Politics without Metaphors is Like a Fish without Water

This chapter begins with a discussion of the necessity of metaphors to political discourse, then explores the consequences of metaphorical language for political participants. It examines the role of metaphors for elites——hose with more resources, who have more interest in, and are more central to the decision-making process. The chapter explores the paradoxical role of metaphors in the political life of the mass public—the majority of people whose relation to politics ranges from casual interest and voting to alienation and apathy. Metaphors can simultaneously make politics accessible to the average citizen and induce acquiescence and passivity. American political campaigns are necessarily broad exercises in the use of metaphors to convey their messages. Media coverage of politics frequently involves metaphors that have the effect of encouraging detachment. Politics becomes one diversion among many, in critical respects indistinguishable from other entertainments.