Third rail of politics

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.

This third rail, used to power trains, would likely result in the death by electrocution of anyone who comes into direct contact with it.

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 during the Reagan presidency, it seems to have been coined by O'Neill aide Kirk O'Donnell in 1982 in reference to Social Security.[2]

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:

• Withdrawal of Social Security benefits[3][4][5]
• Withdrawal of Medicare benefits[6]
• Debate of race issues[7][8][9][10]
• Antidumping and countervailing duty withdrawal[11]
• Opposition to abortion for rape victims[12]
• Conscription[13]
• Debate about U.S. support for Israel[14][15]
• National content policy in export finance[16]
• The role that gifted education plays in modern public school segregation[17]
• The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict[18]

Outside the U.S.

Argentina

• The Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute[19]

Australia

• Climate change[20]

Canada

• Public health care[21]
• Canada Pension Plan[22]

India

• Income tax for agricultural income[23]

United Kingdom

• Drug policy[24]
• Reform of the National Health Service[25]
• Social care[26]
• West Lothian question[27]

China

• Questioning the political status of Taiwan
• Autonomic status of Hong Kong[28]
• Any of the issues affected by official censorship in China

Singapore

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

• Homosexuality
• Corruption
• The Sedition Act makes it illegal to "promote feelings of ill-will or hostility between different races or classes of the population".

International politics

• The political status of Crimea[29]

See also

• Asch conformity experiments – Study of if and how individuals yielded to or defied a majority group
• Communal reinforcement – Social phenomenon where a meme is repeatedly asserted in a community, regardless of whether it is sufficiently supported by evidence
• Foot-in-the-door technique
• Groupthink
• Overton window – Range of ideas tolerated in public discourse
• Spiral of silence

References

1. Rick Shenkman. "When Did Social Security Become the Third Rail of American Politics?". George Mason University. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
2. William Safire (8 February 2007). "On Language: Third Rail". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
3. Wolfsthal, Jon B. (December 2004). "The Nuclear Third Rail: Can Fuel Cycle Capabilities Be Limited?". Arms Control Today. 34 (10): 11.
4. "Third rail politics".
5. ""Why is Social Security Called the Third Rail of American Politics?" by Senior Living". About.com.
6. "Medicare: the new Third Rail of American politics?", The Washington Post
7. 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.'"
8. Koehler, Robert (4 July 2014). "Going Deep: Race and the Third Rail".
9. 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."
10. 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."
11. Mankiw, N. Gregory; Swagel, Phillip L. (1 July 2005). "Antidumping: The Third Rail of Trade Policy" – via www.foreignaffairs.com.
12. Christine M. Flowers (24 August 2012). "Searching for light and truth in the Todd Akin controversy". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
13. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0503.carter.html
14. "Grabbing the Third Rail", 2006, Paige Austin, Mother Jones
15. "Touching The Third Rail: Israel and New York Politics", Jonathan Tasini, Huffington Post
16. U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) Actions Needed to Promote Competitiveness and International Cooperation 07.02.2012
17. New York Times. Desegregation Plan: Eliminate All Gifted Programs in New York. Aug 26 2019.
18. Mother Jones. Grabbing the Third Rail. July 18 2006.
19. Peña, Alejandro Milcíades (6 October 2016). "Argentina's president makes the ultimate diplomatic mistake – talking about the Falkland Islands". The Conversation. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
20. "Turnbull says climate change has become a third rail for the Liberal Party". The Guardian. 17 November 2018.
21. Krauss, Clifford (26 February 2006). "As Canada's Slow-Motion Public Health System Falters..." The New York Times.
22. Leech, J.; McNish, J. (2013). The Third Rail. McClelland & Stewart.
23. Awasthi, Rajul (25 September 2017). "Should agricultural income be taxed?". The Economic Times. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
24. Curtis, Chris (30 May 2018). "A majority support liberalising policy towards cannabis". YouGov. Retrieved 5 October 2018. Drug policy has often been considered a 'third rail' issue in British politics.
25. Massie, Alex (1 February 2011). "Bitter Medicine". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
26. Lent, Adam (9 June 2017). "Political uncertainty must not mean backsliding on social care reform". New Local Government Network. Retrieved 5 October 2018. The assumption could well emerge that social care has proved to be a 'third rail' in politics killing anyone who touches it.
27. "After Scotland's No, the UK's Devolution Revolution". Fisher Investments. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2018. The West Lothian question has been the third rail of UK politics for nearly 20 years
28. Zagoria, Adam (7 October 2019). "NBA Takes 'Unprincipled' And 'Cowardly' Stance On China And Hong Kong". Forbes. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
29. Travlos, Konstantinos (1 March 2014). "Why the Crimea is the Third Rail of International Politics". Duck of Minerva. Retrieved 12 June 2020.