Meaning of political machine | Babel Free

Definitions

A local political organization or individual politician that controls a large number of personal votes and can therefore exert political influence, and is therefore often viewed as scandalous.

US, historical

Examples

“They had no authority beyond that; for the inspection of meat to be sold in the city and state the whole force in Packingtown consisted of three henchmen of the local political machine!”

“You have my word for it, sir. And the reason for it is that this hideous traffic is one of the main cogs in our political machine. The pimps and the panders, the cadets and maquereaux… they vote the ticket of the organization; they contribute to the campaign funds; they serve as colonizers and repeaters at the polls.”

“After all the discussion of the Kerner commission's report on urban problems, I've yet to hear a word concerning the consistency with which the ghetto population votes for the political machine that has abused it for so many years.”

“But the data was not forthcoming. It was hidden, which ended up serving the interests of the lobby group that dumped more than $2m into Cuomo’s political machine. That machine is now being deployed to vilify Kim, Biaggi and other Democrats who dare to demand answers about their constituents who were killed by Covid.”

CEFR level