Beverly Diehl's Reviews > Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind The Secret Plan To Steal America's Democracy

This seemed like an excellent read, when I bought it in 2018, the year it was published. Reading it now, it's both horrifying and prescient. And explains a lot why politics in the last decade or more has gotten to be such a radical fustercluck.

This is a must read for anyone wondering why extremists keep getting elected to Congress, and the state houses and senates. It's because of GERRYMANDERING.

Gerrymandering has been a "thing" in politics for decades, but because of computer programs, it's gotten ridiculously good - or bad, depending on your outlook. The mapping programs are amazing, AND, there are programs to help predict demographic shifts. There is also a Faustian bargain in many states, to "create representation" by creating majority minority districts.

So, yay, Mississippi, for example, has one district that will send a Black Dem Representative to the House. BUT the way the lines are drawn, the surrounding districts have been so "bleached" there's no way a Dem can be competitive in them. This kind of shenanigans is why Wisconsin, a truly purple state, voted in 2012 with 174,000 more votes for Democrats than Repubs, but ended up with only 40% of the state assembly seats.

The problem with "safe" red and blue seats, because of gerrymandering, means that candidates in those districts don't have to appeal to moderate voters at all, don't have to compromise or make deals. They just have to win the primary. So, these districts send reps to the capitols - state or US - who are radical, sometimes even a bit unhinged. Who are happy to shut down the government on any whim and grandstand, while milking their connections and perks to enrich themselves. See: 2023 Republican SOH Kevin McCarthy. 15 rounds of voting to get the gavel - and then ousted a few short months later.

We HAVE to do better. We have to look at states like Ohio, which keeps sending reps like Jim Jordan to the House because he has a district drawn like a dehydrated lizard. Gerrymandering isn't only bad for Dems, it's bad for Repubs, too. It's bad for ALL the American people, and we have to make it stop.