Minority Rule

January 22, 2024
Gerrymandering, voter suppression, and a minoritarian Constitution are keeping unpopular Republicans in power, according to this labyrinthine political exposé. Mother Jones correspondent Berman (Give Us the Ballot) surveys the underhanded tactics Republicans deploy in order to win elections and predominate in Congress, the presidency, and state legislatures despite routinely losing the popular vote. These methods include extreme gerrymandering in Wisconsin (in 2012 Democrats got 51.4% of the votes for state assembly but Republicans won 60% of the seats), voting laws in Georgia that disproportionately reduce registration and turnout among poor and minority voters, and Donald Trump’s 2020 stop the steal campaign to pressure state officials and Vice President Mike Pence to throw out election results in states that Joe Biden won. Berman goes on to criticize how the Constitution gives small, rural, white, Republican-dominated states disproportionate weight in the Senate and the Electoral College. He also celebrates counteroffensives to Republican election meddling, including Michigan ballot referenda that established a nonpartisan redistricting commission and made voter registration and absentee ballot-casting easier. Throughout, Berman pairs wide-ranging and historically grounded analysis of America’s minoritarian political system with a trenchant critique of its departures from democratic common sense. The result is an eye-opening dissection of partisan manipulation.

February 15, 2024
The notion that democracy is in peril, its fragility rooted in voter suppression, partisan gerrymandering, judicial overreach, and candidate corruption, has emerged as an underlying political theme in recent years. It has always been thus, posits Berman, a nationally acclaimed voting rights and political investigative journalist. Beginning with the strategies surrounding the creation of the Declaration of Independence and the writing of the Constitution, the principles upon which the nation was formed were never as noble as history books would have us believe. In this deeply researched and deftly argued treatise, Berman analyzes the ways in which the concept of majority rule has been purposefully subverted to redound to a powerful minority and reveals the genesis of those entrenched traditions that have resulted in the confluence of white supremacy, Christian nationalism, and the destabilization of governmental institutions. With tensions escalating as another national election draws near, Berman rings a clarion call about the current state of political influence to shed light on the steady erosion of democratic norms.

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February 15, 2024
An exploration of the relentless actions of the right-wing movement seeking to counter the collective voice of the majority. With the 2024 election looming and democracy's fate potentially at stake, Berman, the national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones and author of Give Us the Ballot (2015), traces the deliberate efforts of extreme right-wing conservatives over recent decades to limit control of the country's majority interests to maintain Republican dominance. This trend began with Pat Buchanan's 1992 White House bid. As Berman notes, Buchanan's "nativism, racism, and skepticism toward democracy foreshadowed the ideology that now defines the Republican Party." The author highlights subsequent underhanded policies by polarizing figures like former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, who suppressed voting rights, and Kansas attorney general Kris Kobach, who instituted high-profile anti-immigration policies. These actions fall in line with the strategy of Donald Trump and his allies, who actively engage in voter suppression, district manipulation, judicial influence, and historical whitewashing--and all are backed by substantial funding from billionaire donors. In consistently insightful prose, Berman delves into the Constitution's founding intentions, emphasizing its design for a system of checks and balances, and he shows how institutions like the Electoral College and the Senate, with two senators per state regardless of population, can be leveraged to undermine the true will of the people. One of the most telling examples is West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin's outsize influence on national politics. Despite these challenges, Berman highlights recent grassroots victories and underscores the potency of state initiatives in countering extremist right-wing threats and preserving a hope for American democracy. "State constitutions empower popular majorities in ways that the federal constitution does not," he writes. "They were specifically designed to be a majoritarian counterweight to the countermajoritarian features of America's political institutions." A richly documented political book with significant current relevance.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 23, 2024

Mother Jones national voting rights correspondent Berman (Give Us the Ballot) offers this broad study on efforts throughout U.S. history to thwart the wishes of majority voters and Congress. His book provides a historical overview of immigration restrictions and examines the early debate over majority rule and minority rights in the drafting of the Constitution. He cites the obstruction of the Tea Party movement during Obama's presidency as an example of how the Constitution can be used to push back against progressive policies and expanded voting rights. He also demonstrates how Pat Buchanan's views--considered racist by many--influenced the Republican Party from Nixon through Trump. He offers chilling case studies from Wisconsin and Georgia on gerrymandered congression-al districts and efforts to restrict voting, as well as an analysis of voter fraud allegations. Trump's attempted electoral coup in 2020 is discussed in-depth. The book also touches on opposition to abortion rights, gun safety, and education policies. The book concludes with recent democratic successes in Michigan and Wisconsin and the changing political environment in Georgia. VERDICT Readers concerned about the future of democracy in the U.S. will find considerable value in this holistic, historical approach to current threats.--Thomas Karel

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