusive events create notoriety, and a buzz for social media attention.

Blackshirts - The paramilitary wing of the National Fascist Party, known as the Squadrismo during Benito Mussilini's reign. Similar to Hitler's Brownshirts.

Blue Progressive - Not a frequently used term but is growing due to the split in the Democratic party.

A member or supporter of the Democratic Party who champions progressive causes, like:

But still operates within or adjacent to the Democratic mainstream, rather than breaking away entirely like some democratic socialists or independents might.

Borrowing In - A term used to describe the process of converting from political appointee to civil servant that usually occurs when there is a change in presidents. Unlike political appointments, civil service positions do not terminate at the end of an administration. Conversion or "borrowing in" allows political appointees to stay in government after the president who appointed them has left office.

Bourgeois - a pejorative adjective that describes something or someone who displays characteristics of the bourgeoisie; middle-class; also used variously to mean conventional, smug, materialistic, etc.

Boutique Activism - Similar to virtue signaling. Boutique activism is a form of activism that does little to produce true change. Generally, nonprofit advocacy groups work on a specific social ill and then operates within the rules established by their funders, rules that prevent the activists from accomplishing any real change but they can claim that they are. This flawed approach undermines efforts to change the system.

BRICS - an international economic coalition currently consisting of ten countries. The name comes from the 5 original founding countries:

The following 5 countries are the most recent official members of BRICS:

These 12 countries are either BRICS partners or have been invited to join BRICS:

This group of emerging economic powerhouses coalesced to challenge the world order dominated by the United States and its Western allies, the G7. The BRICS countries overtook the G7 countries share of the world's total gross domestic product (GDP) in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2020 even though BRICS convened for the first time in 2009 and 2010. Today, in 2025, these emerging, fast-growing economies have a combined population that represents more than 60% of the population of the world.

Brokered Convention - A contested convention. A situation in American primary presidential election campaigns where no candidate, by the time of the convention after the final primary election, has accrued the most delegates. Delegates are then freed from their commitment to support their original candidate, and so-called “horse trading” is engaged in until one candidate can attain a majority and thus go on to become the party’s nominee. The winner is not necessarily the first or second highest delegate holder but can also be a compromise candidate, as happened in the 1924 Democratic convention. Technically, a brokered convention is only when power brokers, such as superdelegates, delegates, unelected party insiders, step in and use their reserve powers to decide the issue.

Broligarchy - a combination of oligarchy and bro. It is used to describe a system where a small, elite group of "bros" -- usually white, wealthy, influential men, often in tech, finance, or politics who dominate decision-making and hoard power, shaping society to benefit their interests. It might refer to:

Brown Act - A California law that was enacted in response to mounting public concerns over informal, undisclosed meetings held by local elected officials. The act requires that city councils, county boards, and other local government bodies' meetings be open to the public. The Brown Act solely applies to California city and county government agencies, boards, and councils. The Los Angeles City Council scandal involving a leaked recording of a meeting between then council president Nury Martinez with city council members Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo is being investigated as a possible Brown Act violation.

Brownshirts - The Brownshirts were a group of former soldiers and anti-leftists who used force to advance Hitler's political goals in pre-World War Two Germany. They were Hitler's original paramilitary wing much like the Blackshirts of Benito Mussolini.

Budget Deficit - When government revenue is less than government spending. When the amount going out is greater than the amount coming in.

Butterfly Effect - the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. (Source: Oxford Dictionary)

Cablegate - The leak of a large number of US embassy and consulate documents to the public on November 28, 2010 by the website WikiLeaks, and the scandal surrounding the diplomatic spying revealed in these documents. (source: Wikipedia)

Campist - a derogatory term for a leftist who supports any country or organization that opposes the United States or the West. This includes authoritarian governments that do not follow leftist beliefs. The term "campist" refers to the idea that the world is divided into two camps, one imperialist and the other anti-imperialist.

Cancel Culture - refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive. Cancel culture is generally discussed as being performed on social media in the form of group shaming.

Capitalism - An economic system in which private individuals and corporations control trade and industry. Capitalism, as it is practiced in the United States, is free market driven and controlled by the drive to increase profit regardless of the social consequences.

Carbon Footprint - A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent. (Source: Wikipedia)

Carbon Sequestration - Carbon sequestration or carbon dioxide removal is the long-term removal, capture or sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to slow or reverse atmospheric CO2 pollution and to mitigate or reverse global warming. (Source: Wikipedia)

Carceral State - Penal policies unprecedented in modern U.S. history, and unheard of or disdained in most other countries have resulted in the United States being the biggest jailer in the world.

Card Check - A card check is part of a voluntary recognition process in the labor-management relationship. An employer agrees to recognize a labor organization as the exclusive representative of their employees for purposes of collective bargaining if a majority of employees in an appropriate unit indicate that they would like to be represented by that organization. (Source: Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service)

Careerist - A careerist, especially in the political arena, is a person who is involved in politics not because they see politics as a path to practice the highest form of public service but because they use their careers primarily to accumulate power, wealth, or influence. Careerism, as it is defined here, is highly detrimental to the successful implementation of government policies if success is seen as serving the interests of the people. Careerists often have no particular ideology or cause they support beyond their own personal ambitions.

Carpetbagger - A pejoritive term used to characterize parachute politicians, that is, an outsider who runs for public office in an area where they have not lived for more than a short period and have not significant community ties. The term carpetbagger originated from the carpet bag, a form of cheap luggage, made from carpet fabric, that was carried by many of the original carpetbaggers who were Northerners that came to the south after the Civil War with opportunist and exploitative objectives.

Cartel - a covert association of manufacturers, suppliers, or some other type of business interest group that exists to maintain an advantage in an environment where most believe there is a level playing field. The purpose of the association is to maintain prices at a high level and restrict and even eliminate competition.

Caucus - A group or a closed meeting of people, especially members of a political party, with power to decide on policy or to select a candidate.

CBO - Community Based Organization, usually a non-profit organization that provides services.

CBO - Congressional Budget Office

Censor - to suppress or prohibit the publication or distribution of books, films, news, etc. based on the belief that they are obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

Censorship - the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

Centrist – also referred to as moderate. Voters and politicians who describe themselves as centrists often mean that they advocate neither left-wing nor right-wing ideologies. Centrism itself is not an ideology as much as it is an attempt to avoid taking a stand.

Central Planning -

CFPB - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a US government agency that was created to protect consumers from unfair financial practics. The CFPB was created in 2011 as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, which was a financial reform overhaul after the 2008 financial crisis.

Charter City - There are two types of cities in California: “charter cities,” which operate under the city's local charter, and “general law cities,” which operate under the general laws of the state. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento are among the charter cities in California.

Charter Schools - Charters are publicly funded schools run by nonprofits, not school districts — and unlike district-run schools, charter school teachers rarely belong to labor unions and have no collective bargaining power.

Chesterton's Fence - The principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood. (Source: Wiktionary)

Chicano/Chicana - This identifier is for people of Mexican descent born in the United States. The term became popularized by Mexican Americans during the Chicano Movement of the 1960s. (Source: White at Work)

CIA - Central Intelligence Agency, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT) and performing covert actions. (Source: Wikipedia) Also known as "the Company"

Circular Firing Squad – This metaphor often comes up in progressive spaces precisely because these groups tend to value ethics, accountability, and ideological clarity. Those values are strengths—but they can turn into weapons when purity tests, ego battles, or factional divides take center stage. This term is used to describe a group that’s supposed to be on the same side but ends up turning its weapons inward—aimed at each other instead of at the real target.

Cisgender - a gender identity term used to describe people who identify as the gender/sex they were assigned at birth. For example, if a doctor said “it’s a boy!” when you were born and you identify as a boy/man, then you could be described as a cisgender man.

Source and Further Reading: Basic Rights Oregon. Trans 101: Cisgender.

Citizens United - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case brought by a conservative nonprofit group called Citizens United, challenged campaign finance rules after the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) stopped it from promoting and airing a film criticizing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton too close to the presidential primaries.

A 5–4 majority of the Supreme Court sided with Citizens United, ruling that corporations and other outside groups can spend unlimited money on elections.

Civic Journalism - integrates journalism into the democratic process. Civic journalists believe the media not only informs the public, but it also works towards engaging citizens and creating public debate. Those who embrace the idea of civic journalism have rejected the idea that objective reporting is even possible. They don't believe that journalists can be objective spectators of politics, and they won't pretend otherwise.

Civil Asset Forfeiture - also known as "civil forfeiture" or "asset forfeiture," is a legal process that allows law enforcement to seize property that is suspected of being used in criminal activity. This includes money, cars, bank accounts, businesses, houses, jewelry, and even pets. The property owner does not have to be charged with a crime for the property to be taken. There is no limit to what police can seize, and they do not have to file charges or establish guilt before seizing and keeping the property.

Civil Liberties – Civil liberties are different from civil rights. Civil liberties are the freedoms captured in the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution, also known as the Bill of Rights. The freedom to act, assemble, think, or speak as you wish, regulated only as much as is needed for the good of other people. Things the government must not infringe upon. A negative right is, in other words, the right to be free from. Protected speech is an example.

Civil Rights – Civil rights are different from civil liberties. Civil rights are provided through the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects the basic right to be free from unequal treatment based on certain protected characteristics (race, gender, disability, etc.) in settings such as employment and housing.

Class Reductionism - a perspective that reduces all forms of social inequality to class.

Classism - The cultural, institutional, and individual set of practices and beliefs that assign value to people according to their socio-economic status. In classism, those in the “upper” and “middle” classes are considered more valuable than those of the “lower” classes, such that those in the upper classes are taken more seriously and seen as contributing “more” to society at the expense of recognizing that the class structure is based on exploitation of the labor of the so-called lower classes. Based in capitalist economics and imperialism, classes have been racialized, and can be seen in both local, national, and international contexts: “First World” and “Third World,” for example.

Cliodynamics - an academic discipline that uses mathematical models to explain the common principles behind large-scale historical events. The goal of cliodynamics is to transform history into an analytical, predictive science. (Source: Peter Turchin)

Cloture - A motion in legislative systems to bring a filibuster to an end and thus allow a vote on the bill at hand. French for “ending”. (scroll down to see "filibuster").

Closed Primary - In a closed primary, only voters registered with a given party can vote in that party’s primary. States with closed primaries include party affiliation in voter registration so that the state has an official record of what party each voter is registered as.

Closed primaries preserve a party’s freedom of association by better ensuring that only members of the party influence that party’s nominees, but critics claim that closed primaries can exacerbate the radicalization that often occurs at the primary stage, when candidates must cater to their party’s “base” rather than the political center. (Source: FairVote.org)

Cluster Munitions - A cluster munition, or cluster bomb, is an explosive weapon that releases multiple bomblets across a wide area. Cluster munitions can be dropped from aircraft or fired from the ground or sea. They can saturate an area the size of several football fields.

Cluster munitions have been banned by over 100 countries because they pose a significant risk to civilian populations. They can indiscriminately harm civilians because they spread over a large area and often explode long after they are deployed. They also leave unexploded remnants that can remain dangerous for years and detonate unpredictably.

Code of Hammurabi - a Babylonian legal text composed c. 1755–1750 BC containing a collection of 282 rules inscribed onto a massive, finger-shaped black stone stele (pillar). It is the longest, best-organized, and best-preserved legal text from ancient times discovered thus far.

Code Switch - In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation. Multilinguals, speakers of more than one language, sometimes use elements of multiple languages when conversing with each other. The term is also used to describe a person who shifts the way they express themselves in order to fit in with a different race or ethnic group. Sometimes this is done unintentionally. Code-switching can even extend to body language and other nonverbal cues.

Codify - In simple terms, to codify something means to enshrine a right or a rule into a formal systematic code. It could be done through an act of Congress in the form of a federal law or, similarly, state legislatures can codify rights by enacting laws at the state level. (Source: Yes Magazine)

Cold War - A term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between nations where there is a lack of open military action. The opposite of Hot War or regular war.

Collective Bargaining - the negotiation of wages, benefits, and other conditions of employment by an organized body of employees.

Collective Punishment - Collective punishment is a penalty imposed on a group of people for the actions of a member of that group. It can include violence and sanctions. Collective punishment is considered unfair and has been prohibited by the Geneva Convention since 1949.

Colonial Loot - the wealth, resources, cultural artifacts, and labor that were taken—often by force or coercion—by colonial powers from the lands and peoples they colonized. Colonial Loot is the term given to the stolen riches of empire. Colonial loot includes and still benefits current and former empires like the United Kingdom and the United States:

Colonialism - The policy or practice of taking full or partial political control of another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting its resources for economic gain that is not shared equitably with the residents of the country being occupied. Colonialism is a practice of domination that involves the subjugation of one people to another.

Colony - A country or area under the full or partial political control of another country, typically a distant one, and occupied by settlers from that country.

Colorblinbdness - Non recognition of the significance of race. A concept that is usually embraced by white people. In a colorblind view, white people overlook the “systemic barriers that marginalized groups face” and attribute racial inequalities to characteristics internal to the racial groups. For example, to explain the racial wealth gap, they might argued that “White people simply work harder.” Colorblindness fosters the systematic denial of the legacy of racist practices of the past as well as contemporary racial subordination and the psychological repression of an individual's recognition of that subordin state legislatures can codify rights by enacting laws at the state level. (Source: the Paradox of Power and Privilege)

Colorism - The set of institutions and practices that privilege those with lighter skin color and discriminate against those with darker skin color. Here is an essay in the LA Progressive that addresses state legislatures can codify rights by enacting laws at the state level. (Source: colorism.)

Commonwealth - a nation, state or other political entity founded on law and united by a compact of the people for the common good.

Communist - a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single -- often authoritarian -- party holds power; state controls are imposed with the elimination of private ownership of property or capital while claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people (i.e., a classless society).

Community Land Trusts - Community land trusts (CLTs) are nonprofit organizations governed by a board of CLT residents, community residents and public representatives that provide lasting community assets and shared equity homeownership opportunities for families and communities. The heart of their work is the creation homes that remain permanently affordable, providing successful homeownership opportunities for generations of lower income families.

Comprador Bourgeoisie - A section of an indigenous middle class allied with foreign investors, multinational corporations, bankers, and military interests. A social class that is considered to be compliant with foreign interests and uninterested in developing their own national economy.

Comprador Class - a term for the natives of a colonized land that are "bought" by the colonizers. The term 'comprador class' has been defined; “[A] relatively privileged, wealthy and educated. elite… introduced by colonial domination, and who may therefore be less inclined to struggle for independence. (Source: EAJournals.org)

Conditional Voter - In the state of California, a conditional voter is one who otherwise meets all of the requirements to vote but has not registered to vote before the deadline for a particular election. The conditional voter status applies to those who register to vote on the same day or less than 14 days before election day. Their ballot is not counted until after the conditional voter registration is verified.

Confederacy (Confederation) - a union by compact or treaty between states, provinces, or territories that creates a central government with limited powers; the constituent entities retain supreme authority over all matters except those delegated to the central government.

Confirmation Bias - is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes. The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs.

Biased search for information, biased interpretation of this information, and biased memory recall, have been invoked to explain four specific effects:

Congressional Progressive Caucus - A group of congressional representatives in the United States congress that are the most politically left-leaning members of the House of Representatives.

Conscription - the mandatory enrollment of individuals into national military service, commonly known as a military draft.

Conservative - the holding of political views that favor free enterprise, private ownership, and social ideas that are resistant to change or progress. The central tenets of conservatism include tradition, social Darwinism, hierarchy, authority, and property rights. Conservatives seek to preserve a range of institutions, such as religious, limited government, and property rights, with the aim of emphasizing social stability through the continuity of traditions.

Conservative Manifesto - The Conservative Manifesto is an economic plan that was based on a set of beliefs that were relatively universal to conservatives on both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle of in 1937 and heavily influenced the conservative platform going forward from this point. It was based on:

Constitutional - a government by or operating under an authoritative document (constitution) that sets forth the system of fundamental laws and principles that determines the nature, functions and limits of that government.

Constitutional Amendment - The process to alter the constitution. In the United States, a Constitutional Amendment must be ratified by either two-thirds of both the Senate and House of Representatives, or three quarters of the state governments. The U.S. Constitution has been amended 27 times since inception - this includes the first ten amendments, which are known as the Bill of Rights.

Constitutional Democracy - a form of government in which the sovereign power of the people is spelled out in a governing constitution.

Constitutional Monarchy - a system of government in which a monarch is guided by a constitution whereby his/her rights, duties, and responsibilities are spelled out in written law or by custom.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is a US government agency that was created to protect consumers from unfair financial practics. The CFPB was created in 2011 as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, which was a financial reform overhaul after the 2008 financial crisis.

Contradiction Closing Case - A contradiction-closing case is an event, decision, or symbolic action that:

Co-op - a noun that is short for "cooperative" which is an enterprise that is owned and often state legislatures can codify rights by enacting laws at the state level. (Source: Democracy at Work)

Co-opt - a verb taken from the noun cooptation that means to assimilate, take, or win over into a larger or established group: The fledgling Labor Party was coopted by the Socialist Party. to appropriate as one's own; preempt: The dissidents have coopted the title of her novel for their slogan. Also known as Movement Capture.

Also means to take it over or adopt it—often in a way that changes its original meaning or purpose, or uses it for your own advantage.

There are a few common uses:

Copaganda - a word created by combining two words, "Cop" and "Propaganda" to describe the intentional use of television shows and other media to shape public opinion of law enforcement. Some argue that copaganda has increased since the Black Lives Matter movement in an effort to undermine the movement.

Corporatism – a system of government in which the control of the state is vested in the hands of corporations. This system of government was supported by fascists from 1922 until 1943 in Italy and is viewed as a form of fascism.

Council on Foreign Relations - a U.S. nonprofit think tank, founded in 1921 to research and advocate in the area of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs. It is headquartered in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C. Its membership, which numbers 5,103, has included senior politicians, more than a dozen secretaries of state, CIA directors, bankers, lawyers, professors, and senior media figures. (Source: Wikipedia)

Counterinsurgency - military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas. or revolutionaries" and can be considered war by a state against a non-state adversary. Insurgency and counterinsurgency campaigns have been waged since ancient history.

Counter-Scheduling - a term coined by Bill Clinton's campaign team. It describes a method used to gain broader acceptance with outsiders by attacking components of your own group. Similar to respectability politics , a leader admonishes elements of his own group to gain favor with his rivals. An example of this is Bill Clinton's famous public admonition of Sister Souljah while speaking at a Rainbow Coalition Conference or Barack Obama's admonition to the Congressional Black Caucus to stop whining and “Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes” during one of the worst recessions this country has experienced. (See: Respectability Politics)

Counterterrorism - political or military activities designed to prevent or "thwart terrorism."

Coup d'état - a sudden and often illegal seizure of power from a civilian government.

Criminogenic Capitalism - The theory that capitalism inevitably leads to crime. Some Marxists argue that crime is inevitable in capitalist societies because capitalism is ‘criminogenic’ or crime-causing – i.e. by its nature, capitalism brings about the potential for crime.

Critical Race Theory - a term coined by famed law professor Derrick Bell in the 1970s as a takeoff on critical legal studies; a branch of legal scholarship that challenges the validity of concepts such as rationality, objective truth, and judicial neutrality. Critical Race Theory recognizes that racism is embedded in every aspect of U.S. society. See: Critical Race Theory: An Introduction

Critical Theory - a broad school of thought that critiques and seeks to challenge power structures, social norms, and systems of domination — especially those that are tacitly accepted without critique or examination. Critical Theory helps to put a spotlight on these systems that normalize harm and render them invisible to many -- especially those who are not detrimentally impacted. Critical theory is about questioning assumptions, uncovering benefits, and imagining alternatives to the status quo.

Categories of critical theory include:

Cronyism - partiality or bias in favor of long term friends, especially as evidenced in the appointment of political hangers-on to office without regard to their qualifications.

Cross Endorsement - a voting process that allows more than one political party to nominate the same candidate. Cross Endorsement is also known as fusion voting, electoral fusion, cross endorsement, multiple party nomination, multi-party nomination, plural nomination, and ballot freedom. Under this process, if a candidate receives multiple nominations, the candidate will either appear on the general election ballot multiple times or once with all affiliations listed, depending on their state.

Crossover Vote - A vote by a person registered with one party for a candidate in another party.

Cult of Personality - a term coined by Thomas A. Wright in a paper he wrote in 2013. In it, he says, "What is character and why it really does matter. The cult of personality phenomenon refers to the idealized, even god-like, public image of an individual consciously shaped and molded through constant propaganda and media exposure. As a result, one is able to manipulate others based entirely on the influence of public personality...the cult of personality perspective focuses on the often shallow, external images that many public figures cultivate to create an idealized and heroic image."

Cultural Appropriation - Taking objects, practices, and bodies out of their cultural context and exhibiting or performing them without consideration of the privilege such a removal or display entails. Oftentimes this goes hand-in-hand with exotification and fetishization of other cultures.

Cultural Capital - Non-financial social resources that promote social mobility or help sustain a person in a particular class. Examples include education, knowledge about dress codes, historical knowledge about a particular place, accents,

Cultural Liberal - view of society that stresses the freedom of individuals from cultural norms and in the words of Henry David Thoreau is often expressed as the right to "march to the beat of a different drummer".

Cultural liberals believe that society should not impose any specific code of behavior and they see themselves as defending the moral rights of nonconformists to express their own identity however they see fit, as long as they do not harm anyone.

Cultural Nationalism - Cultural nationalism is nationalism in which the nation is defined by a shared culture and a common language, rather than on the concepts of common ancestry or race. (Source: Wikipedia)

Curb-Cut Effect - a term popularized by Angela Glover Blackwell in an article she wrote that was published in the Standard Social Innovation Review. It is used to describe the impact of laws and programs designed to benefit vulnerable groups, such as the disabled or people of color, and how they often end up benefiting all of society.

Dark Horse Candidate - An almost unknown contestant in an election who achieves unexpected support.

Dark Money - money spent on political campaigns by nonprofit organizations that are not required to disclose their donors. For example, 501(c)(4) (social welfare) 501(c)(5) (unions) and 501(c)(6) (trade association) groups. A dark money example is found here. For an in depth explanation of this phenomenon that exploded after the Citizen's United U.S. Supreme Court Case, read Jane Mayer's book, " Dark Money".

Deadnaming - The act of calling a transgender or non-binary person by their birth name after they have chosen a new name. Many transgender people change names as part of gender transition, and wish for their former name (deadname) to be kept private.

Deadnaming has the effect of misgendering its subject, and potentially outing them as transgender. It may occur accidentally, or be done as a deliberate attempt to deny, mock, or invalidate a person's gender identity. Deliberately using a transgender person's deadname is considered extremely offensive. (Source: Wikipedia)

Deadname - The birth name of somebody who has changed their name. Most commonly attributed to trans people, but can be attributed to any person who has changed their name. (sometimes written as two words: dead name) Source: Urban Dictionary

Deaths of Despair - The term, "deaths of despair", was coined by Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton, who set out to understand what accounted for falling U.S. life expectancies. The falling life expectancy has been attributed to three disease types - drug overdose (including alcohol overdose), suicidal tendencies, and alcoholic liver disease. These illnesses lead to deaths of despair. (See: Diseases of Despair)

Debt Peonage - also known as debt slavery or debt servitude, is a system where a worker is forced to pay off a debt with their labor - often described as another form of slavery.

De-Dollarization - the creation of an alternative global financial and technological system in order to gain more economic independence by circumventing the dependence on the dollar and the Western World-controlled systems. (See BRICS above.)

Deep State - In the United States, in conservative or right wing circles, this term is used to describe a covert network of power operating independently of the nation's elected leadership—often within government agencies, military, intelligence services, or bureaucracies - for example, Donald Trump and allies often accused the FBI, DOJ, and intelligence agencies of being part of the "deep state" working to undermine his presidency.

Defense Production Act - A law that allows the president, largely through executive order, to direct private companies to prioritize orders from the federal government. The president is also empowered to “allocate materials, services, and facilities” for national defense purposes, and take actions to restrict hoarding of needed supplies.

Deference Culture - refers to a system of deeply embedded social behaviors that convey respect, submission, compliance, or obedience, mostly unearned, to individuals or groups who assert their entitlement to superior status, rank, or authority—often based on inherited position, institutional power, proximity to power, or social standing. Deference culture reinforces inequality. It is often imposed—both subtly and overtly—on those who are expected to adhere to its customs and gifted to those who benefit from something they haven't earned.

While it can appear voluntary (people brown nosing or addressing others in ways that convey deference), in practice, deference culture is coerced or enforced as opposed to voluntarily given. Those who are placed on the lower rungs of the social order are expected to show respect, submission, or obedience to those on the higher rungs. In contemporary society this hierarchy is created and reinforced by wealth, education, professional titles, proximity to or familial relationship with power. This respect or deference is often ritualized through language, behavior, and social practices that reinforce hierarchy and preserve the dominance of elites.

Deference is one of the key cultural mechanisms through which class power is normalized, maintained, and reproduced.

Deficit Spending - government spending, in excess of revenue it has garnered through taxation. Raising funds by borrowing rather than from taxation.

Delegate - A person who attends a political or other convention and who has been given the power to represent others and make decisions for them at that convention. (also see Super Delegate).

Demagogue - A leader who gains popularity by appealing to prejudice and basic instincts. Considered manipulative and dangerous. Often runs a populist campaign.

Democracy - a form of government in which the supreme power is retained by the people, but which is usually exercised indirectly through a system of representation and delegated authority periodically renewed.

Democratic Liquidity - A system of voting that uses a hybrid of direct democracy and representative democracy where voters have the right to vote directly on all policy issues à la direct democracy; but voters also have the option to delegate their votes to someone who will vote on their behalf à la representative democracy. See Liquid Democracy in the "L" section of this page below for more information. Source: Wikipedia

Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) - is ostensibly organized around the politics of Israel, but, in practice, it has become a weapon wielded by the Democratic Party’s centrist faction against its progressive wing. (Source: Ryan Grimm, the Intercept)

"Across the country, progressive candidates who a cycle earlier had been loudly vying for national attention with bold ideas to attract small donors were instead keeping their heads down, hoping to stay under the radar of DMFI and AIPAC." -- Ryan Grimm

Democratic Republic - a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.

Democratic Socialism - a political philosophy supporting political democracy within a socially owned economy, with an emphasis on workers' self-management and democratic control of economic institutions within a market socialist economy or some form of a decentralized planned socialist economy.

Deny Defend Depose - a phrase often used to describe the tactics of insurance companies, particularly when dealing with claims, where they might "deny" a legitimate claim, "defend" their decision against legal challenges, and even try to "depose" (remove from power or position) individuals involved in the claim to avoid payouts; essentially meaning they will aggressively resist paying out on a claim by using various legal strategies.

Deservingness Heuristic - social policy opinions are strongly influenced by a simple unspoken rule: Are the recipients of social benefits deserving or not?

Despot - A ruler, usually a dictator or other type of authoritarian, who exercises total power, especially in a cruel or harsh way.

Despotism - Power and control imposed by the government exerting its dominance through threat or actual use of punishment and violence.

Dictatorship - a form of government in which a ruler or small clique wield absolute power (not restricted by a constitution or laws).

DINO - Democrat in Name Only

Diplomat - an official representing a country abroad. (see Ambassador).

Disaster Capitalism - a form of extreme capitalism that exploits war and natural catastrophes by privatizing and deregulating when the masses have the attention focused on more pressing matters and feel particularly vulnerable. The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein describes disaster capitalism.

Disaster Porn - When the media puts horrific or tragic images on a 24 hour loop. Disaster porn is used to generate financial support. Most commonly associated with 9/11. (Source: Urban Dictionary)

Diseases of Despair - Three primary diseases the lead to deaths of despair. The term deaths of despair comes from Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton, who set out to understand what accounted for falling U.S. life expectancies. The falling life expectancy has been attributed to three disease types known as diseases of despair because these diseases are thought to be caused by social conditions and social policies - drug overdose (including alcohol overdose), suicide, and alcoholic liver disease. Diseases of despair, and the resulting deaths of despair, are high in the Appalachia region of the United States, especially, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware. (Source: Wikipedia)

Disenfranchisement - the revocation of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people. Revoking or preventing a person from exercising the right to vote.

Divine Nine - The Divine Nine refers to the nine historically Black Greek-letter organizations (BGLOs) that make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC). These fraternities and sororities have played a pivotal role in Black American history, particularly in areas of civil rights, education, community service, and leadership development.

DMFI - See Democratic Majority for Israel

Dobbs - a shortened version of Dobbs vs Jackson Women's Health Organization, the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court Case that concluded that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion resulting in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, being overruled.

Docket - A docket is a formal list of cases scheduled to be heard by a court. It serves as the court's calendar or agenda and includes essential information about each case, such as:

In the U.S. Supreme Court, there are two main types of dockets:

Doctrine - refers to a formalized set of principles or beliefs upheld and promoted by an institution—such as a religious denomination, political organization, or educational system—that guides the actions, teachings, and values of its members.

Dog Whistle - The use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group. The language enables the user to avoid breaking social taboos (i.e. uttering overt racists statements) while, at the same time, delivering racist messages thereby providing the user with plausible deniability. The concept is named after ultrasonic dog whistles, which are audible to dogs but not humans. Dog whistlers use language that appears normal to the majority but communicates specific things to intended audiences. They are generally used to convey messages on issues likely to provoke controversy without attracting negative attention. This is particularly true when the intended audience holds deep seated anti-Black sentiments. The use of the word "woke" or "wokism" by the right is an example of dog whistling.

DOGE - Department of Government Efficiency officially the U.S. DOGE Service. This a temporary organization under the United States DOGE Service, formerly known as the United States Digital Service. Despite its name, DOGE is not a Cabinet-level department of the United States government.

DOGE's stated purpose is to reduce wasteful and fraudulent federal spending, and eliminate excessive regulations.

Dominant Group - The group that is positively valued, considered to be superior, independent, or “normal” and has access to social, economic, and political power.

Doxing - Publicly revealing personal information about someone or about an organization on the internet. Usually done with malicious intent to somehow harm the target.

Drapetomania - a supposed mental illness that, in 1851, American physician Samuel A. Cartwright hypothesized was the cause of enslaved Africans fleeing captivity.  This hypothesis centered around the belief that slavery was such an improvement upon the lives of the enslaved that only those impervious to the natural order of things or those suffering from some form of mental illness, in this case Drapetomania, would wish to escape.

Dual Power - a strategy that builds liberated spaces and creates institutions grounded in direct democracy. Together these spaces and institutions expand into the ever widening formation of a new world “in the shell of the old" -- ultimately to have fully participatory democracy replace the old authoritarian system.

Dunbar Number - a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships—relationships in which an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person. British anthropologist Robin Dunbar coined the “Rule of 150” to define this limit. His theory is that numbers larger than this generally require more restrictive rules, laws, and enforced norms.

Dunmoore's Proclamation - a historical document signed on November 7, 1775 by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, royal governor of the British Colony of Virginia. The proclamation declared martial law and promised freedom for slaves of American revolutionaries who left their owners and joined the royal forces, becoming Black Loyalists. Some historians maintain that the signing of this proclamation, more than anything else, prompted the beginning of the American Revolution.

Dunning School - refers to a historiographical school of thought regarding the Reconstruction period of American history (1865–1877), supporting conservative elements against the "Radical Republicans" who introduced civil rights in the South.

Duopoly - In a political duopoly, two parties control virtually the entirety of the political landscape, such that third parties are rendered powerless. This is the case in the United States.

EA - Effective Altruism (see below)

Earned Media - free publicity gained through promotional efforts other than paid media advertising, typically through cable news and political news broadcasts. Valuable to candidates who don't have a huge war chest. Incumbents running for office often benefit from this. Donald Trump maximized the use of earned media during the 2016 Presidential Campaign.

East Asians - East Asians trace their roots to China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Mongolia. Chinese Americans account for 24% of the Asian population in the US, making them the largest Asian origin group. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Ebonics - see African American Vernacular English

Ecclesiastical - a government administered by a church.

Economic Draft - Also known as the "Backdoor Draft..". This is when unemployed civilian men and women, after not being able to find employment, broaden their job searches by going to the U.S. military. They do this because of the lack of job security, benefits, and opportunities in their local community. Even if there is no military "draft" in place, the economic draft or backdoor draft delivers the same outcome. The large number of people signing up for enlistment supports this conclusion. (Source: Urban Dictionary)

ECOWAS - The Economic Community of West African States (also known as CEDEAO in French and Portuguese) - a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries:

EDIB - Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (also known as DEI or DEIB)

EEOC - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that administers and enforces civil rights laws against workplace discrimination.

Effective Altruism - a philosophical and social movement that advocates "using evidence and reason to figure out how to benefit others as much as possible and taking action on that basis". Economics Professor Robert Reich says, "Effective altruism is an end-run around the common good — a perversion of the civic virtue that the common good requires"

Election Consolidation - rescheduling local elections to occur with national and state elections in even years in order to increase election turnout and reduce costs. Also known as On-Cycle Elections.

Electioneering - to take an active part in an election; specifically : to work for the election of a candidate or party. It can include the display of campaign posters or signs, distribution of campaign materials, or solicitation of votes for or against a candidate, party, or initiative.

Electorate - All those who have a right to vote in an election.

Elector – A person who votes or has the right to vote.

Electoral College - a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations, political parties, or entities, with each organization, political party or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way. In the United States, the Electoral College, which consists of 538 people, elects the president.

Electoral Fusion - an arrangement where two or more U.S. political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, allowing that candidate to receive votes on multiple party lines in the same election.

Electoral fusion is also known as fusion voting, cross endorsement, multiple party nomination, multi-party nomination, plural nomination, and ballot freedom.

Electoral fusion was once widespread in the United States; however, as of 2024, it remains legal and common only in New York and Connecticut, though was once legal in every state and credited by advocates as being instrumental in enabling major democratic advances. Also see: Crossover Voting

Electoral Vote - the opposite of the popular vote. In the United States, the president is elected to office based on the outcome of the electoral vote, not the popular vote. In it's history, the U.S. has had five presidential elections where the victor did not win the popular vote but won the electoral vote -- they are John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, George W. Bush and Donald Trump.

There are a total of 538 electoral votes. They are allocated among the states based on the Census. Every State is allocated a number of votes equal to the number of Senators and Representatives in its U.S. Congressional delegation—two votes for its Senators in the U.S. Senate plus a number of votes equal to the number of its Congressional districts. There are 435 congressional seats, 100 senate seats, and 3 electors from Washington DC for a total of 538 electors.

Emirate - like a monarchy or sultanate, a government in which the supreme power is in the hands of an emir (the ruler of a Muslim state); the emir may be an absolute overlord or a sovereign with constitutionally limited authority.

Emiseration - economic impoverishment, also see: precarity. Alternative spelling: Immiseration.

Emoluments Clause - The emoluments clause, also called the foreign emoluments clause, is a provision of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 8) that generally prohibits federal officeholders from receiving any gift, payment, or other thing of value from a foreign state or its rulers, officers, or representatives. (Source: Brittanica.com)

Enclosure - (or inclosure, less commonly spelled today) refers to the historical process in England and other parts of Europe where common land—land that was shared by a community for grazing, farming, or gathering—was fenced off and privatized, usually by wealthy landowners.

Entryism - (also called entrism, enterism, or infiltration) a political strategy in which an organization or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organization in an attempt to expand influence and expand their ideas. If the organization being "entered" is hostile to entrism, the entrists may engage in a degree of subterfuge and subversion to hide the fact that they belong to another organization. (Source: Wikipedia)

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that administers and enforces civil rights laws against workplace discrimination.

ESG - Environmental, Social, and Governance of companies. A way to measure a companies values.

Ethnicity - Ethnicity refers to groups that share a common identity-based ancestry, history, religion, traditions, language, or culture generally associated with a specific geographic region. Ethnicity is generally used in reference to a person’s cultural attributes, not their physical appearance. Two people can share the same race but have different ethnicities. For example, among two white individuals one might identify as South African and another as Italian-American or among two Black individuals one may identify as African-American and another Haitian. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Ethnocide - the deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic group, accomplished either by destroying the members of the group (genocide) or by destroying its cultural identity (culturicide).

Eugenics - Eugenics is the scientifically erroneous and immoral theory of “racial improvement” and “planned breeding,” which gained popularity during the early 20th century. Eugenicists worldwide believed that they could perfect human beings and eliminate so-called social ills through genetics and heredity.

Executive – One of the three branches of government in the United States. The other two are the Legislative and the Judiciary. Some call the "Fourth Estate/the Media" an unofficial branch of government.

Exit Poll - A survey of some voters leaving a polling station asking them who (or what) they voted for to give an early indication of voting trends and help predict results.

Expansionism - The use of state power to build empire or colonialize. In the classical age of conquest, moral justification for territorial expansion, using displacement, subjugation, slavery, rape and extermination was normalized. Expansionism was employed in the taking of the land and labor used to build the United States.

Explanatory Comma - An explanatory comma is a brief aside that explains or gives context for a word or phrase. It's a comma that appears after a word, idea, or person is introduced, in an effort to define it for an audience that needs the explanation.

Expropriation - Expropriation is the act of a government claiming privately owned property against the wishes of the owners, ostensibly to be used for the benefit of the overall public. In the United States, properties are most often expropriated in order to build highways, railroads, airports, or other infrastructure projects.

Extractive Economy - An economy based on maximizing profit for the few while the masses suffer. Short-term goals of maximized profit prevail. Extractive economies prioritize the extraction of wealth from local, regional, and national economies over all else. This economic model is the opposite of a Generative Economy that is designed to generate conditions for life to thrive by maximizing the power of democratic participation to drive equitable development and community wealth building.

Extractivism - the removal of natural resources, particularly for export, with minimal processing. Extractivism is another term for resource appropriation, which is common throughout the Global South.

Extractivists - Those involved in the process of extractivism. These mainly include transnational corporations (TNCs) as the main players, but also includes their governments who typically do not extract their own resources; extraction is often led by the Global North from abroad and implemented throughout the Global South.

Fabian Socialism - The advancement of the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. This form of gradualism was advanced by the Fabian Society, a British socialist organization.

Faction - A grouping of individuals that form a dissenting group within a larger group ultimately causing a split.

Fair Labor and Standards Act - A U.S. law enacted in 1938 that created the right to a minimum wage and time-and-a-half overtime pay for people who work over forty hours a week.

Fairness Doctrine - The fairness doctrine of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), was introduced in 1949. It was a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that fairly reflected differing viewpoints. It was eradicated in 1987. (Source: Wikipedia)

Faithless Elector - In United States presidential elections, a faithless elector is a member of the United States Electoral College who does not vote for the presidential or vice-presidential candidate for whom they had pledged to vote. (Source: Wikipedia)

False Flag - an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on a second party. The term is popular amongst conspiracy theory promoters in referring to covert operations of various governments and cabals. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as a purely figurative expression to mean "a deliberate misrepresentation of someone’s affiliation or motives"

Fascism - a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism and anti. Exalts nation above the individual.

Federal Republic - a state in which the powers of the central government are restricted and in which the component parts (states, colonies, or provinces) retain a degree of self-government; ultimate sovereign power rests with the voters who chose their governmental representatives.

Federal Reserve System - The Federal Reserve System (FRS), often called simply "the Fed", is the central bank of the United States and arguably the most powerful financial institution in the world. The Fed is an independent central bank. The Federal Reserve is not a governmental entity. Its monetary policy decisions do not have to be approved by the President or by anyone else in the executive or legislative branches of government.

Federalism (Federation) - a form of government in which sovereign power is formally divided -- usually by means of a constitution -- between a central authority and a number of constituent regions (states, colonies or provinces) so that each region retains some management of its internal affairs; differs from a confederacy in that the central government exerts influence directly upon both individuals as well as upon the regional units.

Federalist Papers - The Federalist, commonly referred to as the Federalist Papers, is a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison between October 1787 and May 1788. The essays were published anonymously, under the pen name "Publius," in various New York state newspapers of the time. Source: U.S. Library of Congress

Federalist Society - an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. (see Originalism below)

Fiat Money - government-issued currency that isn't backed by a commodity such as gold. Fiat money gives central banks greater control over the economy because they can control how much money is printed. Most modern paper currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, are fiat currencies. Source: Investopedia

Filibuster - a political procedure where one or more members of Congress speak on a proposed piece of legislation for an extended period of time in order to delay or entirely prevent a decision from being made on the proposal. The record for the longest individual speech goes to South Carolina's Strom Thurmond who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

First Nations - This term came into usage in the 1970s, replacing the use of Indian or Native, and First Nations refers to the groups of people that are officially recognized as Indians under the Indian Act of Canada. First Nations also refers to the separate nations that occupied the unceded territory before European colonization. There are over 630 First Nations in Canada. For instance, the Okanagan Nation is composed of seven member communities including the Penticton Indian Band, Okanagan Indian Band, Westbank First Nation, and Upper and Lower Similkameen Indian Bands. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

First-past-the-post voting - a voting system wherein voters cast a vote for a single candidate, and the candidate with the most votes wins the election. Analogous systems for multi-winner contests are known as plurality block voting or "block voting" systems.

Fiscally Conservative - advocating low taxes, reduced government spending and minimal government debt. Free trade, deregulation of the economy, lower taxes and privatization are the defining qualities of fiscal conservatism.

Fishing Expedition - a pejorative term for an inquiry with extremely loose terms of reference, if not open ended, where any embarrassing or damaging information is allegedly hoped to be revealed, even though there is little credible evidence of wrongdoing to initiate the investigation.

Flat Organization - is an organizational model with relatively few or no levels of middle management between the executives and the frontline employees. Its goal is to have as little hierarchy as possible.

FOIA - an acronym for Freedom of Information Act. A law giving a person the right to access certain information held by public bodies and Government departments.

FOMO - an acronym that stands for "fear of missing out"

Forum Shopping - Forum shopping is a colloquial term for the practice of litigants having their legal case heard in the court thought most likely to provide a favorable judgment. (Source: Wikipedia)

Foundational Black Americans (FBA) - Descendants of enslaved people in the U.S. Their ancestors were foundational in building the country—economically, culturally, politically—often through forced labor and struggle.

Fourth Estate - An unofficial branch of government with political power and authority comprised of the press and other forms of the media. In the United States, the other three estates are the three branches of government – the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.

Fractionalization - political instability and division

Franchise – the right to vote. (also see Disenfranchised, Suffrage)

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - A law giving a person the right to access certain information held by public bodies and Government departments.

Fusion Voting - a voting process that allows more than one political party to nominate the same candidate. Fusion Voting is also known as electoral fusion, cross endorsement, multiple party nomination, multi-party nomination, plural nomination, and ballot freedom. Under this process, if a candidate receives multiple nominations, the candidate will either appear on the general election ballot multiple times or once with all affiliations listed, depending on their state. (Source: Ballotpedia)

G7 Countries - The Group of Seven (G7) is an informal grouping of seven of the world's economically richest countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the European Union. The countervailing force of the G7 is BRICS.

Gain-of-Function Research - laboratory research that is based on lab techniques that change microbes – viruses and bacteria – to make them either more transmissible or more virulent. The term was bantied about during the Covid outbreak. Some accussed China of using this research.

Gaslighting - a term used to characterize a specific type of manipulation where the manipulator tries to get someone or a group of people to question their own reality, memory or perceptions. A form of abuse that involves a person or group of people who intentionally attempt to cause others to doubt their sanity.

GDP - Gross Domestic Product measures the total value of goods and services produced in a country, usually expressed in a common currency (like U.S. dollars).

Gendarm - A member of the gendarmerie military force that is used to enforce laws within civilian populations. Scroll down to see the Posse Comitatus Act.

Gendarmerie - A military force that has law enforcement responsibilities as it relates to civilian populations. The Posse Comitatus Act protects Americans from this type of law enforcement. See Posse Comitatus Act below.

Gender Expression - How one presents and expresses their gender to the world. Sometimes used in terms of masculine and feminine, but not limited to the two.

Gender Identity - The internal sense of how you perceive yourself and your gender.

Gender Non-conforming - Someone whose gender expression is different than the societal expectations of that person’s gender. Not all GNC people identify as transgender.

Genderism - A system of prejudice and discrimination based on one’s gender identity, expression, presentation and/or perceived gender; most often against people who do not confirm to dominant norms of masculine/male/man or feminine/female/woman.

Genderqueer - Someone whose gender identity is both man and woman, neither man nor woman, or something else. A fluid gender identity that defies categorization into the male-female gender binary that assumes many or no characteristics of these normative genders.

Genderwashing - superficial attempts to address gender inequality within organizations by simply placing women in high places while failing to create structural change or disrupt engrained power dynamics. Much like placing Black faces in high places does nothing to address structural racism. A form of tokenism.

Generative Economy - A generative economy is an economic system that emphasizes the creation and distribution of value through the generation of new ideas, innovations, and intellectual property. The term was coined by Marjorie Kelly to define "a living economy that is designed to generate the conditions for life to thrive"- this is in direct opposition to the Extractive Economy that exists to maximize profit for the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.

Genocide - the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.

Gerontocracy - Ruled by the old

Gerrymander - Deliberately dividing a constituency in a way that gives an advantage to one political party or to voters.

GI - GI stands for Government Issue or General Issue. Originally, "GI" was a term used to describe equipment issued by the U.S. military, such as "GI boots" or "GI canteens." Over time, the term came to refer more broadly to U.S. soldiers themselves—"GIs"—especially during World War II.

GI Bill - When the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 was passed to provide educational and housing benefits to veterans, it became popularly known as the "GI Bill" because it supported returning service members—the "GIs."

Glad-Handler - An excessively “friendly” person, typically a politician, who greets another effusively but insincerely to gain popularity.

Global Insurrection Against Banker Occupation (GIABO) - A term that originated during the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 defined in the Urban Dictionary as "people taking back their freedom through non participation in the FIAT monetary experiment which is failing. Source: Urban Dictionary

Global South - a term used to refer broadly to regions of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania that are generally less economically developed compared to the wealthier nations of the Global North (such as North America, Europe, and parts of East Asia). It is often associated with histories of colonialism, economic exploitation, and ongoing struggles with poverty, inequality, and political instability.

Key Features of the Global South

Criticism of the Term

Globalism - Nations or enterprises engaging in social activities (economic, political, and cultural) without regard to geographic location as opposed to nationalism which serves to promote and preserve a single national identity.

Godwin's Law - short for Godwin's law (or rule) of Nazi analogies, is an Internet adage asserting that as an online discussion grows longer (regardless of topic or scope), the probability of a comparison to Nazis or Adolf Hitler approaches. (Source: Wikipedia)

Gradualism - a policy of gradual social or political reform rather than sudden change or revolution. Gradualism is to evolution as accelorationism is to revolution.

Grass Roots - The ordinary and common people. Term generally refers to movements that arise when ordinary people have unmet needs so they organize, often without pay, to get their demands met, frequently without the involvement of professionals or elected leaders.

Graymail - A term used in the CIA that is similar to blackmail but is used to characterize the threat of a CIA officer on trial “accidentally” saying something classified or something that compromises sources and methods.

Great Gatsby Curve - a chart plotting the relationship between inequality and intergenerational social immobility in several countries around the world. The data suggests that an individual's potential for upward mobility is tethered to the degree of economic inequality they were born into -- the more economic inequality, the less upward mobility. The Great Gatsby Curve challenges the notion of the meritocracy or pulling oneself up by one's own bootstraps.

Great Society - The Great Society was a series of domestic programs in the United States that President Lyndon B. Johnson launched in 1964 and 1965. The programs' goals were to end poverty, reduce crime, abolish inequality, improve the environment, promote equality, improve education, and rejuvenate cities.

Greedflation - a term for price gouging by corporations during an inflationary period, especially when the underlying cost of production has not risen accordingly. It refers to a price rise introduced by companies to take advantage of inflation and boost their profit margin, even if they do not need to.

Green New Deal - a proposed package of United States legislation that aims to address climate change and economic inequality. The name refers to the New Deal, a set of social and economic reforms and public works projects undertaken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression. (Source: Wikipedia)

Green Party – a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.

Group of Seven - See G7 Countries

Groupthink - a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Cohesiveness, or the desire for cohesiveness, in a group may produce a tendency among its members to agree at all costs. (Source: Wikipedia)

Groyper - a term from the far-right ecosystem referring to a loose, internet-based movement of white nationalist, ultra-right activists who orbit around Nick Fuentes and the America First/Groyper Army network.

Guerilla Intellectual - a term coined by Walter Rodney, a Guyanese political activist and academic to describe academics who challenge academia and society at large to examine its notions of normalcy and reconstruct its institutions to serve in a manner that subverts capitalism and caste systems. According to Rodney, guerilla intellectuals utilize their position to “subvert the intention of the capitalists to reproduce [the petite bourgeoisie] as members of their service class.”

Habeas Corpus - a legal principle that protects an individual's right to not be unlawfully detained or imprisoned. The term comes from Latin, meaning "you shall have the body."

A writ of habeas corpus is a court order requiring a government official (such as a prison warden) to bring a prisoner before the court and explain why they are being held. If the detention is found to be without legal justification, the court can order the person's release.

In the United States, the right to habeas corpus is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 9), which says it can only be suspended “when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”

Hacktivism - Derived from combining the words 'Hack' and 'Activism', hacktivism is the act of hacking, or breaking into a computer system, for a politically or socially motivated reason.

Hacktivist - a person who gains unauthorized access to computer files or networks in order to further social or political ends.

Hagiographer - A hagiographer today might be anyone who writes about a public figure in an overly flattering, uncritical, or worshipful way — more like a fan or propagandist than a journalist or historian.

Hallin's Spheres - theory of media objectivity posited by journalism historian Daniel C. Hallin in his book, "The Uncensored War" (1986), to explain the coverage of the Vietnam War. Hallin divides the world of political discourse into three concentric spheres: consensus, legitimate controversy, and deviance.

Haole - In Hawai’i, a way of naming and calling out white settler colonialism; a person who is not a native Hawaiian, especially a white person.

Hatch Act - A law whose main provision prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president and vice president, from engaging in some forms of political activity.

Hawk - a term used in politics for someone who favors war or continuing to escalate an existing conflict as opposed to other solutions. War hawks are the opposite of doves.

HBCU - Acronym for "Historically Black Colleges and Universities" which were initially established in the United States in response to the policies and laws that allowed the majority of American colleges and universities to preclude African Americans from attending those institutions in an effort to block Black people from obtaining access to a college education.

Headright - a legal grant of land to settlers. Headrights are most notable for their role in the expansion of the thirteen British colonies in North America; the Virginia Company of London gave headrights to settlers, and the Plymouth Company followed suit. (Source: Wikipedia).

Hegemon - something (such as a political state) having dominant influence or authority over others.

Hegemony - leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.

Heightism - Height discrimination. It refers to discriminatory treatment against people whose height is not within the normal acceptable range for that population. Heightism can include discrimination against people who are "too tall" or "too short".

Heightism can also affect careers, with research showing that taller people are perceived as more "leader-like" and are more likely to attain managerial positions.

Heightist - a term that refers to someone who is prejudiced or discriminates against people based on their height. A heightist engages in heightism.

Herd Immunity - A state that occurs when enough people become immune to a disease to make its spread unlikely. As a result, the entire community is protected, even those who are not themselves immune. Herd immunity is usually achieved through vaccination, but it can also occur through natural infection. Not to be confused with "Qualified Immunity" although both deserve attention. (Source: Harvard Health)

Heterarchy - the relation of elements to one another when they are unranked, or when they possess the potential for being ranked in different ways, depending on systemic requirements.

Heteronormativity - a bias in favor of opposite-sex relationships, and against same-sex relationships, that places heterosexual relationships as the default and the norm, thereby positioning homosexual relationships as abnormal. Examples: laws the discriminate against same-sex relationships, the underrepresentation of same-sex couples (Source: Wikipedia)

Of, designating, or based on a world view which regards gender roles as fixed to biological sex or gender and heterosexuality as the normal and preferred sexual orientation (Source: Oxford English Dictionary)

Hezbollah - a Shi'a Islamist political, military, and social organization based in Lebanon. It was founded in the early 1980s, during the Lebanese Civil War, with backing from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and in response to Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Hierarchical Organization - an organization model that has different levels of authority with a chain of command connecting multiple management levels within the organization. The decision-making process is typically formal and flows from the top down.

High Mobility Artillery Rocket System - see HIMARS

HIMARS - an acronym for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. This is a mobile rocket launcher that can strike targets between 40 and 300 miles away, depending on the type of missiles it's outfitted with. HIMARS is a missile launcher mounted on a five-ton truck that can fire six guided missiles in quick succession. It was developed in the late 1990s for the United States Army.

Hispanic - The term, Hispanic, is used to describe people and their descendants from Spanish speaking countries, including many Latin American countries and Spain. However, this term excludes people and descendants from Latin American countries that do not speak Spanish, such as Haiti and Brazil. The term Hispanic is widely critiqued for centering Spain as the origin without fully recognizing the cultural, linguistic, (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Historically Black Colleges and Universities - HBCUs were founded in the United States in reaction to the policies and laws that allowed the majority of American colleges and universities to preclude African Americans from attending those institutions in an effort to block access to a college education.

Homestead Act - enacted during the Civil War in 1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land.

Horizontal Leadership - a style of leadership that depends on reciprocity and trust rather than the structured corporate hierarchy. In a horizontal leadership, or flat, organizational structure, leading occurs between all team members rather than only from the higher levels of a vertical structure.

Hot War - A conflict in which open military armed conflict takes place between nations. Opposite of Cold War.

Human Capital - the skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by an individual or population, viewed in terms of their value or cost to an organization or country.

ICC - The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutes individuals responsible for international crimes. The ICC differs from the ICJ. The simplest way to explain the difference is that ICJ cases involve countries, and the ICC is a criminal court, which brings cases against individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity

ICJ - See International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ) hears legal disputes between states. The ICJ differs from the ICC which is the International Criminal Court. The simplest way to explain the difference is that ICJ cases involve countries, and the ICC is a criminal court, which brings cases against individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Identity Politics - Identity Politics is a term that is bantered around frequently meaning different things to different people but, for the most part, it is used as a pejorative. In a definition taken from Webster's, it is defined as "politics in which groups of people having a particular racial, religious, ethnic, social, or cultural identity tend to promote their own specific interests or concerns without regard to the interests or concerns of any larger political group" -- as if people who don't belong to this particular group don't promote their own interests -- as if these generic people stand for everyone. The LA Progressive's position on this is that it is bullshit. We believe that taken to its furthest logical conclusion, identity politics is just politics.

Ideologue - A person who is deeply invested in a particular belief system, usually a political one. The term is also used pejoratively to describe an impractical idealist. Synonyms include dreamer, visionary, reformer, romantic and theorist.

IDF - See Israeli Defense Forces

IMF - International Monetary Fund which says, on it's website that it "works to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for all of its 190 member countries."

Imperialism - Imperialism is a policy or ideology of extending rule over people and other countries in order to gain political and economic access, power, and control, often through employing hard power, especially military force, but also soft power. It is the belief that one country has the right to conquer another country and put that territory under its control and influence. U.S. expansion of its influence into the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam are examples.

Immiseration - Economic impoverishment. Immiseration refers to the process of becoming increasingly miserable, impoverished, or deprived, often in an economic or social sense. It is commonly used in discussions about capitalism, labor exploitation, and economic inequality.

In Marxist theory, immiseration specifically refers to the worsening conditions of the working class under capitalism. Karl Marx argued that as capitalism develops, workers will face declining wages, worsening working conditions, and increasing economic hardship, even as overall wealth in society grows. This is known as the immiseration thesis.

There are two types of immiseration often discussed:

Today, debates about immiseration focus on issues like stagnant wages, job insecurity, rising living costs, and wealth concentration. Some argue that while absolute poverty has decreased globally, relative immiseration persists as inequality widens.

See "Popular Immiseration". Alternative spelling: Emiseration.

Inaugural - first

Inclosure - (or enclosure, more commonly spelled today) refers to the historical process in England and other parts of Europe where common land—land that was shared by a community for grazing, farming, or gathering—was fenced off and privatized, usually by wealthy landowners.

Inclusive Ownership Funds - An Inclusive Ownership Fund (IOF) is a proposal that would require companies with a certain number of employees to transfer a portion of their ownership into a fund that pays dividends to their employees. The proposal would give workers the same rights as other shareholders, including a say in how the company is run

Incrementalism - a method of working towards a goal by taking small logical steps using policy changes that are enacted over time in order to achieve larger broader based policy changes. Must be coupled with a larger overall strategy and ways to measure success in order to work.

Incrementalist - one who advocates for change by degrees; gradualism.

Incumbent - A person who currently holds office. Incumbents who are seeking to run again generally have an advantage partly because of name recognition. Historically, in the United States, it is almost impossible to beat an incumbent.

Indigenous - “Indigenous people are composed of the existing descendants of the peoples who inhabited the present territory of a country wholly or partially at the time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived there from other parts of the world, overcame them and, by conquest, settlement, or other means, reduced them to a non-dominant or colonial condition; who today live more in conformity with their particular social, economic, and cultural customs and traditions than with the institutions of the country of which they now form part, under a State structure which incorporates mainly national, social, and cultural characteristics of other segments of the population which are predominant.” (From Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, United Nations)

For example: Maori people are the Indigenous people of New Zealand, Mexicans are the Indigenous people of what is now considered Texas, California, New Mexico etc.

Instant-Runoff Voting - also known as Ranked Choice Voting or Single Transferable Vote. Voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. First-preference votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, lifting the second-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.

Institutional Inertia - Institutional inertia is the tendency of institutions to resist change. It can also refer to institutions' inability to respond to problems in a timely manner or to changes in the national or international environment.

Insurrection - a violent uprising against an authority or government

Insurrection Act - The Insurrection Act is a federal law in the United States that authorizes the President to deploy the U.S. military and federalized National Guard troops within the country to suppress civil disorder, insurrection, or rebellion. The Insurrection Act is an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act. The chart below provides insight into the relationship between the Posse Comitatus Act, the Insurrection Act and Marshall Law

Interest Convergence - Interest convergence is a theory coined by the late, law professor and spiritual godfather to the field of study known as Critical Race Theory. Interest convergence stipulates that black people achieve civil rights victories only when white and black interests converge. Only when the dominant class' interest is also enhanced or further secured will the subordinated class be allowed some degree of relief.

International Criminal Court (ICC) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutes individuals responsible for international crimes. The ICC differs from the ICJ. The simplest way to explain the difference is that ICJ cases involve countries, and the ICC is a criminal court, which brings cases against individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity and then prosecutes them.

International Court of Justice (ICJ) - The International Court of Justice (ICJ) hears legal disputes between states. The ICJ differs from the ICC which is the International Criminal Court. The simplest way to explain the difference is that ICJ cases involve countries, and the ICC is a criminal court, which brings cases against individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Intersectionality - a theoretical framework that comes from critical theory that describes the way that oppressive constructs like racism, sexism, ableism, xenophobia, classism, transphobia, etc. have inter-lapping properties and cannot be separated from one another. In other words, they serve as a force multiplier that is in and of itself different and stronger than any one of these oppressive institutions alone. To be more specific, intersectionality says that, taken together, these forces don't just have a cumulative effect; together, they have an exponential effect. The concept may have originated with famed law professor Derrick Bell but is often attributed to law professor Kimberle Crenshaw:

“It [intersectionality] grew out of trying to conceptualize the way the law responded to issues where both race and gender discrimination were involved. What happened was like an accident, a collision. Intersectionality simply came from the idea that if you’re standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you are likely to get hit by both. These [black] women are injured, but when the race ambulance and the gender ambulance arrive at the scene, they see these women of color lying in the intersection and they say, 'Well, we can’t figure out if this was just race or just sex discrimination. And unless they can show us which one it was, we can’t help them.'”

Source: Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241-1299.

Iron Law of Oligarchy - The "iron law of oligarchy" is a political theory first developed by sociologist Robert Michels. It states that all forms of organization, regardless of how democratic they may be at the start, will eventually and inevitably develop oligarchic tendencies, thus making true democracy practically and theoretically impossible, especially in large groups with complex organizations. (Source: Wikipedia)

Islamic Republic - a form of government adopted by some Muslim states; although such a state is, in theory, a theocracy, it remains a republic, but its laws are required to be compatible with the laws of Islam.

Israeli Defense Forces - The IDF is the official armed forces of Israel including the air force, army and navy forces.

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - Under the JCPOA, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%, and reduce by about two-thirds the number of its gas centrifuges for 13 years. For the next 15 years, Iran agreed to enrich uranium only up to 3.67%.

Jubilee - The word "jubilee" comes from the book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible, known in Christianity as the Old Testament. ... The Jubilee year, the Bible explains, was to be a year of rest, including the forgiveness of all debts, and the liberation of slaves and servants to their native lands.

Judicial Review - The power of judges to review laws and official Government Acts to determine if they are in keeping with the Constitution or basic rules of justice. If they are not, judicial review can overturn them. The power of judicial review is not granted in the Constitution. Some argue this power grants greater leverage to the judicial branch than to the other two branches of government. (see U.S. Supreme Court case: Marbury v. Madison.)

Judiciary - The judiciary is the collective term for the judges of a country’s courts. The role of the judiciary is to interpret laws and uphold justice by applying the law through the courts. In the United States, the Judiciary is one of the three branches of government.

Kapos - Kapos were Jewish people who were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps but were singled out by the Nazis to serve as "stand-in" guards. Being a Kapo blurred the lines between collaborator, perpetrator, and victim. They have also been characterized by the term "Useful Jew".

Kinetic War - Refers to traditional weapons that physically engage targets, like missiles. Kinetic military action is a euphemism for active warfare, including lethal force. It's used to contrast conventional military action with "soft" force, which includes diplomacy, sanctions, cyber warfare, and more.

Kitchen Cabinet - A group of unofficial advisors the president relies on instead of or to augment his/her official cabinet.

Kleptocracy - government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed.

Labor Acknowledgment - A Labor Acknowledgement is a formal statement that asserts that a public event is taking place in a land that was transformed largely by the labor of enslaved people who did not benefit from the fruits of their labor nor did their descendants. It is often spoken at the beginning of an event along with a Land Acknowledgment.

Laken Riley Act - A bill named for Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was murdered in 2024 in Athens, GA by Jose Ibarra, a Venezuelan undocumented immigrant who had been previously apprehended by Border Patrol and released. Ibarra was sentenced in November to life in prison without parole for Riley’s killing.

The Laken Riley Act would require the Department of Homeland Security to detain undocumented immigrants charged or convicted of theft-related crimes. The Act would also allow states to sue the Department of Homeland Security for alleged failures in immigration enforcement. This article in the LA Progressive by Peter Laarman discusses the Laken Riley Act: Rejecting the Lost Cause

Lame Duck - An elected representative, usually a leader, who is coming close to the end of their term of office, and who is regarded as being less powerful due to the limited time they have left to serve. The term applies particularly to those who cannot or do not want to be re-elected.

Land Acknowledgment - A land acknowledgement or territorial acknowledgement is a formal statement that a public event is taking place on unceded land originally inhabited by indigenous peoples. It is often spoken at the beginning of an event and occasionally includes a Labor Acknowledgment. (Source: Wikipedia)

Land Back - The Land Back movement is a global campaign that seeks to return indigenous land to indigenous peoples. The movement aims to:

Latino/Latina/LatinX/Latine - describes the people and culture of Latin American descent. Including people from countries like Brazil, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Saint Martin, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Chile, and other Caribbean, Central American and South American people. This term excludes the people and culture of Spain.

LatinX/Latine - LatinX was created as a gender-neutral alternative to “Latinos,” not only to better include those who are gender fluid but also to push back on the inherently masculine term used to describe all genders in the Spanish language. The usage of the term LatinX is derived from academia and is not common practice. It is widely debated about its appropriateness in a gendered language like Spanish. This led to an increase in usage of the term Latine, which provides a gender neutral ending using the Spanish language. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Law and Order - In politics, the term "law and order" has been used as a racial dog whistle. The phrase refers to an ideological approach that focuses on harsher penalties and enforcement to reduce crime, such as mandatory sentencing, longer prison terms, and three-strikes laws applied disproportionately to Black people. The term became a political theme in the late 1960s.

Left, the - Organizations or political parties that favor social justice and freedom and the equitable distribution of resources. Generally, the Left focuses on workers’ rights, social responsibility, people over profit, antiracism, the environment, and society's obligation in meeting the most fundamental needs of its inhabitants (i.e. affordable housing, clean air, clean water, uncontaminated food, etc)

Leftie - A slang term for a person who believes in the values of liberalism and socialism. Sometimes used as a pejorative by the right but not by progressives.

Legislative Terms - the U.S. Congressional Glossary of Legislative terms can be found here.

Legislature – The branch of government that makes laws. At the federal level, in the United States, this branch consists of 100 Senators and 438 Congressional Representatives.

LGBT(Q)(I)(A) - LGBT (or LGBTQ, or LGBTQIA, etc.) is an acronym that attempts to cover the spectrum of people with marginalized identities of gender and sexuality. Although many argue over what the letters stand for and which should be included, people generally agree that it stands for "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual." For a more in-depth discussion of this acronym and what each of the included terms means, see LGBTQIA: A Beginner's Guide to the Great Alphabet Soup of Queer Identity. Some people have switched to using the term "queer" as an umbrella term to cover the spectrum of gender and sexuality instead of continuing to add letters to the acronym.

Liberal - a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed, and equality before the law. Is generally considered different from “progressive” in that liberals do not oppose capitalism.

Liberation Theology - the study of the nature of divinity with a focus on justice, freedom, and particularly freedom from oppression. Those who embrace liberation theology seek to liberate people who are victims of multiple forms of political, social, economic, and religious subjugation and view Christian theology as a theology of justice and liberation.

Libertarian – a political philosophy that seeks to maximize freedom from governmental intrusion. Autonomy, freedom of choice, voluntary association and individual judgement are prioritized. Libertarians share a skepticism of authority and state power.

Linguistic Profiling - is the practice of identifying the social characteristics of an individual based on auditory cues, in particular dialect and accent. Professor John Baugh first developed the theory to explain discriminatory practices in the housing market based on the auditory redlining of potential clients by housing administrators. Linguistic profiling extends to issues of legal proceedings, employment opportunities, and education. The theory is frequently described as the auditory equivalent of racial profiling. The bulk of the research and evidence in support of the theory pertain to racial and ethnic distinctions, though its applicability holds within racial or ethnic groups, perceived gender and sexual orientation, and in distinguishing location of geographic origin. (Source: Wikipedia)

Link 16 - Link 16 is a standardized communications system used by U.S., NATO, and Coalition forces for transmitting and exchanging real-time military tactical data using links between allied military network participants.

Liquid Democracy - A sample of the principles that would govern the operations of a liquid democracy include:

See Democratic Liquidity above for more information. Source: Wikipedia

Living Constitutionalism - Living constitutionalism contends that constitutional law can and should evolve in response to changing circumstances and values, as opposed to Strict Originalism, which argues that the meaning of the constitution is fixed and that it should bind constitutional actors.

Lumpenproletariat - a term used in Marxist theory to describe a group of people who are part of the proletariat but lack awareness of their collective interest as an oppressed class. Also used to describe the unorganized, chronically unemployed and unpolitical orders of society who are not interested in revolutionary advancement or any degree of civic engagement.

MAGA Republican - Trump's arm of the Republican Party. A group that has no particular ideological leaning. What they share is an allegiance to Donald Trump that goes beyond their allegiance to the Constitution or the laws of the United States.

Magical Negro - In the cinema of the United States, the Magical Negro is a supporting stock character who comes to the aid of white protagonists. Magical Negro characters often possess special insight, exceptional wisdom or mystical powers and have long been a tradition in American fiction. Many attribute the term to American filmmaker Spike Lee, who used it pejoratively, claiming that a "magical black character" who goes around selflessly helping white people is a throwback to stereotypes such as the "Sambo" or "noble savage". (Source: Wikipedia)

Major Questions Doctrine - A made-up theory created by the court that is nowhere to be found in the text of either the Constitution or in any federal statute - the “major questions doctrine” holds that courts should not defer to agency statutory interpretations that concern questions of “vast economic or political significance.”

Manifest Destiny - a 19th-century racist doctrine or belief widely held by white expansionists that justified the taking of First Peoples land due to American exceptionalism. They believed the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

Maoism - the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism developed in China by Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung), which states that a continuous revolution is necessary if the leaders of a communist state are to keep in touch with the people.

Marginalization - When a member of a racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, or any social group is relegated to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group. Being marginalized requires historical and ongoing oppression of the identity in question. For example, a white person may feel out of place in a room of people of color, but because of the social power and privilege that white people hold in U.S. society today and historically, a white person is not marginalized because of their race.

Market System - One way of distributing goods and services from producers to consumers. Markets are established when divisions of labor occur in communities rather than having each person or family produce all that it consumes. Markets involve quid pro quo exchanges between those seeking to sell and those seeking to buy goods and services. A market system relies on buyers and sellers being constantly involved and unequally enabled.

Martial Law - Martial law is when the military takes over civilian government and legal processes. It's usually invoked during war, rebellion, or natural disaster.

Under martial law, the military operates the police, courts, and legislature. The military commander has unlimited authority to make and enforce laws. Standard civil liberties may be suspended while martial law is in effect. The chart below provides insight into the relationship between the Posse Comitatus Act, the Insurrection Act and Martial Law

Marxism - the political, economic and social principles espoused by 19th century economist Karl Marx; he viewed the struggle of workers as a progression of historical forces that would proceed from a class struggle of the proletariat (workers) exploited by capitalists (business owners), to a socialist "dictatorship of the proletariat," to, finally, a classless society -- Communism.

Marxism-Leninism - an expanded form of communism developed by Vladimir Lenin from doctrines of Karl Marx; Lenin saw imperialism as the final stage of capitalism and shifted the focus of workers' struggle from developed to underdeveloped countries.

Matthew Effect - The Matthew Effect is a pattern in which those who start with an advantage accumulate more advantage over time. Also known as the Matthew Principal, the term was coined by sociologist Robert Merton in 1968. It is named after the Parable of the talents or minas in the Gospel of Matthew.

Maximalism - opposite of incrementalism

Maximalist - a person who holds extreme views and is not prepared to compromise. Some believe that demanding only maximalist ends will get you nothing. Opposite of incrementalist.

MENA - This term refers to the geographical region of Middle East and North Africa, which is composed of 22 nations— Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Mauritania, and the Comoros Islands. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Merit Docket - A docket is a formal list of cases scheduled to be heard by a court. It serves as the court's calendar or agenda and includes essential information about each case. The U.S. Supreme Court has two types of dockets. The Merit Docket is its regular docket and the Shadow Docket for expediated or emergency cases.

Meritocracy – a government or the holding of power by people selected based on their ability or their particularly goodness, worthiness or excellence.

Microaggression - a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group -- most often this is an expression of covert anti-blackness.

Microassault - explicit racial derogations characterized primarily by a violent verbal or nonverbal attack meant to hurt the intended victim through name-calling, avoidant behavior or purposeful discriminatory actions. (Ex. deliberately attending to a white patron before a person of color; using racial epithets.) (Usually occur when white people “lose control” or when they feel relatively safe to engage in a microassault.)

Microinsult - behavioral/verbal remarks or comments that convey rudeness, insensitivity and demean a person’s racial heritage or identity, or other marginalized identities. (Ex. white teacher fails to acknowledge person of color in the classroom; white employer acts distracted when talking with an employee of color, avoiding eye contact or turning away; when an employee of color is asked “how did you get your job?”; when a white employer tells a prospective candidate of color “I believe the most qualified person should get the job, regardless of race”).

Microinvalidation - are verbal comments or behaviors that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of a person with a marginalized identity. (Ex. when a person of color is told “I don’t see color”; when Asian Americans are complimented for speaking good English or are asked where they were born or “really” from; when people of color are told they are being “oversensitive” or “petty” for perceiving and confronting microaggressions, instances of racism).

Midterm Elections - Midterm Elections occur every four years. While Presidential General Elections are every four years, the Midterm elections fall at the 2-year mark between the presidential election. Midterm elections consist of both a primary and a general election. The midterm general election is conducted nationally in all states and territories at the same time. While the Midterm Primaries run earlier in the midterm year and determine the nominees who run in the Midterm General Election which is on the second Tuesday in November every 4 years.

Military Junta - A military junta is a government led by a group of military officers who have taken control of a country—usually through a coup d'état, which is a sudden and often illegal seizure of power from a civilian government.

Key features of a military junta:

Minority Serving Institutions - Minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are colleges and universities that enroll a significant percentage of students from minority groups. MSIs include Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). They also include colleges and universities with high enrollments of Native Americans, Asian Americans and Native American Pacific Islanders, and Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians.

Mirror-Image Propaganda - Mirror-image propaganda, also known as Accusation in a Mirror (AiM), is a technique where someone falsely projects their own motives onto their opponents.

Misgendering - Misgendering is the act of using the incorrect gender when referring to another person. It might involve using incorrect pronouns, using the wrong gendered name (deadnaming), or arguing with a person about their gender.

Intentional misgendering can be a tool of sexism and transphobia. Some people use it as a deliberate tool of oppression to harm people whose gender or gender expression they disagree with. (Source: Medical News Today)

Misogynoir - Hatred of or entrenched prejudice against or unwarranted fear of Black women. Even if something does not seem overtly hateful, it may be misogynoiristic if it implies that Black women have different capabilities, values, or purposes in life because of being Black women. Also see Transmisogynoir.

Misogyny - Hatred or entrenched prejudice against women. Even if something does not seem overtly hateful, it may be misogynistic if it implies that women have different capabilities, values, or purposes in life because of being women.

Missing White Woman Syndrome - a term used by social scientists and media commentators in reference to the media coverage, especially on television, of missing-person cases involving young, attractive, white, upper middle class women or girls compared to the relative lack of attention towards missing women who were not white, of lower social classes, or of missing men or boys.

Mobilizing - Rallying the troops to do an action. Rallying the troops can be included as one of many elements involved in organizing but rallying alone is not the same as organizing.

Model Minority Myth - The “model minority” refers to some ethnic, racial or religious minority groups who are perceived to have achieved more success than the general population. (This success can be measured in education attainment, income, family stability, fitting the values of the dominant culture, etc.) Why is the Model Minority Myth dangerous? First, it overgeneralizes an entire group of people by assigned character traits to all the members of that group. Secondly, it denies the realities of oppression and marginalization that minority groups face by pointing to limited successes.

Example: Asian Americans are commonly called a “model minority” - When a peer, professor or counselor tells an Asian American student that they must be good at math/and or science, they are acting on the Model Minority Myth.

Moderate – also referred to as centrist. Voters and politicians who describe themselves as centrist or moderate often mean that they advocate neither left-wing nor right-wing ideologies. Moderates do not actually embrace an ideology – instead, they are non-ideologues. Some say that moderates go any way the wind blows to highlight the fact that they do not take a strong stand.

Modern Monetary Theory - Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is a heterodox macroeconomic theory that argues governments with sovereign currency control, like the U.S., are not constrained by revenue when it comes to spending and can finance government spending by creating money, rather than relying on taxes or borrowing. Proponents of MMT challenge traditional economic thinking by arguing that governments with sovereign currency control have more flexibility in managing their economies and can use fiscal policy to achieve full employment and other social goals.

Modernism - a broad cultural, artistic, and intellectual movement that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a response to the dramatic changes brought about by industrialization, urbanization, and the horrors of war—especially World War I. It sought to break away from traditional forms of expression and to reinvent the ways people understood art, literature, architecture, and society -often emphasizing innovation, individualism, abstraction, and a critical stance toward established norms, including realism and classical ideals.

Monarchy - a government in which the supreme power is vested in the hands of a monarch who reigns over a state or territory, usually for life and by hereditary right; the monarch may be either a sole absolute ruler or a sovereign - such as a king, queen or prince - with constitutionally limited authority.

Monopoly - A monopoly is a firm or company that is the sole seller of its product and where there are no close substitutes and no competition. An unregulated monopoly has market power and can influence prices. Examples: Microsoft and Windows, DeBeers and Diamonds; your local natural gas company. (Source: ohiostate.edu)

Movement Capture - Movement capture refers to the process where a larger, well-financed benefactor or partner “captures” the social movement by overly influencing or redirecting entirely the original goal or mission of the movement. This is also known as cooptation.

Movement For Black Lives - The Movement for Black Lives

Muckraker – one who searches for and exposes real or alleged corruption, scandals, or the like, especially in politics.

Multiple Party Nomination - a voting process that allows more than one political party to nominate the same candidate. Multiple Party Nomination is also known as electoral fusion, cross endorsement, fusion voting, multi-party nomination, plural nomination, and ballot freedom. Under this process, if a candidate receives multiple nominations, the candidate will either appear on the general election ballot multiple times or once with all affiliations listed, depending on their state.

Nakba - An Arabic word that means "catastrophe" or "disaster". In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian genocide, it refers to the loss of Palestine's homeland during and after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when approximately 750,000 Palestinians were evicted from their homes.

Nanny State - a government perceived as authoritarian, interfering, or overprotective

Narco State - a political and economic term applied to countries where all legitimate institutions become penetrated by the power and wealth of the illegal drug trade this would include illegal organizations that either produce, ship or sell drugs and hold a grip on a government's legitimate institutions through force, bribery or blackmail.

National Labor Relations Board - see NLRB below

Nationalism - a movement that seeks to promote and preserve a single national identity as opposed to globalism. In the United States and other western nations, nationalism is most often associated with white nationalism, the belief that white people are superior.

Nationalist - a person who strongly identifies with their own nation and vigorously supports its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations. In more recent times, the term has also been used to characterize a xenophobe or racist.

Native American - This term came into use in the 1960s referring to the over 2,000 tribal groups and their descendants that are native to the land of what became the United States and its territories through European settler colonization. Native American is not a monolithic term; there are numerous languages, cultures, and tribal membership systems within Native American communities. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Nativism - the political policy of promoting or protecting the interests of native or indigenous inhabitants over those of immigrants, including the support of immigration-restriction measures. (Source: Wikipedia)

Nazi - The word Nazi is a shortened term derived from the German phrase "Nationalsozialismus," which translates in English to "National Socialism," referring to the ideology of the Nazi Party, also known as The National Socialist German Workers' Party which was a far-right, antisemitic, racist, xenophobic, anti-LGBTQ, one-party, totalitarian, fascist, dictatorship from 1933 to 1945.

NDAA - National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA authorizes the congress to issue its annual defense spending authorization bill, setting our military budget for the next year. The House of Representatives puts forward its bill first, then the Senate introduces its own version. The U.S. Congress oversees the defense budget primarily through two yearly bills: the National Defense Authorization Act and defense appropriations bills.

Neocolonialism - Neocolonialism is the practice of using economic imperialism, globalization, cultural imperialism and conditional aid to influence a developing country instead of the previous colonial methods of direct military control or indirect political control. (Source: Wikipedia)

Neocon - Short for neoconservative (see below)

Neoconservative - one who embraces a political movement born in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the foreign policy of the Democratic Party, and the growing effectiveness of the New Left and what the Neocons deemed "counterculture", in particular the Vietnam protests. Some also began to question their liberal beliefs regarding domestic policies such as the Great Society.

Neoconservatives typically advocate the promotion of democracy and interventionism in international affairs through the use of military force, and are known for espousing disdain for communism and socialism.

Neofascist - a post-World War II ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neofascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia and anti-immigration sentiment as well as opposition to liberal democracy, parliamentarianism, liberalism, Marxism, capitalism communism, and socialism. (Source: Wikipedia)

Neofeudalism - Neo-feudalism is the modern rebirth of policies of governance, economy, and public life that were present in many feudal societies. Neo-feudalism is a one-way seizure of private power and law by powerful wealthy elites.

It's characterized by:

Neoliberal – Those who embrace the practice that prioritizes economic growth, free market trade, deregulation of financial markets, privatization, individualization and profit margins over social concerns – this term describes a conservative and should not be confused with the term “liberal”. Neoliberalism is the opening of nations’ economies to penetration by large corporations and banks in the name of “free markets.”

Neoliberalism - Neoliberalism is a political and economic philosophy that is centered in free-market capitalism, deregulation, privatization, and a reduced role for the state in economic affairs.

While neoliberalism is often described as advocating for a reduced role for the state, in practice, it frequently involves a reconfiguration of the state rather than a simple retreat. Rather than “shrinking” government uniformly, neoliberalism shifts the focus of state power: away from providing public goods and social services, and toward facilitating markets, protecting corporate interests, and enforcing private property and financial systems.

Here’s how that plays out:

While neoliberal ideology promotes the idea of a “small government”, what it often delivers is a state that withdraws from social responsibilities but strengthens its alliance with capital. In that sense, it does not eliminate the state — it repurposes it to serve the market and powerful private interests.

New Deal - a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939 in response to needs for relief, reform, and recovery following the 1929 stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression.

New START Treaty - The New START is an agreement for nuclear arms reduction between the US and Russia and establishes a limit on deployed strategic warheads. START is an acronym for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

NGO - Non-Governmental Organization. NGOs are voluntary groups or institutions that operate independently from the government and have a social mission. They are typically nonprofit organizations that provide services or advocate for public policy. Although some NGOs are for-profit corporations. "NGO" was first introduced in Article 71 of the United Nations' Charter in 1945.

NIMBY - An acronym for "Not In My Backyard". A term used when a person objects to the siting of something perceived as unpleasant or hazardous in the area where they live, especially while raising no such objections to similar developments elsewhere. The opposite of YIMBY which is "Yes In My Backyard".

NLRB - In the United States, the National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that protects the rights of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve their working conditions.

No Party Preference - A voter who does not declare party affiliation on their voter registration. A voter who does not belong to a political party. In California a "No Party Preference" voter will receive a nonpartisan ballot. The Democratic Party, and the Libertarian Party allow No Party Preference voters to crossover and request their party’s ballot but the "No Party Preference" voter must first request a crossover ballot.

Non-Binary - A word that helps give voice to a diverse range of gender identities that do not fit into the male/female characterization. Nonbinary people vary in their gender expressions. Some may reject gender identity altogether.

Non-Governmental Organization - See NGO.

Non-Partisan - Not supporting, affiliated with, belonging to, or controlled by a political party.

Noosphere - A philosophical concept that refers to the sphere of human consciousness, thought, and reason. It's also considered the sphere of human mental activity, especially in relation to evolution and its influence on the biosphere.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy.

Occam's Razor - the theory that the simplest explanation is usually the right one.

Officialdom - a term that can be used interchangeably with: the system • the establishment • the power elite • the authorities • the powers that be • the ruling class • the regime • bureaucracy • the status quo • the prevailing political/social order • the regimen.

It is generally used to refer to a group that holds positions of authority, especially within the government, who use that authority to stifle the voices and negate the power of the masses generally to maintain officialdom's power.

Oligarchy - a government in which control is exercised by a small group of individuals whose authority is generally based on amassing power, unlike a plutocracy which is a government controlled by a small group of wealthy individuals. In both cases, the government is not a democratic operation but an exclusive operation that shuts out the role of the masses which is essential in a democracy.

Omnibus Bill - An omnibus bill is a proposed law that covers a number of diverse or unrelated topics. Omnibus is derived from Latin and means "for everything". An omnibus bill is a single document that is accepted in a single vote by a legislature but puts together in a single package several measures or combines diverse subjects.

Omnicide - the destruction of all life or all human life as in a nuclear holocaust

OMB - Office of Management and Budget (U.S. Federal Government)

On-Cycle Elections - rescheduling local elections to occur with national and state elections in even years in order to increase election turnout and reduce costs. Also known as Election Consolidation.

Open List - a voting process that allows voters to have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to a closed list, which allows only active members, party officials, or consultants to determine the order of its candidates and gives the general voter no influence at all on the position of the candidates placed on the party list. Additionally, an open list system allows voters to select individuals rather than allowing parties to do the selecting.

Open Primary - a type of primary election where voters do not have to formally affiliate with a political party in advance in order to vote in its primary. In some cases, voters can declare their affiliation with a party at the polls on the day of the primary, even if those voters were previously affiliated with a different party.

Opposition Research - the practice of collecting information on a political opponent or other adversary that can be used to discredit or otherwise weaken them. Also known as "Oppo Research."

Oppression - here, the definition used applies to "social oppression" or "civil oppression," a term coined by philosopher Jean Harvey who said, "civil oppression involves neither physical violence nor the use of law. Yet these subtle forms are by far the most prevalent in Western industrialized societies. This work will focus on issues that are common to such subtle oppression in several different contexts (such as racism, classism, and sexism) ... Analyzing what is involved in civilized oppression includes analyzing the kinds of mechanisms used, the power relations at work, the systems controlling perceptions and information, the kinds of harms inflicted on the victims, and the reasons why this oppression is so hard to see even by contributing agents.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - OEDC is an intergovernmental economic organization with 37 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - OSCE is the world's largest regional security organization. It has 57 participating member states from Europe, Central Asia, and North America including the United States and Russia. It also has 11 partners for cooperation including Israel, Japan, and Afghanistan.

Organizing - The act of uniting people to achieve something that can only be achieved with collective democratic power generally for a shared self-interest. Organizing as it relates to politics involves developing leaders, facilitating coalitions and assisting in the development of campaigns. Should not be confused with mobilizing.

Originalism - A term used to describe a method of interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Critics of modern originalism argue that it is rooted in conservative resistance to the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, as it was used by proponents of segregation to argue in opposition to civil rights legislation during the 1960s.

OSCE - see Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe)

Othering - A verb used to characterize the flip side of belonging. Treating someone as an outsider. Treating someone as less than.

Overton Window - a range of political policies that are viewed as acceptable and not radical to the dominant culture. Another term used is the window of discourse. The term is named after Joseph P. Overton, who stated that an idea's political viability depends mainly on whether it falls within this range. According to Overton, the window frames the range of policies that a politician can recommend without appearing too extreme. (See: Radicalization)

P5 - Permanent five countries that are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. They are:

Pacifism - A belief and adherence to the principle that violence, especially war, must be avoided when resolving disputes.

Palmer Raids - a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchists and communists, and deport them from the United States. (Source: Wikipedia)

Panentheism - Panentheism is a concept which addresses the theological issue of God's relationship to the world by proposing that the world is “in God.” The term is derived from the Greek pan-en-theos and means “all-in-God.”

Panentheist - A panentheist believes that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time.

Pansexual or Omnisexual - Someone who is attracted to people of multiple or all genders and/or sexualities romantically, sexually, and emotionally.

Paramilitary - an adjective that describes an organization that is organized like a military organization but is not part of a country's official armed forces. Paramilitary organizations have similar structure, tactics, training, and subculture to professional militaries. They may operate as, in place of, or as a supplement to a regular military force.

Parliamentarianism - Political philosophy that embraces parliamentary democracy.

Parliamentary Cretinism - a pejorative term for the belief that a socialist society can be achieved through peaceful, parliamentary means.

Parliamentary Democracy - a political system in which the legislature (parliament) selects the government - a prime minister, premier, or chancellor along with the cabinet ministers - according to party strength as expressed in elections. By this system, the government acquires a dual responsibility: to the people as well as to the parliament.

Parliamentary Government (Cabinet-Parliamentary government) - a government in which members of an executive branch (the cabinet and its leader - a prime minister, premier, or chancellor) are nominated to their positions by a legislature or parliament, and are directly responsible to it; this type of government can be dissolved at will by the parliament (legislature) by means of a no-confidence vote or the leader of the cabinet may dissolve the parliament if it can no longer function.

Parliamentary Monarchy - a state headed by a monarch who is not actively involved in policy formation or implementation (i.e., the exercise of sovereign powers by a monarch in a ceremonial capacity); true governmental leadership is carried out by a cabinet and its head - a prime minister, premier or chancellor - who are drawn from a legislature (parliament).

Patriarchy - A system that gives power and privilege to men at the expense of women and gender-variant people.

Peace Dividend - a term that refers to the economic and social benefits that become available when a country reduces its military spending, especially after a period of conflict or military tension. Investing in social benefits like education, healthcare, housing etc is usually what is discussed.

Peaceful Atom - the term "peaceful atom" originated with Soviet propaganda, promoting nuclear energy as a benevolent, civilizational force. The “Peaceful Atom” window sculpture is a Soviet-era monument in Volgodonsk, Russia, symbolizing the harnessing of nuclear energy for non‑military uses.

Peelian Principles - The Peelian principles summarize the ideas that Sir Robert Peel developed to define an ethical police force. The approach expressed in these principles is commonly known as policing by consent. In this model of policing, police officers are regarded as citizens in uniform. They exercise their powers to police their fellow citizens with the implicit consent of those fellow citizens. This is not the model currently adhered to by law enforcement agencies in the United States.

Performative Allyship - Performative allyship is when someone from a non-marginalized group professes support for a marginalized group, but in a way that does little to help the marginalized group. It's also known as optical allyship or Virtue Signaling

Personal Gender Pronoun - When we use pronouns like "she" or "he" to identify a person, we might be making an assumption about that person's gender that differs from their gender identity. It is important to ask for gender pronouns before making assumptions.

Note that while some people use the term "preferred gender pronoun" rather than "personal gender pronoun," many have moved away from this language, as it implies that gender identity is a preference. For this reason, this dictionary uses "personal" rather than "preferred."

Petit Bourgeois - see Petite Bourgeoisie

Petite Bourgeoisie - a French term (derogatory) referring to social "climbers" from the middle and lower middle class whose politico-economic ideological stance mirrors that of the haute ("high") bourgeoisie, with which the petite bourgeoisie seeks to identify itself and whose bourgeois morality it strives to imitate. (Source: Wikipedia)

Petty Boujwazee - see Petite Bourgeoisie

PFAS - Dubbed the "forever chemicals", PFAS stands for perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of chemicals that have properties that allow them to repel water, dirt, and oil. PFAS chemicals don't break down easily over time, dissolve in water, and has been detected in drinking water. Because of that, some scientists are concerned that these chemicals could build to levels that could harm the environment -- and our bodies.

PINO - Progressive in Name Only. Politicians who want the benefits associated with being labeled "progressive" but don't actually enact or co-author any progressive policies. See: Progressive in Name Only Report.

Planned Precarity - the deliberate or systemic creation of unstable, insecure, or precarious conditions, especially in employment and housing, to benefit certain economic or political interests.

At its core, planned precarity refers to:

The intentional or systemic production of social and economic insecurity—especially through policies, institutions, or business practices that make people's lives more uncertain and dependent.

This isn't just things happening to be unstable—it’s about designing or allowing systems to stay unstable so that those in power maintain leverage. (See immiseration)

Planned precarity is often linked to:

Planned Obsolescense - Planned obsolescence is a business strategy where products are deliberately designed to have a limited lifespan or become outdated after a certain period. The goal is to encourage consumers to purchase replacements or upgrades more frequently, thereby sustaining ongoing demand and profits for the manufacturer.

Plausible Deniability - The position a member of the executive or some person in charge of an organization attempts to maintain, by keeping a distance from the control of certain operations or practices such that, if an operation ‘goes south’ and attracts unfavorable publicity, there is no evidence linking him or her to the chain of command.

Plebiscite - the direct vote of all the members of an electorate on an important public question such as a change in the constitution.

Plural Nomination - a voting process that allows more than one political party to nominate the same candidate. Plural Nomination is also known as fusion voting, electoral fusion, cross endorsement, multiple party nomination, multi-party nomination, plural nomination, and ballot freedom. Under this process, if a candidate receives multiple nominations, the candidate will either appear on the general election ballot multiple times or once with all affiliations listed, depending on their state.

Plutocracy – a system of government ruled by the wealthy unlike a oligarchy which is a government controlled by a small group of individuals. In both cases, the government is not a democratic operation but an exclusive operation that shuts out the role of the masses which is essential in a democracy.

POC - This term stands for People of Color. This term became more frequently used in the late 1970s as a unifying and more inclusive framework to refer to all racial groups that are not White and to address the racial inequities experienced by them. While POC can be a useful term, it often conflates and equates the experiences of many different racial and ethnic groups, each of which have distinct and specific experiences with race. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Poison Pill Strategy - also called a poison pill amendment or killer amendment, is an amendment made by a legislator who disagrees with the principles of a bill and seeks to make it useless by adding a poison pill.

Police Brutality Bonds - are financial instruments that cities and counties can issue to pay for the costs of police misconduct. As the costs associated with police misconduct increase, cities and counties are often going into debt to pay for them, and bond borrowing is one way they address these increased costs. When the bonds are issued, banks and other investors can use them to earn a steady income with relatively low risk.

Policing - the practice of upholding laws and maintaining social order through community trust, ethical conduct, and minimal coercion—based on the idea that police power derives from public approval, not force.

Precrime Prevention - the concept of preventing crimes before they happen by predicting them in advance, usually using certain data, behavior patterns, or specialized systems to predict crime before it happens and then take action. The idea of precrime prediction, as it is used here, doesn't incorporate identifying and remedying the various social ineqities that have been proven to be precursors to crime. Instead, precrime prevention refers to:

Policing by Consent - see Peelian Principles

Ponzi Scheme - a form of fraud in which belief in the success of a nonexistent enterprise is fostered by the payment of quick returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors.

Popular Immiseration - when the economic fortunes of large segments of a population decline. It can also be described as the lessening of wellbeing for a large segment of the population, often the majority of the population. Sociologist assert that widespread popular immiseration leads to increases in deaths of despair - suicide, alcoholism and drug overdoses (Source: Daniel Hoyer, Post Carbon Societies and Where We Find Ourselves and Peter Turchin)

Populism - relating to or characteristic of a political approach that strives to appeal to the masses or "the people". Another way the term is used is to describe the efforts to appeal to the uninformed, often the unlearned masses, the angry mob, the ignorant, the xenophobe, the racist and others that make political decisions based on solely on emotion and limited information vs those who base their decisions on data, research, analysis and reason. Both definitions are used.

Populist - A term coined in the early 1890s and used by The People's Party a labor oriented party that was an outgrowth of a rank-and-file uprising against the two-party system and the inequalities they believed they wrought. Populists are generally characterized as “the people” as opposed to the “elites” who are blamed for disregarding the will or concerns of the people. It is important to note that populism is not inherently tied to a certain political ideology, or even to one side of the political spectrum. Barack Obama and Donald Trump, who share almost no political beliefs, have both been called populists.

Pork Barrel Spending - Politicians arranging big spending government contracts in their own districts to enhance their reputation with their constituents. An analogy to earlier times when indentured workers were fed from the salted pork barrel and the quickest there grabbed the biggest piece.

Posse Comitatus Act - The Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement except when expressly authorized by law. This 143-year-old law embodies an American tradition that sees military interference in civilian affairs as a threat to both democracy and personal liberty. The chart below provides insight into the relationship between the Posse Comitatus Act, the Insurrection Act and Marshall Law

Postmodernism - Postmodernism is a cultural, artistic, and philosophical movement that questions the ideas of modernism. It's characterized by a skepticism of universal truths and objective reality.

What it's about

How it's expressed

Power Elite - a small minority, consisting of members of the economic elite and policy-planning networks, holds the most power—and the power it holds is independent of democratic elections.

PPP - a way to measure economic strength of a country. PPP is increasingly used as a replacement for GDP (gross domestic product) for measuring economic strength.

Pragmatism - A non-ideological approach to political issues. Thinking of or dealing with problems in a practical way, rather than by using theory or abstract principles.

Precariat - a social class of people who suffer from an economic condition of existence without predictability. The precariat is different from the proletariat in that members of the precariat try to survive on work that is insufficient, inconsistent, vulnerable, fragmented, atypical and unreliable. See "Popular Immiseration"

Precarity - The politically induced state of having insecure employment or income - a condition in which certain populations suffer from failing social and economic networks resulting in exposure to economic injury, violence, and even death (i.e. lack of housing, lack of medical care, poor diet, weathering, etc.). See https://journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca/catalog/category/precarity

Predatory Inclusion - A term coined by Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor that characterizes what Black people experience(d) after they were no longer legally excluded from participating in real estate, banking and federal programs. Taylor asserts that new policies were still unfair because the decades-long exclusion shaped the terms upon which they were included -- for example the FHA goes from exclusion to exposing African Americans to new forms of real estate exploitation. Black people had to pay higher interest rates, they had to pay more fees, they were relegated to isolated and neglected housing. Black people’s housing wasn’t even an asset—it was a debt burden that never accrued equity at the same rate as for white people.

Predatory Lending - unscrupulous actions carried out by a lender to entice, induce and assist a borrower into taking a loan that carries high fees, a high-interest rate, strips the borrower of equity, or places the borrower in a lower credit-rated loan to the benefit of the lender.

Predominantly White Institutions - PWIs are the vast majority of colleges and universities in the United States.

Prefigurative Politics - Prefigurative politics is a politics that aims to build the new within the old. The term is often used to describe the building and sustaining of a solidarity economy that will ultimately replace the existing capitalist economy. It is a complex concept that encompasses both the action of actively moving against the status quo (capitalism) while at the same time building its replacement, the goal being to create and sustain an alternative structure that is humane, egalitarian and sustainable. One of the core tenets of prefigurative politics is for its practitioners to embody and enact the characteristics they are seeking to foster in the broader society internally in their own organizations.

Presidential - a system of government, such as in the United States, where the executive branch exists separately from the judicial and legislative branches with each possessing their own separate power.

Preston Curve - The Preston curve is a regression of life expectancy on GDP. It shows that people born in richer countries can expect to live longer than those born in poor countries. However, the link between income and life expectancy flattens out over time.

Prime Minister - A prime minister is not the head of state nor are they a monarch, rather they are the head of government, serving typically under a monarch in a hybrid of aristocratic and democratic government forms or a president in a republican form of government.

Primary an Incumbent - here the word "primary" is used as a verb, as in "to primary an incumbent.". When a sitting politician comes up for reelection and his seat is challenged by another politician from the same party, the incumbent is said to have been primaried.

Primary Election - here the word "primary" is used as a noun. A primary election is an election that is held before the general election. There are three main categories of primary elections. They are the Open Primary, the Closed Primary and the Semi-Closed Primary. The definition for each are found on this page.

Prior Restraint - judicial suppression of material that would be published or broadcast, on the grounds that it is libelous or harmful. In US law, the First Amendment severely limits the ability of the government to prohibit speech or other expression before the speech happens. The Supreme Court has ruled that prior restraint is unconstitutional. However, the Court has also found that prior restraint may be allowed in certain cases, such as when the nation is at war or when the speech would incite violence.

Prison Based Gerrymandering - a practice whereby states, and local governments count incarcerated persons as residents of the areas where they are incarcerated when election district lines are drawn. This practice inflates the population count of these districts and deflates the population counts of the districts where the incarcerated person lived before incarceration. In almost all jurisdictions the incarcerated cannot vote but are counted. Some have called it the modern-day Three-Fifths Compromise. (see Three-Fifths Compromise).

Privilege - Refers to unearned benefits, advantages, or rights for belonging to the perceived “normal” or “natural” state of the “mainstream” and/or dominant culture. Privilege allows for active, persistent exclusion and the devaluation of those who are “othered” or “marginalized.” “Privilege is not [only] about race or gender, but … it is a series of interrelated hierarchies and power dynamics that touch all facets of social life: race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, education, gender identity, age, physical ability, passing, etc.” (source - https://mediasmarts.ca/diversity-media/privilege-media/forms-privilege)

There are several elements to privilege:

Privileged Group - The group that is positively valued, considered to be superior, independent, or “normal” and has unearned access to social and economical power.

Problem Solvers Caucus - A bipartisan group in the United States House of Representatives that includes 58 members, equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, who seek to foster bipartisan cooperation on key policy issues.

Productive Capitalism - an economic system where a large portion of income is derived from creating goods and services as opposed to Rentier Capitalism where a large portion of income comes from assets.

Progressive – a political philosophy in support of social reform. It is based on the idea of progress in which advancements in science, technology, economic development and social organization are vital to the improvement of the human condition. Progressives typically oppose capitalism and seek to implement an equitable, ecologically sustainable alternative that meets the essential needs of all people.

Progressive Caucus - (see Congressional Progressive Caucus)

Progressive Citizens of America - was a social-democratic and democratic socialist American political organization formed in December 1946 that advocated progressive policies, which worked with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and allegedly the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), as a precursor to the 1948 incarnation of the Progressive Party. It also led to formation of an counter group called Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), formed in January 1947 with progressive domestic views but anti-communist and interventionist foreign policy views, that split liberals and nearly cost Harry S. Truman the 1948 US Presidential Election. (Source: Wikipedia)

Progressive Democrats of America - a progressive political organization and grassroots political action committee operating primarily within the Democratic Party of the United States. The group has established chapters in 32 states and territories. (Source: Wikipedia)

Proletariat - the social class of people who work for wages. They are the lowest social or economic class in a community. The proletariat includes industrial workers who lack their own means of production and must sell their labor to live. Abraham Lincoln famously ridiculed wage slaves claiming they weren't much better off than chattel slaves. Most working Americans fall into this category.

Pro-Natalist Movement - a belief that promotes human reproduction. The term is taken from the Latin adjective form for “birth”, natalis. Natalism promotes child-bearing and parenthood as desirable for social reasons and to ensure national continuance.

Proportional Ranked Choice Voting - see Ranked Choice Voting.

Proportional Representation - an electoral system in which the number of seats held by a particular political party in a legislature is directly determined by the number of votes the political party's candidates receive in a given election. For example, in a five-winner district with proportional representation, if party A received 40 percent of the vote and party B received 60 percent of the vote, party A would win two seats and party B would win three seats

Public Policy - a system of laws, regulatory measures, courses of action, and funding priorities concerning a given topic promulgated by a governmental entity or its representatives. The principles, often unwritten, on which social laws are based.

Public Sector - the part of an economy that is controlled by the government.

Pundit - an expert in a particular subject or field who is frequently called on to give opinions about it to the public, usually via the media. Also referred to as a talking head.

Purchasing Power Parody (PPP) - a way to measure economic strength of a country. Is increasingly used as a replacement for GDP for measuring economic strength.

PWI - Predominantly White Institution. (as opposed to HBCU)

QAnon - QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory spreading group. It originated during Donald Trump's presidential campaign based on the allegation that a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles was running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotting against Donald Trump. (Source: Wikipedia)

Qualified Immunity - a judicially created doctrine that shields government officials from being held personally liable for constitutional violations—like the right to be free from excessive police force—for money damages under federal law so long as the officials did not violate “clearly established” law. The doctrine was designed to protect all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law. Law enforcement officers are entitled to qualified immunity.

Quislings - a traitor who collaborates with an enemy force occupying their country. Also see: Useful Idiots

Race - Race is a term for a human-invented method of categorizing people into various social and economic groups based on physical characteristics like skin color, hair texture, facial and other physical features. Although race has no genetic or scientific basis, the concept of race is important and consequential. This socio-economically constructed idea has been used as a proxy to determine merit, to give or deny power and to divide people into a hierarchy of power over resources with the lowest level having the least amount of agency while often contributing the most in terms of labor.

Race Baiter - a term coined by conservative media to characterize someone who deliberately feeds racial fears prejudices and hatred.

Race Baiting - The act of intentionally encouraging racism or anger about issues relating to race, often o get a political advantage.(Source: Cambridge Dictionary)

Race Reductionism - a perspective that reduces all forms of social inequality to race.

Racebender - Coined as a term of protest in 2009 in response to the casting decisions for the live-action film adaptation of the television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The starring roles of the show (Aang, Katara, and Sokka) were intended to be of Asian and Inuit descent, but were cast as White European actors in the film. The term "racebender" was a play on the word in the title "Airbender"

Racial Profiling - the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. (source - Wikipedia)

Read Mother Jones article where Michael Bloomberg apologizes for "Stop and Frisk" policy.

Racialization - a complex and, at times, contradictory term that in one regard is defined as, "a political process of ascribing ethnic or racial identities to a relationship, social practice, or group that did not identify itself as such" (Source: Wikipedia) and also "The act of being “raced” or seen as someone belonging to a particular race". The term grew out of an awareness that white people are generally not "raced". In other words, white people are not racially seen and racially named, they function as a human norm while all others are categorized and ascribed to a race. https://www.aclrc.com/racialization

Racism - the accumulated pattern of behaviors that disadvantage one racial group in favor of another as well as the systems that facilitate, sustain, and bolster that behavior.

Racketeering - Illegal activity that is characterized by engaging in illegal business activities, typically as part of an organized effort or enterprise as opposed to a single individual. The term originally came from criminal operations like the "protection racket" (where criminals offer to protect a business from harm—for a fee—but are actually the ones causing the threat).

Under U.S. law, especially the RICO Act, racketeering covers a wide range of crimes when they are part of a pattern of criminal behavior. These include:

To qualify as racketeering under RICO, two or more of these crimes must occur within a 10-year period as part of a broader criminal enterprise. RICO charges refer to criminal or civil charges brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)—a federal law enacted in 1970 to combat organized crime. RICO makes it a crime to:

Racketeering isn't just about one illegal act committed by an individual —it's about a system of criminal activity committed by an enterprise used to gain power, money, or control, often under the cover of a legitimate-looking organization.

Radical Democracy - a type of democracy that promotes the expansion of equality and liberty that broadens inclusivity. Radical democracy takes the position that democracy is an unfinished, inclusive, continuous and reflexive process.

An essential tenet that supports radical democracy is the concept of a radical public sphere where the voice of oppressed and marginalized groups is understood to be an essential component of political debate.

Radical Human Organizational Theory - a perspective in organizational studies that challenges traditional, top-down, and bureaucratic approaches to how organizations are structured and managed. It’s rooted in critical theory (see above), and it aims to expose and dismantle systems of illegitmate power, inequality, and domination within organizations—often with the goal of creating more democratic, participatory, and human-centered organizations including workplaces.

Radical Republicans - a faction within the Republican Party of the United States from around 1854 (before the American Civil War) until the end of Reconstruction in 1877. They called themselves "Radicals," because their goal was immediate, complete, permanent eradication of slavery, without compromise. They were opposed during the War by the moderate Republicans (led by United States President Abraham Lincoln), and by the pro-slavery and anti-Reconstruction Democratic Party as well as liberals in the Northern United States during Reconstruction. Radicals led efforts after the war to establish civil rights for former slaves and fully implement emancipation. Radicals pushed to make the Fourteenth Amendment a reality. They disfavored allowing ex-Confederate officers to retake political power in the South, and emphasized equality, civil rights and voting rights for the "freedmen," i.e. people who had been enslaved by state slavery laws within the United States. The leader of the Radical Republicans were Senator John C. Frémont (California), Senator Charles Sumner (Massachusetts) and Representative Thaddeus Stevens (Pennsylvania).

Radicalization - the adoption, by an individual or group, of what is interpretted as extreme political, social, or religious ideas. What is considered "radical" is not set in stone. It shifts for example, those who thought slavery should be abolished were—once considered radicals. (See: Overton Window)

Ranked Choice Voting - any election voting system in which voters use a ranked (or preferential) ballot to rank choices in a sequence on the ordinal scale: 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. First-preference votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, lifting the second-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority. Also referred to as Instant Run-Off Voting or Single Transferable Vote.

Realpolitik - a German word that refers to the practice of basing diplomatic or political policies on practical circumstances rather than ideological notions. It is often used as a synonym for "power politics".

Reapportionment - In the U.S., there are 435 congressional seats/districts. Every ten years, based on census results, each district is resized/reapportioned to adjust for population changes. The goal is to create districts that have roughly the same number if people in them. Reapportionment is the redistribution of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives based on changes in population based on the outcome of the federal census. Based on the 2020 Census, each district has approximately 762,000 people.

Red Black and Green Flag - The Pan-African Flag, created in 1920, initially made popular by Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) to represent the Black Diaspora. It is still in use today.

Red Black and Green New Deal (RBGND) - Is an initiative designed to influence policymaking by governments at all levels – including cities and states across the United States that are increasingly looking at climate through an equity lens. At its core, RBGND examines the intersection of racial and climate justice. The symbolism of the name is better understood by exploring the origins of its three sources -- 1) The Red Black and Green Flag; 2) The Green New Deal; and 3) The New Deal.

Red Card - A card that lists practical tips and legal rights for immigrants who may encounter a federal agent. Red "know your rights" cards are free and available at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Free Red Cards are also available at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC).

Red Flag Laws - In the United States, a red flag law is a gun control law that permits police to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who they believe may present a danger to others or themselves. (Source: Wikipedia)

In addition to law enforcement, the law also allows certain people — usually family members or sometimes doctors — to ask a court to temporarily remove a person's access to firearms if they believe that person poses a serious risk to themselves or others. Some have compared these laws to precrime laws. (See: precrime)

Red Meat - In political contexts, "red meat" refers to rhetoric, policies, or symbolic gestures designed specifically to energize and please a politician’s core supporters—often by appealing to their base emotions, grievances, or deeply held beliefs. The term suggests raw, satisfying content that doesn’t aim to persuade undecided voters or reach across the aisle, but rather to excite the base. The phrase draws from imagery of throwing red meat to a pack of hungry animals, suggesting a feeding frenzy. (See Dog Whistle, Populist Rhetoric)

Reductionist Thinking - A way of thinking that breaks down complex phenomena into their simplest components, assuming that understanding each part will explain the whole. Example: In medicine, reductionism might treat a symptom (like high blood pressure) in isolation rather than examining the patient's lifestyle, environment, or emotional health. The opposite of Systemic Thinking. See systemic thinking below.

Rentier Capitalism - an economic system where a large portion of income is derived from owning assets, as opposed to Productive capitalism, where income comes from creating goods and services.

Reparations - broadly understood as compensation given for a governmental abuse or injury. The colloquial meaning of reparations has changed substantively over the last century. In the early 1900s, reparations were interstate exchanges (see war reparations): punitive mechanisms determined by treaty and paid by the surrendering side of conflict, such as the World War I reparations paid by Germany and its allies. Now, reparations are understood as not just war damages but compensation and other measures provided to victims of severe human rights violations by the parties responsible. The right of the victim of an injury to receive reparations and the duty of the part responsible to provide them has been secured by the United Nations.

Republic - a representative democracy in which the people's elected representatives, not the people themselves, vote on legislation.

Respectability Politics - a belief that conforming to socially accepted, often white endorsed, or mainstream standards of appearance and behavior will protect a member of a marginalized or minority group from being discriminated against or otherwise unjustly treated. Often espoused by members of the marginalized group. For example, when Bill Cosby publicly urged his fellow African Americans to stop blaming racism for their woes and then suggested that single mothers, sagging pants and names like Shaniqua were the problem, he was engaging in respectability politics. Black respectability politics perpetuates the fiction of a meritocracy and positions Black people's actions as the cause for their oppression.

Restorative Justice - a process where all stakeholders affected by an injustice have an opportunity to discuss how they have been affected by the injustice and to decide what should be done to repair the harm. Restorative justice is founded on an alternative theory to the traditional methods of justice, which often focus on retribution.

Restrictive Ballot Access -

RICO - RICO charges refer to criminal or civil charges brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)—a federal law enacted in 1970 to combat organized crime. RICO makes it a crime to:

Right, the - A term used to describe political parties and other groups who support traditional values, the free market and who oppose government interference.

Right Wing - A section of a political party, organization or a system that tends to be conservative.

RINO - An acronym that stands for Republican in Name Only

Robber Baron - a term that may have originated during the European feudal era but resurfaced as social criticism of certain wealthy, powerful, and unethical 19th-century American businessmen. According to Wikipedia, the term shows up as early as the August 1870 issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine. By the late 19th century, the term was typically applied to businessmen who used exploitative practices to amass their wealth. Those practices include parasitical behaviors that have been symptomattic of unchecked power for ages - unfettered consumption and destruction of natural resources, influencing high levels of government, wage slavery, squashing competition by acquiring their competitors to create monopolies and/or trusts that control the market, and schemes to sell stock at inflated prices to unsuspecting investors. The term combines the sense of criminal ("robber") and illegitimate aristocracy (“baron”) in a republic.

Russiagate - The interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election by Russian funded hackers and Russian government actors.

Safe Seat - A seat in a constituency that is likely to go to a candidate because of the amount of support given to the candidate or the political party they represent. When there is little likelihood a party or a candidate, usually an incumbent, will lose a particular election.

Scapegoating - The American Psychological Association (APA) defines scapegoating as the process of directing one's anger, frustration, and aggression onto others and targeting them as the source of one's problems and misfortunes.

Scapegoating can be a powerful and destructive phenomenon. For example, ethnic minorities are continually scapegoated for the lack of jobs.

Schedule F - Executive Order Schedule F, commonly known as “Schedule F,” would have directed agencies to move potentially large swathes of career civil servant employees into a new “at-will” status that would purportedly strip them of protections. The Schedule F executive order was signed by former President Trump in October 2020. The order would have removed civil servant employment protections and made it easier for a president to fire them. Three days into his presidency, President Biden revoked Trump's Schedule F executive order.

The order would have also exempt the positions from most civil service rules. This would have allowed agencies to shift potentially large numbers of employees from the competitive service to the excepted service.

Scholasticide - Systemic destruction, in whole or in part, of the educational life of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. May include any, more than one, or all of the following acts:

Secondary Action - Also known as Solidarity Action is a secondary boycott, a solidarity strike, or a sympathy strike. It is industrial action by a trade union in support of a strike initiated by workers in a separate union or corporation, but often working within the same enterprise, group of companies, or connected firm.

Sedition - Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or rebellion against, established authority.

Selective Service System - a U.S. federal agency that maintains a database of potential military draftees in case conscription (the draft) is ever reinstated. It exists to ensure that the government can quickly mobilize military personnel during a national emergency, should voluntary enlistment fall short. The U.S. transitioned to an all-volunteer military in 1973, effectively ending active conscription. However, the Selective Service System was not abolished. (See: Backdoor Draft)

Semi-Closed Primary - In a semi-closed primary, unaffiliated voters may choose which party primary to vote in, while voters registered with a party may only vote in that party’s primary. Representing a middle ground between the exclusion of independent voters in a closed primary and the free-for-all of open primaries, the semi-closed primary eliminates concerns about voters registered in other parties from “raiding” another party’s nominating contest.

People who align with a given party may theoretically still vote in another party’s primary if they are registered as independent. The potential for such tactical party registration is also present in the strictest of closed primaries. (Source: FairVote.org)

Settler Colonialism - a form of colonialism that seeks to replace the original population of the colonized territory with a new society of settlers. As with all forms of colonialism, it is based on exogenous domination, typically organized or supported by an imperial authority. (Source: Wikipedia)

Shadow Banning - is when a user has been blocked from a social media site or online forum without their knowledge, typically by making their posts and comments no longer visible to other users.

Shadow Docket - The Shadow Docket refers to the judicial process the U.S. Supreme Court uses to arrive at decisions outside of its regular, fully briefed and publicly argued docket, known as the Merit Docket. These are typically emergency orders and summary decisions that are issued without full briefing, oral arguments, or detailed opinions—and often without the public knowing how each justice voted.

Shadow Government - A shadow government can refer to two related—but distinct—concepts:

Both meanings share the idea of power operating “in the shadows,” but one is an established part of democratic practice while the other is rooted in speculative or conspiratorial thinking.

Shadow War - A covert, undeclared conflict where opposing parties engage in hostile actions—such as cyberattacks, sabotage, assassinations, and disinformation campaigns in situations that do not warrant combative military intervention or would threaten relations with allies. In the US, the government may oversee or aid more minor disputes within countries, such as counterterrorism efforts. In these conflicts, adversaries operate in the “gray zone,” using secretive and deniable tactics to undermine their opponents while avoiding a full-scale, officially declared war. This form of warfare is often driven by intelligence agencies or special forces and is characterized by its ambiguity, making attribution, accountability and response challenging. This type of involvement is known as a "shadow war," a somewhat covert military operation conducted on behalf of a smaller power.

Share Buybacks - the repurchasing of shares of stock by the company that issued them. Also referred to as Stock Buybacks, Corporate Buybacks or Share Repurchase. The re-acquisition by a company of its own stock. This does not create value. This allows companies to reinvest in themselves by reducing the number of outstanding shares on the market.

Shelby - The landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that gutted Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. Short for Shelby County v. Holder, the SCOTUS found that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional.

Shuttle Diplomacy - In diplomacy and international relations, shuttle diplomacy is the action of an outside party or mediator in serving as an intermediary between (or among) principals in a dispute, without direct principal-to-principal contact. Originally and usually, the process entails successive travel ("shuttling") by the intermediary, from the working location of one principal, to that of another.

The term was first applied to describe the efforts of United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, beginning November 5, 1973,[1] which facilitated the cessation of hostilities following the Yom Kippur War.

Single Transferable Vote - See Rank Choice Voting

Smith Act - Formerly known as The Alien Registration Act, 76th United States Congress, 3d session, ch. 439, 54 Stat. 670, 18 U.S.C. § 2385 is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government by force or violence, and required all non-citizen adult residents to register with the federal government.

Approximately 215 people were indicted under the legislation, including alleged communists, anarchists, and fascists. Prosecutions under the Smith Act continued until a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in 1957 reversed a number of convictions under the Act as being unconstitutional. The law has been amended several times.

Snowball Effect - The tendency for a popular candidate or proposal to gather even more support simply because they appear to be winning; also called the ‘bandwagon effect’.

Social Capital - the networks of relationships among people who live, work, and go to school together. Social capital theory contends that social relationships are resources that can lead to the development and accumulation of other benefits.

Socialism - a government in which the means of planning, producing and distributing goods is controlled by a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by and for the community as a whole.

Socially Conservative - is the belief that society is built upon a fragile network of relationships which need to be upheld through duty, traditional values and established institutions. This can include moral issues. Social conservatism is generally skeptical of social change, and believes in maintaining the status quo concerning social issues such as family life, sexual relations, and patriotism.

Soft Power - a term popularized by sociologist Joe Nye that indicates a country's ability to shape the preferences of others through the use of culture, values, and ideas. Soft power is derived from economic and cultural influence, rather than coercion or military strength. Soft power attempts to influence indirectly by creating a desire for the power holder's goals, whereas hard power relies on coercion and military power to achieve its objectives.

SOGI - Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Solidarity Action - Also known as Secondary Action is a secondary boycott, a solidarity strike, or a sympathy strike. It is industrial action by a trade union in support of a strike initiated by workers in a separate union or corporation, but often working within the same enterprise, group of companies, or connected firm.

Solidarity Economy - The solidarity economy (SSE) is a set of economic activities and relationships that prioritize social and environmental goals over profit. The Solidarity Economy is based on principles such as:

Solidarity Economy entities are characterized by:

Sore Loser Laws - If a candidate is defeated in a primary election they are then prohibited from running as an independent or representing another political party in the general election.

South Asians - These individuals trace their roots to 8 nations–Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Maldives. South Asian communities are far from homogenous with its people speaking over 650 distinct languages, practicing several religions, and possessing different immigration histories. Approximately, 5.4 million South Asians live in the United States. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Southeast Asians - Southeast Asians are people who trace their roots to nations that are south of China and East of India. This includes Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Laos, Indonesia, Burma, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste. Southeast Asians make up the largest share of the total Asian immigrant population in the US. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

Stagflation - a combination of high inflation and economic stagnation. Inflation drives prices up but purchasing power down.

Statecraft - The term ‘statecraft’ can be used as an all-embracing one for the study of states and governments and how to successfully build, run and adapt them, internally and externally. Source: Global Government Forum

Stock Buybacks - the repurchasing of shares of stock by the company that issued them. Also referred to as Share Buybacks, Corporate Buybacks or Share Repurchase. The re-acquisition by a company of its own stock. This does not create value. This allows companies to reinvest in themselves by reducing the number of outstanding shares on the market.

Stop-Loss Order - An involuntary extension of a currently-serving military member's term of active service in the armed forces. When a stop-loss order is enforced, the service member's Estimated Time in Service date (ETS) is extended beyond the original date specified in the service member's legally binding commitment to the military. (Also see Backdoor Draft and Economic Draft)

Strict Originalism - Strict Originalism argues that the meaning of the constitutional text is fixed and that it should bind constitutional actors as opposed to Living Constitutionalism which contends that constitutional law can and should evolve in response to changing circumstances.

Structural Racism - is a broad definition of racism; it includes Systemic Racism, Institutional Racism and Interpersonal Racism.

Suffrage – the right to vote. Franchise.

Sultanate - like a monarchy, a government in which the supreme power is in the hands of a sultan (the head of a Muslim state); the sultan may be an absolute ruler or a sovereign with constitutionally limited authority.

Sunk Cost Fallacy - The sunk cost fallacy is a psychological barrier that ties people to unsuccessful endeavors simply because they've committed resources to them. They feel that they've invested too much time, energy, or other resources, and that quitting would waste all that was invested even when abandoning the endeavor would be more beneficial and result in less of a loss. This phenomenon is common with many NASA missions.

Super Delegate – an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote. These Democratic Party superdelegates (who make up slightly under 15% of all convention delegates) include party leaders and elected officials (PLEOs). (See delegate).

Supply Chain - the steps it takes in business to get the product or service from its original state to the customer.

Swing Seat – districts that have frequently switched partisan control especially during close races. The opposite of a safe seat.

Swing State - any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican are usually targeted by both major-party campaigns, especially in competitive elections.

Swing Voter – a voter who may not be affiliated with a particular political party (Independent) or who will vote across party lines. In American politics, many centrists, liberal Republicans, and conservative Democrats are considered "swing voters" since their voting patterns cannot be predicted with certainty.

Sycophant – a person who acts obsequiously toward someone important in order to curry favor or gain an advantage, in other words, someone who is excessively obedient or attentive, a servile self-seeking flatterer. A brown noser. A boot licker. An ass kisser.

Systemic Thinking - A way of thinking that views problems as part of a larger, interconnected system. It emphasizes relationships, feedback loops, and dynamics over time. For example, systemic thinking would look at how poverty, housing, education, and food access contribute to chronic disease — not just treat the illness alone.

Talking Head - a political commentator or reporter on television who addresses the camera and is viewed in close-up. Also known as a pundit.

Tariff - A tariff is a tax or duty imposed by a government on imported or exported goods. Tariffs are used to regulate trade, protect domestic industries, or generate government revenue.

There are three basic types of tariffs:

Techno-feudalism - is a concept that suggests the modern digital economy is shifting away from traditional capitalism and moving toward a new system where a few powerful tech corporations and financial elites dominate society in a way that resembles feudalism. This idea has been popularized by thinkers like economist Yanis Varoufakis and historian Cedric Durand. Also see Broligarchy

Term Limit - also referred to as rotation in office, restricts the number of terms of office an officeholder may hold. For example, according to the 22nd Amendment, the President of the United States can only serve two four-year terms.

Theocracy - a form of government in which a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler; the deity's laws are interpreted by ecclesiastical authorities (bishops, mullahs, etc.), a government subject to religious authority.

Theory of Change - a comprehensive description and illustration of how and why a desired change is expected to happen in a particular context.

Think Tank - a body of experts providing advice and ideas on specific political, social, or economic problems.

Third Way - The Third Way, also known as Modernized Social Democracy, is a predominantly centrist political position that attempts to reconcile center-right and center-left political eology by synthesising a combination of economically liberal and social democratic economic policies. Former President Bill Clinton operated under this form of governance.

Three-Fifths Compromise - a compromise reached among state delegates during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention, where slaves would be counted as 3/5ths of a person to determine a state's total population. This benefited slave holding states for legislative representation and taxing purposes because this population number would then be used to determine the number of seats that the state would have in the U.S. House of Representatives for the next ten years. The compromise gave Southern states a third more seats in Congress and a third more electoral votes than if slaves had been ignored, but fewer than if slaves and free people had been counted equally.

TINA - An acronym for "There Is No Alternative" where a less-than-ideal policy is implemented under the guise of choosing the least of bad choices. Often attributed to neoliberalism.

Tokenism - the superficial or symbolic inclusion of individuals from marginalized groups—such as Black and other people of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, or disabled persons—into institutions, organizations, or media without altering the underlying structure of power or addressing systemic inequalities.

It’s often used as a way for those in power to appear progressive, inclusive, or non-discriminatory, while maintaining the status quo. A short definition is, " Inclusion without power. Diversity without equity."

Totalitarian - a government that seeks to subordinate the individual to the state by controlling not only all political and economic matters, but also the attitudes, values and beliefs of its population.

TPP - see Trans-Pacific Partnership)

Traditionalism - A method for determining the meaning of the Constitution and constitutional law. Traditionalism focuses on practices, rather than principles, ideas, legal rules, and judicial precedents. It also uses endurance of practices to determine their merit.

Trans-Pacific Partnership - A proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim economies, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States. The proposal was signed on 4 February 2016 but not ratified. (Source: Wikipedia)

Transgender - a state of disagreement between a person's internal gender identity or gender expression with the gender assigned to them at birth. The opposite of cisgender where a person's internal gender identity aligns with the gender assigned to them at birth. The "T" in LGBTQ.

Transhumanism - a term, popularized by author Julian Huxley, for the belief or theory that the human race can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations, especially by means of science and technology.

Transitional Justice - Transitional justice consists of judicial and non-judicial measures implemented in order to redress legacies of human rights abuses. Such measures "include criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, reparations programs, and various kinds of institutional reforms".

Transman - One whose gender identity, or their internal sense of being male does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.

Transmisogynoir - Hatred of or entrenched prejudice against or unwarranted fear of Black transwomen. Even if something does not seem overtly hateful, it may be transmisogynoiristic if it implies that Black transwomen have different capabilities, values, or purposes in life because of being Black transwomen. Also see Misogynoir.

Transphobia - dislike of or prejudice against transsexual or transgender people.

Transwoman - One whose gender identity, or their internal sense of being female does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.

Trashing - a particularly vicious form of character assassination that is manipulative, dishonest, and excessive. It is occasionally disguised by the rhetoric of honest conflict but it is not done to expose disagreements or resolve differences. It is done to disparage and destroy.

Trigger Warning - Trigger warnings are common in both written and verbal discussions. They are meant to reduce harm to people who have extremely strong emotional responses or post-traumatic flashbacks to certain subjects. A response like a flashback is called “being triggered.” Some subjects that are typically prefaced by trigger warnings include: graphic or in-depth descriptions of sexual assault, abuse, self-harming behaviors, suicide, eating disorders, body shaming, and other traumatic subjects. It’s a good idea to discuss this at the beginning of any group meeting that might cover these topics.

Trilateral Commission - a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 by American banker and philanthropist David Rockefeller, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Jimmy Carter. (Source: Wikipedia)

Trilateral Commission Report - The key publication of the Trilateral Commission, "The Crisis of Democracy", has been criticized as being a report that reveals the commission's undemocratic roots. A quote from the report describes the strong popular interest in politics during the 1970s as an "excess of democracy".

Twitter Storm - a story that sparks a significant volume of messages on Twitter often leading to a trend.

Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena - Observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or as known natural phenomena are categorized as UAPs.

Unidentified Flying Object - UFO, a term that has been replaced with UAP, Unidentified Anomalos Pehnomena

Unitary Executive Theory - The unitary executive theory is a theory of United States constitutional law that states that the President of the United States has the power to control the entire federal executive branch. A LA Progressive article that addresses the Unitary Executive Theory.

United Nations Security Council - a fifteen member body within the United Nations that is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly and approving any changes to the UN Charter. There are five permanent members - China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States. The 10 non-permanent member states, listed in order of most recent year, are Japan, Ecuador, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, United Arab Emirates, and Albania.

UNSC - See United Nations Security Council.

Useful Idiot - A person who believes they are fighting for a cause without fully understanding the consequences of their actions and who is unaware that they are being manipulated to achieve an objective that is ultimately harmful to the useful idiot. (See Kapos)

Useful Jew - The term "useful Jew" has been used throughout history to describe those who, under pressure or in pursuit of survival, advanced the policies of oppressive regimes, often at the expense of their own people. This grim reality saw Jewish individuals, whether willingly or coerced, collaborate with the Nazi regime during the Holocaust. Groups like "Group 13," the "Jewish Ghetto Police," and those derogatorily labeled as "Pocket Jews" exemplified this trifling phenomenon, serving as instruments of oppression within their own communities. (See Kapos)

Usurious - Usury like in nature. Usurious mortgages are mortgages that charge unreasonably high interest rates.

Usury - Interest charged at unreasonably high rates

VA - Veterans Administration

Vanguard - being vanguard or vanguardism is being at the fore of a mass-action political movement and revolution - when a party places itself at the center of a revolutionary movement to steer it.

Vassal States - A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe.

In the feudal system, vassals were individuals who pledged loyalty and service to a more powerful lord or monarch in exchange for land (a fief) and protection. They played a crucial role in the medieval hierarchy, acting as intermediaries between the ruling nobility and the lower classes.

Venture Capitalist - is a private equity investor that provides capital to companies exhibiting high growth potential in exchange for an equity stake. This could be funding startup ventures or supporting small companies that wish to expand but do not have access to equities markets or capital.

Veto – The power of the President to refuse to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevent its enactment into law is the veto. A regular veto occurs when the President returns the legislation to the house in which it originated, usually with a message explaining the rationale for the rejection of the bill.

Vichy - Puppet, especially a puppet regime that carries out the political will of its conquerer. Vichy is the name of the French city which during World War II was the center of operations and gave its name to the French government which actively cooperated with the Nazi occupation, i.e. Vichy France, June 1940 - June 1944. Source: urbandictionary.com

Vichy Republican - Republicans who failed to stand up to Trump during Trump's tenure in office. Similar to the Vichy French who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II in order to stay in power.

Lindsay Graham was a Vichy Republican while Trump was in office. (Source: urbandictionary.com)

Virtue Signaling - A pejorative term for the expression of a moral viewpoint with the intent of communicating good character, usually expressed by an "ally" of an oppressed group. The practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or one's moral correctness. Virtual signaling is a way to tell the world how humane, thoughtful, fair, inclusive, and, well, how liberal one is -- but it comes across as being nothing more performative. Also see: Performative Allyship (Source: Wikipedia, Google)

Vulture Capitalist - is a type of venture capitalist who looks for opportunities to make money by buying poor or distressed firms. They are also known for taking control over someone else's innovations and, as a result, the money the innovator would have acquired from those innovations. The term is slang for someone who is an aggressive venture capitalist, and as such is believed to be scavenger-like. Just like the bird they are named after, vulture capitalists will wait until they see the right opportunity and swoop in at the last minute, taking advantage of a situation with the lowest possible price.

Vulture Funds - Vulture funds are used by vulture capitalist to buy distressed securities. They buy companies that are close to bankruptcy due to massive losses. Vulture funds buy risky debt instruments at highly discounted prices in the secondary market. They benefit by taking legal action against the issuers for debt recovery.

Wage Slavery - a term Abraham Lincoln described as being not much better than chattel slavery. Today, most working people, earn their living by exchanging their labor for wages or a salary. They are also dependent on this source of income. The dependence is total in most cases. Wage slavery is widely practiced in contemporary western culture but this was not always the case. Former slave Frederick Douglass said working for wages was "only a little less galling and crushing in its effects than chattel slavery, and that this slavery of wages must go down with the other" (the other being chattel slavery). Douglass based this assessment on the unequal bargaining power between the wage earner and the boss. In 1869, The New York Times described the system of wage labor as "a system of slavery as absolute if not as degrading as that which lately prevailed at the South". Wage slavery has been compared to being owned by the boss for a certain number of hours per day. The industrial revolution led to increased wage labor or wage slavery. Before the industrial revolution, most people were self-employed either on family owned farms or other family owned businesses.

War Chest – a sum of money used for conducting a political campaign.

War Economy – Since WWII, the U.S. has engaged in a post-war arms race with a defense budget that is larger than the next ten countries combined. Even when during peacetime, the United States retains the character of a war economy.

War Hawk - a term used in politics for someone who favors war or continuing to escalate an existing conflict as opposed to other, mostly diplomatic, solutions. War hawks are the opposite of doves.

War Powers Act - An Act to expedite the prosecution of the war effort. An emergency law that increased Federal power during World War II. The act was signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and put into law on December 18, 1941. (Source: Wikipedia)

Watch White Work - a powerful, often sarcastic expression used to highlight the mechanisms, maneuvers, and double standards of white supremacy in action—especially when those actions are cloaked in neutrality, legality, or benevolence.

Weathering - a term used that characterizes the early health deterioration of Black people in the United States believed to be caused by repeated exposure and adaptation to stressors associated with racism both covert and overt. The weathering hypothesis posits that Blacks experience early health deterioration as a consequence of the cumulative impact of repeated experiences with social or economic adversity and political marginalization.

Welfare Queens - this term is a dog whistle that originated in 1980 when Ronald Reagan told stories of "welfare queens" who drove Cadillacs, during his presidential campaign. This imagery worked to build his popularity because it conjured up deep anti-black resentment held by large swaths of white conservatives. Those holding Anti-Black sentiments where given red meat.

Whataboutism - the act or practice of responding to an accusation of wrongdoing by claiming that an offense committed by another is similar or worse. (Webster's Dictionary)

Whip – a person in a political party whose job is to make sure the party's members vote with the party. This happens in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who talk to each member of the party to make sure that they vote according to the official party policy.

Whistleblower – a person who informs on a person or organization engaged in an illicit activity. Learn more about whistleblower's here.

White - The top classification of the socially constructed and structurally reinforced racial categories. Those both perceived and categorized as white are granted social, cultural, institutional, psychological and material resources. Most often white people are of European descent. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

White Christian Nationalism - A political ideology that has the word "Christian" in its title but bears little resemblance to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The origins of White Christian Nationalism ideology do not stem from the founding fathers or the ink of the Constitution. This ideology stems from the backrooms of the 1930s and 1940s, where corporate titans and conservative clergy forged a Faustian alliance. Their goal was to sanctify the free market and demonize the New Deal. As President Roosevelt’s reforms sought to temper the excesses of capitalism and uplift the downtrodden, industrialists and business lobbyists recoiled, seeing in his governance a threat to their unchecked power. White Christian Nationalism ideology provided a way to politicize white Christians who were largely apolitical. See this article in the LA Progressive: Christian Nationalism

White Dominant Culture and Norms - The National Museum of African American History and Culture describes “how white people" and their practices, beliefs, and culture have been normalized over time and are now considered standard in the United States. As a result, all Americans have all adopted various aspects of white culture, including People of Color.” This definition is predicated on an understanding of whiteness and white racial identity as the way white people, their customs, culture, and beliefs operate as the standard by which all other groups are compared. White dominant culture is broadly enacted across society and within the context of social entities such as organizations. (Source: Whiteness at Work)

White Lash - white backlash, also known as white rage or whitelash, is related to the politics of white grievance and is the negative response of some white people to the racial progress of other ethnic groups in rights and economic opportunities, as well as their growing cultural parity, political self-determination, or dominance.

White Nationalism - White nationalism espouses the belief that white people are a race and seeks to develop and maintain a white racial and national identity. Many of its proponents identify with and are attached to the concept of a white nation, or a "white ethnostate". (Source: Wikipedia)

White Nationalist - White nationalists say they seek to ensure the survival of the white race, and the cultures of historically white states. They hold that white people should maintain their majority in majority-white countries, maintain their political and economic dominance, and that their cultures should be foremost. Many white nationalists believe that miscegenation, multiculturalism, immigration of nonwhites and low birth rates among whites are threatening the white race. (Source: Wikipedia)

White Supremacy - A historically based, institutionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations and people of color by white people, the U.S., and nations of the European continent, for the purposes of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power and privilege. A political, economic, and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources, conscious and unconscious ideas of white superiority and entitlement are widespread, and relations of white dominance and non-white subordination are daily reenacted across a broad array of institutions and social settings.

Whitewashing - A form of censorship. To deliberately attempt to conceal unpleasant or incriminating facts about someone or something. To alter something in a way that favors, features, or caters to white people so as to portray the past in a way that increases the prominence, relevance, or impact of white people and minimizes or misrepresents that of nonwhite people. (see Racebender)

WIMBY - An acronym that stands for, "Wallstreet in My Backyard" - WIMBYs are usually politicians that spin tall tales to justify special treatment for real estate speculators. It is also an acronym that stands for "Welcome in My Backyard", a term that has no connection to Wallstreet in My Backyard. This version of WIMBY can be used interchangeably with YIMBY (see definition below)

Winner-Take-All - any voting system that is not proportional. It cancels the votes of the losing candidate. An electoral system in which a single political party or group can elect every office within a given district or jurisdiction. Winner-take-all is contrasted with proportional representation, in which more than one political party or group can elect offices in proportion to their voting power.

Worker Owned and Self-Directed Enterprises - A term often used by and perhaps coined by Professor Richard D. Wolff, a reknowned economist and public intellectual who characterizes the term as:

Workforce Housing - a term that is increasingly used by planners, governments, and organizations concerned with housing policy or advocacy. It is gaining cachet with realtors, developers and lenders. Workforce housing can refer to any form of housing, including ownership of single or multi-family homes, as well as occupation of rental units. Workforce housing is generally understood to mean affordable housing for households with earned income that is insufficient to secure quality housing in reasonable proximity to the workplace. (Source: Wikipedia)

Worldview - The lens through which someone interprets the world, often shaped by culture, values, and experience.

Xenophobe - a person having a dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.

YIMBY - An acronym for "Yes In My Backyard". A term used when a person supports new development in the area where they live, typically in order to increase the availability of housing. The opposite of NIMBY, "Not In My Backyard".

Zeitgeist - the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.

Zero Sum - relating to or denoting a situation in which whatever is gained by one side is lost by the other.

15-Minute City - A 15-minute city is an urban planning concept that aims to create communities where people can access daily necessities within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from their home. These necessities include work, shopping, education, healthcare, and leisure.