Social:Third rail (politics)

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Short description: Metaphor for "untouchable" issues
This third rail, at West Falls Church station on the Washington Metro, used to power trains, usually results in the death by electrocution of anyone who comes into direct contact with it.

The third rail of a nation's politics is a metaphor for any issue so controversial that it is "charged" and "untouchable" to the extent that any politician or public official who dares to broach the subject will invariably suffer politically. The metaphor comes from the high-voltage third rail in some electric railway systems.

Touching a third rail can result in electrocution, so usage of the metaphor in political situations relates to the risk of "political suicide" that a person would face by raising certain taboo subjects or having points of view that are either censored, shunned or considered highly controversial or offensive to advocate or even mention.

It is most commonly used in North America. Though commonly attributed to Tip O'Neill,[1] Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, it seems to have been coined by O'Neill aide Kirk O'Donnell in 1982 in reference to Social Security.[2][3]

American examples of usage

A wide range of issues might be claimed detrimental to politicians tackling them, but those below have all been explicitly described using the "third rail" metaphor:

Outside the U.S.

Argentina

  • The Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute[29]

Australia

  • Policies to address climate change[30]

Canada

  • Reforming or privatizing public health care[31]
  • Reforming or privatizing the Canada Pension Plan[32]
  • Amending the Constitution of Canada
  • Re-criminalization of abortion

Denmark

  • Abolition of Store Bededag as a public holiday.[33]

Germany

India

  • The introduction of income tax for agricultural income[36]
  • Changes to the reservation system

Republic of Ireland

  • Abortion was viewed as a third rail prior to the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which legalised it in 2018[37][38][39]
  • The provision of medical cards (which grant free or low-price healthcare to people on low incomes and the chronically ill)[40][41]

United Kingdom

China

  • Advocating Hong Kong independence[48]

Singapore

The term OB marker ("out of bounds marker", a golf term)[citation needed] is widely used in Singapore for forbidden topics, such as:

Serbia

  • Recognition of Kosovo's independence

International politics

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rick Shenkman. "When Did Social Security Become the Third Rail of American Politics?". George Mason University. http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/10522. Retrieved October 21, 2014. 
  2. ↑ William Safire (February 8, 2007). "On Language: Third Rail". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/magazine/18wwlnsafire.t.html?_r=0. Retrieved October 21, 2014. 
  3. ↑ "Macroeconomics: Policy and Practice". https://www.pearson.com/en-us/subject-catalog/p/macroeconomics-policy-and-practice/P200000005991/9780133424386. 
  4. ↑ Wolfsthal, Jon B. (December 2004). "The Nuclear Third Rail: Can Fuel Cycle Capabilities Be Limited?". Arms Control Today 34 (10): 11. 
  5. ↑ "Third rail politics". http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-09-27/news/ct-edit-tenth-20100927_1_dold-and-seals-private-accounts-social-security. 
  6. ↑ ""Why is Social Security Called the Third Rail of American Politics?" by Senior Living". http://seniorliving.about.com/od/socialsecurity101/a/socialsecurity.htm. 
  7. ↑ "Medicare: the new Third Rail of American politics?", The Washington Post
  8. ↑ Still a House Divided: Race and Politics in Obama's America, Desmond S. King, Rogers M. Smith, Reprint edition December 8, 2013, Princeton University Press, books.google.com: "Sociologist John David Skrentny exaggerates only slightly when he says that at this point, advocacy of racial preferences was a 'third rail' in American politics: 'touch it and you die.'"
  9. ↑ Koehler, Robert (July 4, 2014). "Going Deep: Race and the Third Rail". https://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-koehler/going-deep-race-and-the-t_b_5556945.html. 
  10. ↑ Daring to Touch the Third Rail, Robert Koehler, Newsweek, 01/19/08, "Obama has avoided being pigeonholed as the "black candidate" and has mostly steered clear of talking about race on the campaign trail (at least until his recent fracas with Hillary Clinton over whether she besmirched King's legacy by noting President Lyndon Johnson's role in the Civil Rights Act). But Michelle hasn't backed away from discussing her experiences of race and prejudice."
  11. ↑ Short-Circuiting the New Third Rail in Politics, July 20, 2012, Suzanne Fields, RealClearPolitics, "Race has become the third rail of American politics. Touch it, and you die. It's the rail some of our angriest Democrats want to ride Mitt Romney and the Republicans out of town on."
  12. ↑ Mankiw, N. Gregory; Swagel, Phillip L. (July 1, 2005). "Antidumping: The Third Rail of Trade Policy". https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2005-07-01/antidumping-third-rail-trade-policy. 
  13. ↑ Christine M. Flowers (August 24, 2012). "Searching for light and truth in the Todd Akin controversy". The Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/christine_flowers/20120824_Christine_M__Flowers__Searching_for_light_and_truth_in_the_Todd_Akin_controversy.html. Retrieved August 27, 2012. 
  14. ↑ ""The Case for the Draft" by Phillip Carter and Paul Glastris". http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0503.carter.html. 
  15. ↑ [1] U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Actions Needed to Promote Competitiveness and International Cooperation February 7, 2012
  16. ↑ [2] New York Times. Desegregation Plan: Eliminate All Gifted Programs in New York. August 26, 2019.
  17. ↑ [3] Mother Jones. Grabbing the Third Rail. July 18, 2006.
  18. ↑ "Grabbing the Third Rail", 2006, Paige Austin, Mother Jones
  19. ↑ "Touching The Third Rail: Israel and New York Politics", Jonathan Tasini, Huffington Post
  20. ↑ Levitz, Eric (August 23, 2018). "Trump Echoes Neo-Nazi Propaganda About South Africa (That He Heard on Fox News)" (in en-us). https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/08/south-african-farmers-land-trump-tweet-white-genocide.html. 
  21. ↑ "Democrats call for 'big, bold' action on immigration as Biden's bill is introduced". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/democrats-introduce-biden-citizenship-bill/2021/02/18/e843bb22-7179-11eb-b8a9-b9467510f0fe_story.html. 
  22. ↑ Wilson, Gary. "Third Rail Proposal: Selling Great Lakes water proposed to lower lake levels" (in en-US). https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/02/selling-water-west-great-lakes-diversions/. 
  23. ↑ Taub, Amanda (May 25, 2022). "In the U.S., Backlash to Civil Rights Era Made Guns a Political Third Rail". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/world/americas/2nd-amendment-gun-laws.html. 
  24. ↑ Khalid, Asma (November 13, 2018). "A Third Rail No More: Incoming House Democrats Embrace Gun Control" (in en). NPR. https://www.npr.org/2018/11/13/666595118/a-third-rail-no-more-incoming-house-democrats-embrace-gun-control. 
  25. ↑ "Parkland anniversary highlights how Democrats have shifted on guns" (in en-us). PBS NewsHour. Associated Press. February 12, 2019. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/parkland-anniversary-highlights-how-democrats-have-shifted-on-guns. 
  26. ↑ "An experienced Jerry Brown vows to build on what he's already done". Los Angeles Times. October 19, 2014. https://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-jerry-brown-20141019-story.html. 
  27. ↑ Smith, Alex (November 30, 2021). "The Coming "Meat Vortex"". Breakthrough Institute. https://thebreakthrough.org/journal/no-15-winter-2022/meat-vortex-alternative-protein. Retrieved January 24, 2023. "Meat, in short, may well be the third rail of climate politics." 
  28. ↑ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tim-sheehy-montana-republican-public-lands_n_6530076ae4b03b213b084d09
  29. ↑ Peña, Alejandro Milcíades (October 6, 2016). "Argentina's president makes the ultimate diplomatic mistake – talking about the Falkland Islands". The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/argentinas-president-makes-the-ultimate-diplomatic-mistake-talking-about-the-falkland-islands-66465. 
  30. ↑ "Turnbull says climate change has become a third rail for the Liberal Party". The Guardian. November 17, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/17/turnbull-says-climate-change-has-become-a-third-rail-for-liberal-party. 
  31. ↑ Krauss, Clifford (February 26, 2006). "As Canada's Slow-Motion Public Health System Falters...". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/international/americas/26canada.html. 
  32. ↑ Leech, J.; McNish, J. (2013). The Third Rail. McClelland & Stewart. 
  33. ↑ Copenhagen (26 January 2023). "Danes 'furious' over plan to abolish public holiday to fund defence budget" (in en). the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/26/danes-furious-over-plan-to-abolish-public-holiday-to-fund-defence-budget. 
  34. ↑ "Autobahn unlimited: Saying speed limit to a German is like talking gun control in the US" (in en). https://www.handelsblatt.com/english/politics/autobahn-unlimited-saying-speed-limit-to-a-german-is-like-talking-gun-control-in-the-us/23899714.html. 
  35. ↑ Landler, Mark (March 16, 2007). "Call for Speed Limit Has German Blood at 178 M.P.H. Boil" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/world/europe/16autobahn.html. 
  36. ↑ Awasthi, Rajul (September 25, 2017). "Should agricultural income be taxed?". The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/wealth/tax/should-agricultural-income-be-taxed/articleshow/60804911.cms. 
  37. ↑ "Atlanta’s Peter Casey at the bat during Ireland’s presidential election". November 1, 2018. https://www.irishcentral.com/news/irishvoice/atlanta-peter-casey-ireland-presidential-election. 
  38. ↑ "Ian O'Doherty: The referendum will be bitter. But we need to lance this boil". December 17, 2017. https://www.independent.ie/opinion/ian-odoherty-the-referendum-will-be-bitter-but-we-need-to-lance-this-boil/36409419.html. 
  39. ↑ "How Abortion Became Legal in Ireland | Irish America". June 24, 2022. https://www.irishamerica.com/2022/06/abortion-legal-ireland/. 
  40. ↑ Regan, Mary (June 5, 2014). "Medical cards could badly burn Coalition". https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20271034.html. 
  41. ↑ "As Noonan looks to bailout exit many fear his ‘good news’ about budget". October 14, 2013. https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-20246186.html. 
  42. ↑ Curtis, Chris (May 30, 2018). "A majority support liberalising policy towards cannabis". YouGov. https://yougov.co.uk/news/2018/05/30/majority-now-support-liberalising-policy-towards-c/. Retrieved October 5, 2018. "Drug policy has often been considered a 'third rail' issue in British politics." 
  43. ↑ Massie, Alex (February 1, 2011). "Bitter Medicine". https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/02/01/bitter-medicine-2/. Retrieved April 15, 2020. 
  44. ↑ Lent, Adam (June 9, 2017). "Political uncertainty must not mean backsliding on social care reform". New Local Government Network. http://www.nlgn.org.uk/public/2017/political-uncertainty-must-not-mean-backsliding-on-social-care-reform/. Retrieved October 5, 2018. "The assumption could well emerge that social care has proved to be a 'third rail' in politics killing anyone who touches it." 
  45. ↑ "After Scotland's No, the UK's Devolution Revolution". Fisher Investments. September 22, 2014. https://www.fisherinvestments.com/en-us/marketminder/after-scotlands-no-the-uks-devolution-revolution. Retrieved October 5, 2018. "The West Lothian question has been the third rail of UK politics for nearly 20 years" 
  46. ↑ Taylor, Paul (July 12, 2022). "Johnson's exit won't change Brexit". Politico. https://www.politico.eu/article/johnsons-exit-wont-change-brexit/. Retrieved January 24, 2023. "Relations with the EU will remain the third rail of U.K. politics." 
  47. ↑ Milligan, Ellen (November 21, 2022). "UK Is Starting to Have Second Thoughts About Brexit". Bloomberg News. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-22/sunak-s-britain-is-starting-to-have-second-thoughts-about-brexit. Retrieved January 24, 2023. "The gloomy prognosis has re-opened the debate over Brexit, previously the deadly third rail of Conservative Party politics..." 
  48. ↑ Zagoria, Adam (October 7, 2019). "NBA Takes 'Unprincipled' And 'Cowardly' Stance On China And Hong Kong". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2019/10/07/nba-takes-unprincipled-and-cowardly-stance-on-china-and-hong-kong/#11c35d6358f0. Retrieved October 7, 2019. 
  49. ↑ Travlos, Konstantinos (March 1, 2014). "Why the Crimea is the Third Rail of International Politics". Duck of Minerva. https://www.duckofminerva.com/2014/03/why-the-crimean-is-the-third-rail-of-international-politics.html. 



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