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:
“The literature of the poor, the feelings of the child, the philosophy of the street, the meaning of household life, are the topics of the time. It is a great stride. It is a sign,—is it not? of new vigor, when the extremities are made active, when currents of warm life run into the hands and the feet.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)