Oh my word Politic, Politicking

“Communism, my friend, is more than Marxism, just as Catholicism is more than the Roman Curia. There is a mystique as well as a real politic. Catholics and Communists have committed great crimes, but at least they have not stood aside, like an established society, and been indifferent. I would rather have blood on my hands than water like Pilate.” –Graham Greene

Politick is the alternate but obsolete spelling of ‘politic’ and could also be derogatory. Derogatory because, politick also refers to engage in political activity, to engage in a partisan political way. Politicker is a noun like realpolitiker.

Politicking functions as a verb and gerund. As a verb it indicates to influence the voters, to influence people, to accomplish something with the support of a section of people, to promote oneself or something (indulging in politicking).

Politicians indulge in politicking to promote his or her policies and programmes; political parties do politicking day in and day out to stay in power or come to power to rule over a large number of people usually in a democratic society.

Civil society gets vexed with the politicking of the bureaucracy and the ruling class. Politicking as a noun (and gerund) refers to the activity undertaken by someone for political reasons, with a political motive to achieve ends or objectives; campaigning for votes in an election at a local, national, or international level (for example to elected the Secretary General of United Nations); politicking also refers to someone who wants to promote his or her policies, to promote oneself.

Politicking is a political activity such as seeking votes; an activity that aims to acquire political power and influence people to achieve one’s goals or of the political party. The difference between indulging in politics and politicking is that the latter refers to a political activity by someone who is interested in advancing one’s selfish interests, selfish goals but not that of the people (constituents, voters, citizens).

Politicking comes from the words ‘politic’ and ‘-ing’ but note there is a non-assibilation of ‘c’. The opposite of politicking is nonpoliticking “Europeans are hardly new to Realpolitik (the clue is in the word).” –The Economist.

Realpolitik is a system of politics based on a country’s situation and its needs rather than on ideas about what is morally right and wrong; when a politician or a political party indulges in realpolitik it means the politician or the political party has a system of political ways, or principles that are practical and pragmatic rather than based on moral or ideological grounds.