Social, cultural, or political change brought about by young people. In politics, it is typically used to mean a surge of young voters in a key election.
The term originated in the fashion industry in 1965, when it was used by Vogue magazine. It has taken on a more politically charged meaning in recent years, and was voted the ‘Word of the Year’ for 2017 by Oxford.
The Guardian: ‘Youthquake’ Behind Labour Election Surge Divides Generations
A phrase used to deflate politicians who are perceived as thinking too highly of themselves.
The words come from the 1988 vice presidential debate between Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) and Sen. Dan Quayle (R-IN). When Quayle compared his relative youth to that of former President John F. Kennedy, Bentsen shot back, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
Washington Post: “If one will be remembered for a single remark, as the recently departed Lloyd Bentsen is, let it be for the perfect put-down. Most of us never get to experience the joy of excoriating an opponent with a dead-on, devastating riposte. We always think of it too late.”
A recorded roll call vote of Members of the House or Senators.
The U.S. Constitution directs that “the yeas and nays of the members of either house, on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.”
The action does not necessarily bring debate to an end. It does mean that whenever debate ends, a roll call vote will occur.
A yellow dog Democrat was a Southern voter who was unwavering in their loyalty to the Democratic party. Those faithful Democrats swore that they would “vote for a yellow dog” before they’d vote for a Republican.
According to William Safire, the term was first used in 1928. That’s when a New York Democrat named Al Smith was running for president. Many Southern Democrats disapproved of Smith, who was a “wet,” or anti-prohibitionist. Alabama Sen. Tom Heflin went so far as to leave the Democratic party because he didn’t want to support Smith. Other Alabama Democrats, though, declared their loyalty to the party by saying, “I’d vote for a yellow dog if he ran on the Democratic ticket.”
The term is largely out of use now. It refers to a time when the Democratic party dominated not only Alabama, but the whole American South. It also dates back to a time when Democratic policies were strikingly different than they are today.
During the lead-up to the Civil War, Southern Democrats called for slavery to remain legal throughout the United States. Meanwhile the new Republican party began calling for limits on slaveholding.
After the Civil War, the Democratic Party established a strong presence in the southern states. Democratic politicians at the time were overwhelmingly conservative and white. They opposed laws that would have protected the civil and voting rights of African Americans. State legislatures in the south imposed Jim Crow segregation laws and made it difficult for African Americans to vote.
Democrats maintained control of the South well into the 20th century. Southern Democrats largely supported the New Deal, although they did try to stop the spread of the labor movement and in some cases opposed the growth of Federal power, arguing for states’ rights. They also blocked the passage of an anti-lynching. Throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s, the South remained solidly Democratic territory.
The Democratic party finally started to lose power in the South in 1948. That’s when the Democratic National Convention supported President Harry Truman’s stance on civil rights for African Americans. Many Southern Democrats left the party in anger. They determined to nominate Strom Thurmond as their alternative candidate, under the banner of the States’ Rights Democratic Party.
Even after that, Democrats did hold on to local seats in the South and continued to play a major role in shaping local laws. The party’s power in the region shrank little by little over the years, slowly. The party finally took a major hit with the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Finally, in 1964, the Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater won a sweeping victory across the Deep South. Goldwater was a staunch opponent of the Civil Rights Act and a supporter of states’ rights. His candidacy is often seen as a turning point in American politics. It drove African American voters to leave the Republican party, and it drove many white southern voters away from the Democratic party.
