Word: pendulum
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...once, the ins worked harder than the outs. After ten years in full power, the Democrats saw the pendulum of political favor swinging away from them: they labored mightily to halt its course...
...democracies used to enjoy what Author de Sales calls the "pendulum movement." "The pendulum movement from Right to Left and from Left to Right has been characteristic of all democracies during the 19th Century and up to a few years ago. A period of consolidation and sometimes of reaction has normally followed a period of social reform. . . . It can be argued that this cyclical behavior assured the stability of democratic institutions during the times when only a few extremist groups challenged the advantages of democracy over any other form of government. But this easy and regular pulsation of democratic organisms...
...disruption of the pendulum movement was less real because "American conservatism is a powerful shock absorber." Rightly or wrongly, Author de Sales believes that the third-term election of Franklin Roosevelt "had two important consequences: on the vertical plane-that is, nationally-the American electorate expressed its willingness to play a part, at least temporarily, in world affairs. . . . On the horizontal plane it recognized the implications of the revolutionary forces and their possible effect on the evolution of American democracy...
Thus weighted, the pendulum plunged back toward Germany. The clock of war ticked grimly...
Brazil first set the pendulum in motion when, during the January conference at Rio de Janeiro (TIME, Jan. 19 et seq.), she broke off diplomatic relations with the Axis. The pendulum came swinging back with the torpedoing of Brazilian ships speeding raw materials to the U.S. Last week, when sinkings had reached four (possibly five) ships totaling 22,231 tons and had caused 51 deaths, Brazil realized that hemisphere solidarity was grim business. She reversed the pendulum, with angry weight behind...