You can use the political term “caucus”
as a verb, noun or something exotic like a past participle, which are
apparently made in Switzerland by the scientists slamming atoms together at the
speed of light.
Here’s a real-life example that we are
NOT making up:
“We’re going to caucus now, because the
caucus hasn’t caucused on that bill yet.”
If you are an average citizen back home,
that sentence will rightfully confuse you. However: This is actually sort of
important as to how politics works.
Let’s pull back the curtain a little and
give you a peek at how this works.
The word itself is still a mystery
We first thought “caucus” was the Latin
word for “a group of people wearing uncomfortable clothes and drinking bad coffee
while they talk about subsection 3 of RCW 42.03.010”
But no, that is wrong. Though the root
meaning of the word is shrouded in mystery.
Some say it comes from the Greek kaukos and Latin
caucum (drinking vessel). Others insist it comes
from the Algonquian
caucausu (advisor). Still others claim that
Algonquian is quite possibly a word we made up two seconds ago.
Anyway, during the 18th century, which is
actually the 1700s – also confusing – Americans started using “caucus” to refer
to a political meeting.
Presidential caucuses: the same but
different
On March 3, Washington state held
presidential caucuses, which sounds like “a political meeting that involves a
bunch of Secret Service types and the leader of the free world.” But that’s not
it.
In the presidential caucuses, people show
up at their local precincts, talk about the candidates and then they vote for
delegates. A presidential caucus is quite different from a presidential
primary, where you mark your ballot at your kitchen table and mail it in. No
talking. No debate. No bad coffee and Krispy Kremes.
In politics, lawmakers uses caucuses to
get organized and try to pass laws. The U.S. House and Senate has approximately
5.83 bazillion caucuses.
Click here to see a list of them. Do not hit PRINT,
which would kill many trees.
Here in Olympia, we don’t have so many
caucuses. You have the main four: the House Democratic Caucus, House Republican
Caucus, Senate Democratic Caucus and Senate Republican Caucus. That sounds like a
lot, but it’s really simple: the Democrats in the House and Senate, then the
Republicans in the House and Senate.
 |
| The House Democratic Caucus Room |
Then there are smaller caucuses that are
created – or die off – as the years go by.
You’ve got bipartisan caucuses arranged
around geography, like the Coastal Caucus. Then there are caucuses based
on a shared interest in an issue like the Ferry Caucus (state ferries), the
Working Families Caucus and a Women’s Caucus.
Some caucuses are bipartisan, which is a
fancy word meaning lawmakers from both parties belong.
Other caucuses are bicameral, which is an
even fancier word for “a political group with members from the House and the
Senate.”
The rarest of caucuses is both bipartisan
and bicameral. There is no such thing as tripartisan or tricameral, though the
great state of Nebraska does have a unicameral legislature – one chamber of
lawmakers instead of a House and Senate.
It’s all part of America’s great
diversity of democracy, the product of urge to experiment and try different
things. There’s probably an Algonquian word for that.
To read this post in Spanish, click here.
To read this post in Spanish, click here.
