Beltway

beltway English Capital + Etymology Extended from en beltway freeway encircling a city; compare also en highway. Proper noun A 64-mile Interstate freeway surrounding Washington, D.C. en mostly local usage The expressway that surrounds another city. en US politics The US federal government and policy and lobbying organizations, located in Washington, D.C., sometimes with a suggestion of their elitism or insularity en https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/05/climate-denial/ Climate of Denial 2005 May Bill McKibben Mother Jones But given that it takes 60 votes to beat a filibuster and 66 to override a veto, and given that the GOP has since added four hard-right senators to its total, it’s safe to say that nothing will be happening inside the Beltway anytime soon. https://web.archive.org/web/20260928055536/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/05/climate-denial/ 28 September 2026 en The Democratist War on Diplomacy Christopher Mott https://nationalinterest.org/feature/democratist-war-diplomacy-206405 w:The National Interest 2023-04-17 While not the entirety of the reason why the Beltway struggles to shed its imperial hubris and adapt to the new multipolar world, (much of that is simply complacency) understanding democratism’s hold over the governing elite is vital for explaining the unique hostility found in so much of foreign policy commentary towards a soberer and more realistic appraisal of the world. https://web.archive.org/web/20241203192748/https://nationalinterest.org/feature/democratist-war-diplomacy-206405 3 December 2024 Derived terms en Beltway bandit en inside-the-Beltway en outside the Beltway Adjective Of or relating to the culture of Washington, D.C., sometimes with a suggestion of its elitism or insularity; politicized. en Impeach me tender Boston Globe Mark Feeney January 6, 1993 28 Apparently wishing to go Beltway in a big way, the Gap reportedly solicited Clinton spokesman George Stephanopoulos and media adviser Mandy Grunwald to pose for ads, but were turned down. en Annual Editions: Sociology, 97-98 Kurt Finsterbusch 1997 In a typical indictment, one columnist recently called some piece of Washington policymaking "too secret, too expert, too Beltway." 2002 Your New Yorker article posed the question, "Can the president's education crusade survive Beltway politics?" en 2003-09-21 Newsweek Howard Fineman Dean: Not Just A New-School Kinda Guy http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2003/09/21/dean-not-just-a-new-school-kinda-guy.html And wouldn't you know, the real-life Dean, in a real-life debate, used a line the show's writers had proposed for him. Nothing more Beltway than that. https://web.archive.org/web/20121016161126/http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2003/09/21/dean-not-just-a-new-school-kinda-guy.html 16 October 2012 en Unabomber Manifesto - an excerpt sci.astro July 8 2003 Then he went Beltway and started rooting for the Orioles. http://groups.google.com/group/sci.chem/browse_thread/thread/d22dcce788f15d17/9e98eb26a3679297?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22went+beltway%22&pli=1 See also en K Street en Washington, D.C.