Political Vocabulary in English: 21 Common Terms

Hi, everybody. Welcome to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. In today's

video, I want to talk to you about politics. Now, especially in recent

years, there's been a lot of political news from all over the world, but

especially from, like, North America, in certain situations in particular. So,

today, I wanted to give you some vocabulary to help you understand just

the tremendous amount of news that is going on; all the stories that are going

on, and it's... keeps going on, and on, and on. Because now we live in the age

of the internet, and people can find out what's going on in other countries all

the time. So, keep in mind that this is just a partial list; meaning: This is

just an introduction. There are many more words, many more expressions that

are part of politics that you should get to know, but these will at least get you

started. And if you're interested, obviously you can do a little bit more

research; do some more reading, etcetera. So, more or less, I'm focusing

on political justice — I guess you could say — and how... how politicians

basically look after each other or look at each other, and suspiciously,

depending on the situation. Right?

So, we're gonna start by exactly that: "checks and balances". This is how

governments are... have been established, especially democracies have

been established with institutions that can watch each other, so that no group,

no institution, no piece of the government gets too much power. A

"check" basically means, like, a limiting force. If you put a "check" on

somebody, you're limiting them; you're put... you're stopping them from

reaching too high or too powerful, etcetera. And "balance" is balanced —

means equal power distributed to all the different branches of government. So, in

the US, for example, they have the "executive branch" of government, which

is the President's office; they have the "judiciary", which is the Supreme Court;

and they have the "legislative", which is the "Senate" and "Congress". So,

three parts of government; they are co-equal parts of government. "Co-equal"

means that each of these three parts has the same power as the other three.

Right? So, that's the whole idea. So, the... the Supreme Court makes sure that

the government President doesn't do anything illegal. The Senate makes sure

that the Supreme Court is okay. They put the judges in there. Everybody has some

sort of control over the other two. So, that's the "checks", and they maintain

the "balance". So, that's what this is about.

But if there is a problem, if somebody is accused or of doing a crime, or

there's some sort of allegation of a crime... An "allegation"... I'm going to

go all over the place here. An "allegation" is basically an accusation.

It's saying that someone did something bad, but this hasn't been proven yet.

So, if you ever watch the news, you will always hear the reporter say: "the

alleged murderer", "the alleged rapist", "the alleged thief". They never say:

"the murderer", "the thief" until the person has been convicted in court.

Until the person has been proven guilty, he is only "alleged" to have done

something; only accused. So, when someone is "alleged" or when someone is

"accused" of something, that person has their right to "due process". This means

a legal and... Like, a fair and legal process to try to defend himself or to

try... or for the other people to try to convict; to prove guilty. So, "due

process" means the ability to talk to a lawyer, the ability to gather evidence,

the ability to ask... look for witnesses, or ask experts. Basically,

you're allowed to do everything you can in order to protect yourself. And in

most democracies, at least, a person is "innocent until proven guilty". So,

until there... the court says: "Guilty", you are considered innocent and you

can... you have all the rights to protect yourself, and that is "due

process".

Now, when we're talking about politics, a lot of this stuff has to do with the

"silent majority". The "silent majority" is the... obviously the largest

percentage of the voting population, but they're also the type that don't really

say anything. They're not activists. When you hear all the people shouting

for rights, and freedoms, and equality, and all that stuff — those are the...

that's the "vocal minority". That's the opposite. So, people think that in a

country, everybody wants to have this or that right because the vocal minority is

very loud about it, and they're always in the news. But the majority of the

people, they just mind their own business; they're quiet, they don't

care. Where they make their impact is at the "election", when it's time to vote.

If they don't like what a politician did, they will simply vote him out and

stay quiet. The... the vocal minority, they go to protests, they do... they try

to get on the news all the time; it's newspapers, etcetera. So, politicians

are very afraid of the silent majority; they don't really care about the vocal

minority, because they're minority. They always try to worry about what the

voters are thinking, and that's why they always take "polls". So, if somebody did

something illegal or if there's some sort of allegation against a politician,

he will be very careful about what he says or what she says, as the case may

be, because they're worried about losing voters. Because anything they say that

makes the voters angry is considered "political suicide". If you don't give

your voters what they want, your political career is finished; they will

vote you out of office at the next election, and you're out of a job. So,

politicians will do everything they can to stay in power, and they will avoid

political suicide. So, they will just play along. So, if... if the silent

majority believes that they are innocent, they will come out and say:

"I'm innocent". If the silent majority is not really sure, they will be very

careful about appearing on television — the politicians.

Now, politicians also worry about the "swing votes". So, if you have a country

where there are, like, two or three political parties, you know that certain

people are voting for their... for their party, regardless of what's going on. It

doesn't matter who's the leader of the party; it doesn't matter who the

opposition is — these people will always vote for their party. The "swing voters"

— they don't have any particular loyalty to a party; they want the best leader.

So, one year, they will vote conservative; one year, they will vote

liberal; one year, they will vote republican; one year, they will vote

democrat; one year, they will vote socialist. Every year... every election,

they swing their vote based on the person running. So, politicians are very

aware... Because of the polls, they are very aware of what the "swing vote"

looks like. If the swing vote is going away from them, they will do anything

they can to get back to it. So, sometimes, this becomes a problem in

terms of the "checks and balances", because they try to manipulate the

situation. To "manipulate" means to change in one's own favor. So, if I want

you to think something, I will say all kinds of different things to make you

believe what I want you to believe. Now, this is not only in politics; people do

this to each other all the time, in business and any sort of competition.

Even husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend, they a little bit manipulate

each other if they want something, etcetera. But politicians are master

manipulators, so it's a little bit different.

Now, in terms of justice, sometimes one party will accuse a member of the other

party of doing something illegal or unethical that's just not right, but

they don't... they only do this because they just don't like the person. So,

they're always looking for ways to bring him or her down; that bring down the

politician. So, this is called a "witch hunt". When you're trying to find

something negative about somebody, but there really isn't anything there.

You're looking desperately because you want to bring this person down, but you

just can't find anything, so you start making things up a little bit, too. So,

that's called a "witch hunt". In the early days of America, there was a...

there was a time when they were looking for any women who were not good women.

They would accuse them of being witches and burn them; although they didn't

really burn them. That's a bit of a myth. So, "partisan" and "bipartisan".

So, again, let's say you have two parties or a three-party system —

"partisans" are politicians who only try to help their own party; they're not

trying to help all the people of the country. So, they're "partisan" means

they're very biased; they're taking a very clear side that helps their party.

"Bipartisan" means that it's like a... an equal deal; like, an agreement

between the parties. It could be "tripartisan", if there's three parties,

for example. But if there are two parties and both parties agree to do

something together or like pass a law together, then that is a "bipartisan

law". If one of the majority party does something by itself, even though the

other party doesn't like it, then we say it's a "partisan issue". So, "partisan".

When it comes to things like justice, politicians become very "partisan"; they

will do everything to support their party member, even if the... he is

actually he or she is actually guilty.

Then you have something called a "whistleblower". A "whistleblower" is a

person who has first-hand knowledge of someone doing something bad; it could be

in government, it could be in business, it could be anywhere. But the

"whistleblower" does this anonymously — means he doesn't come out and say: "Oh,

I saw this politician do something." He's... he writes a letter to the... to

the place that makes sure that all the checks and balances are working, and he

says: "This person did something bad, but don't say my name. I don't want to

lose my job. I don't want to get in trouble." So, generally speaking, most

politicians when they do get caught committing a crime, it's because of a

"whistleblower". So, "whistle", like, in a sports game — there's a referee.

(whistles) Like, the whistle. So, the "whistleblower" — somebody who blows the

whistle makes a big sound to alert people to wrongdoing. We'll get to

"impeach" last. Now, if somebody is accused of committing a crime, and that

person does everything possible not to help the investigators... For example,

to keep away witnesses, or to try to hide documents, or not answer questions

— this is called: "obstruction", "obstruction of justice". "To obstruct"

means to prevent from happening. So, if somebody is trying to "obstruct

justice", he's trying to make it very difficult for the legal system to

basically catch him and prove him guilty. And "obstruction" itself is a

crime, especially for politicians.

But lawyers and judges, if they feel there's enough information and they want

somebody to come and provide some information — some testimony — they can

"subpoena". The pronunciation is a little tricky, compared to the spelling.

So, basically, it looks like a "subpoena". The "b" is not pronounced

and the "o" is not really there. So, "subpoena". "To subpoena" means to force

someone to come and give testimony; to be a witness to a possible crime, an

allegation of a crime. "Treason". In most countries, "treason" is the

absolute worst crime you can commit. "Treason" means you're working against

your own country. And in a company, if you're working against your company, and

you're helping the competition — that is also considered "treason". But in a

company, it's not a crime; you're just not a good person, you're not a good

employee. In politics, if a politician, for example, gives classified

information to another country or does something to hurt his or her actual

state — that is called "treason". In some countries, including the US, if

you're convicted of "treason", you... they will put you to death; you will

hang for "treason". It's a very serious crime.

"Perjury". When you go in front of lawyers or congress people or judges,

as... in any situation, but especially as a politician: If you lie to the

lawyers, to the congress people, to the judges — that is called "perjury". That

is also a crime; you can go to jail for lying to the investigators. Most

politicians try to "deflect". So, if some accusation is coming at them, they

just — whoop. They just try to push it aside and make it go onto somebody else

or something else, and keep themselves clean. So, "to deflect" — to move away

from oneself. And that's what most politicians do when they are accused of

anything. But sometimes, even if as much as they obstruct, as much as they

deflect, as much as they try to manipulate the me-... media and the

public — if the investigators find a "smoking gun", then the politician is

basically done. Right? He can't defend himself. A "smoking gun" means hard

evidence — evidence that very clearly shows that a person committed a crime.

Okay? In terms of... in case of a murderer, a gun with the smoke coming

out very clearly shows that the gun was just fired; in any other situation, it's

any hard evidence.

And lastly, in terms of politics, when there's enough... when there is an

accusation and enough evidence, investigators can move to "impeach".

"Impeach". "To impeach" means to remove from office. So, if a president is

"impeached", it means that in the... in the case of the US, for example,

Congress wants to remove the president from... from the "presidency" — from his

office. So, they will send "articles of impeachment" to the Senate. And once

he... the President is impeached, it doesn't mean he has to leave; it means

there's going to be a trial, because again, the President has the right to

"due process". He has the right to defend himself, to ask for evidence, to

question witnesses, etcetera. So, if the Senate decides to uphold the impeachment

articles, then the President is removed from office, and the Vice President

takes over his or her seat. Well, as the case may be, there hasn't been a female

president yet, but that's the idea. Okay? Wow. So, a lot of information

there. And this is just the "tip of the iceberg". "Tip of the iceberg" means

that you think this is a lot of words; this is really very little. There's a

lot more beneath all this that supports all these words. You really should start

to learn them, if you're interested in politics. But even if you're not, you're

going to hear this stuff on the news all the time; especially in modern times,

where politicians are not as noble as they used to be, perhaps. But anyways,

I'm not going to get into a political discussion.

If you have any questions about any of these words or expressions, please go to

www.engvid.com. You can ask me in the comment section; I'll do my best to

answer them. I don't want to necessarily start a political discussion. People get

very crazy when it comes to politics. Keep the questions and comments to

English. And, again, if you want to talk to each other about politics, I'm sure

there are forums for that. There's also a quiz. Please take the quiz. Make sure

you understand the uses of these expressions and words. And that's it. I

hope you liked the video. Please give me a like if you did. Don't forget to

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vocab and useful vocab in future lessons to help you engage the language. Okay?

Until then, bye-bye.