Metaphoric Meaning
The metaphor of the "blank cheque" is thus often used in politics. For example, in the United States, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution has been called a blank cheque as it gave the President, Lyndon B. Johnson, the power to "take all necessary measures" to prevent "aggression" in Southeast Asia. These powers were then used to escalate the Vietnam War. Many in the United States Congress protested, but were helpless to effect change, for the Tonkin resolution's terms were too subjective to enforce.
This term was also used to describe how the Kaiser of Germany (Kaiser Wilhelm II) told Austria-Hungary officials that they could deal with Serbia however they wanted after Serbian Nationalists assassinated the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This immediately preceded World War I.
An example of the second metaphorical usage can be seen in a BBC News article, in which Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, offered a 'blank cheque', and would thus '"spend what it takes" to tackle Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.'
It may also be used in service fields. Customers may tell a company to treat the project as their own, which, in essence, is a carte blanche. (To the extent the service meets normal expectations.)
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Famous quotes containing the word meaning:
“As soon as man began considering himself the source of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of everything, the world began to lose its human dimension, and man began to lose control of it.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)