The third rail of a nation's politics is a

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

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, 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 Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

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

and Medicare benefits * Debate of race issues * Antidumping and countervailing duty withdrawal * Opposition to

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

for rape victims * Resuming the draft * National content policy in export finance * The role that

gifted education Gifted education (also known as gifted and talented education (GATE), talented and gifted programs (TAG), or G&T education) is a type of education used for children who have been identified as Intellectual giftedness, gifted or Talent (skill), tal ...

plays in modern public school segregation * Debate about U.S. support for Israel *Diverting water from the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

to the Southwest * Guns, including semi-automatic weapons and child safety locks. * California's Proposition 13 on property tax *The impact of meat consumption on climate change * The transfer of Federal lands over to states.

Outside the U.S.

Argentina

*The Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute

Australia

* Policies to address

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

* Introducing Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, Makarrata Commission and Indigenous treaties *Removing or reforming Negative Gearing *Referendum to amend the

Constitution of Australia The Constitution of Australia (also known as the Commonwealth Constitution) is the fundamental law that governs the political structure of Australia. It is a written constitution, which establishes the country as a Federation of Australia, ...

Canada

* Reforming or privatizing public health care * Reforming or privatizing the Canada Pension Plan * Amending the Constitution of Canada * Re-criminalization of

* Repeal of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

Germany

* Introducing a

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed, express ...

on Autobahns

India

*The introduction of

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

for agricultural income * Changes to the reservation system * Kashmir

Republic of Ireland

Abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

was viewed as a third rail prior to the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland which legalised it in 2018 *The provision of medical cards (which grant free or low-price healthcare to people on low incomes and the chronically ill)

United Kingdom

* Drug policy * Reform of the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

* Social care * West Lothian question * Rejoining the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

China

*Advocating for Hong Kong independence

Singapore

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

Corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

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

Serbia

*Recognition of

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

's independence

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Third Rail (Metaphor) Political metaphors 1982 neologisms