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.
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 from 1977 to 1987, it seems to have been coined by O'Neill aide Kirk O'Donnell in 1982 in reference to Social Security. [2] [3]
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:
The term OB marker ("out of bounds marker", a golf term)[ citation needed ] is widely used in Singapore for forbidden topics, such as:
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Meat, in short, may well be the third rail of climate politics.
Drug policy has often been considered a 'third rail' issue in British politics.
The assumption could well emerge that social care has proved to be a 'third rail' in politics killing anyone who touches it.
The West Lothian question has been the third rail of UK politics for nearly 20 years
Relations with the EU will remain the third rail of U.K. politics.
The gloomy prognosis has re-opened the debate over Brexit, previously the deadly third rail of Conservative Party politics...