Political Slang: Defined - Based Politics

Knowing the proper terminology is essential when speaking on any topic with authority. Some jargon that could be thrown out this election season may sound important and deep but actually be an underhanded insult. If you are new to the political scene and want to know some slick tricks to debate with your frenemies, these terms of political endearment might be for you.

Echo Chamber: A chamber of echoes, what secrets does it hold? None. No secrets at all. An echo chamber is just a term for a group of like-minded people who get together and bounce the same ideas off each other. A brilliant example of this is Facebook. 

Flip flopper: A flip flopper is a candidate or official whose only consistency is that they aren’t consistent. They’re a yes man or a no man – whatever they decide that day.

Kool-Aid: also known as “drinking the Kool-Aid.” This is a person or group who holds an unwavering belief without questioning it. This term came from the Jonestown deaths, where members of the Peoples Temple cult committed suicide by drinking a cyanide-laced powdered drink. It wasn’t actually Kool-Aid, it was Flavor Aid, but Kool-Aid got stuck with it anyways.

Christian Agenda: Keeping God in In God We Trust. Except in this case this applies heavily to far right politics. Basically the Christian Agenda is used to describe the idea of promoting Christian nationalism in America with Judeo-Christian values as the basis of government laws and practices.

Purple State: Purple is associated with royalty, nobility, luxury, power and ambition. So does purple refer to an extravagant state like California or New York? No. Purple is a mix of red and blue. Purple state is just another way of saying a swing state.

Based: Based like foundation? No, based like base intelligence. This term is used when describing somebody who votes for somebody for no reason other than party affiliation. Voting for Trump solely because he is Republican or voting for Biden just because he is a Democrat, and not because someone agrees with their platforms or thinks they can actually do something for America.

Alexander Nesmith is a Junior

Communications Major from

Calhoun, Georgia