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adam_of_the_mountains 's review for:
One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy
by Carol Anderson
This book is concise, cogent, and chilling.
Despite its succinct-yet-comprehensive nature, there are too many takeaways to list in a review such as this. However, one thing kept coming up for me over and over again. In the throes of debates about how to maintain voter rolls and how to develop districts in a way that comports with fairness in terms of population distribution and representativeness, we forget about some of the larger and important points that are worth discussing on a philosophical level.
Such as:
- Do people truly believe that everyone is equal? Does equality have a place in our democracy? People may think to themselves, "Obviously that is true. Equality is a necessary condition for democracy." I suspect that we make a lot of assumptions about the degree to which people feel this is true, or rather the degree they feel this is true when ranked among a variety of other issues. For example, is preserving one's economic condition more important than preserving a sense of equality within society?
- How should federalism work? We want to give states to be innovative - to generate policies that our leaders may not see as innately plausible on a federal level. That being said, aren't there general norms to which all states must conform in order to be a part of the Union. This question makes me think about the unsettled nature of society towards the end of Reconstruction and with the onset of Jim Crow. I think this question is legitimate and concerns the way equality lives in the United States.
Ultimately it's important, too, for all U.S. citizens to recognize the importance of the Voting Rights Act and the implications it has had for ensuring or suppressing equality via the ballot box. There are an incredible amount of figures, statistics, and personal anecdotes that detail the extent to which this country was not ready for the Supreme Court to defang the VRA.
Also, Carol Anderson is an American treasure. I hope that she and Michelle Alexander, and Rebecca Traister are all friends and talk about how they should rule the world.
Despite its succinct-yet-comprehensive nature, there are too many takeaways to list in a review such as this. However, one thing kept coming up for me over and over again. In the throes of debates about how to maintain voter rolls and how to develop districts in a way that comports with fairness in terms of population distribution and representativeness, we forget about some of the larger and important points that are worth discussing on a philosophical level.
Such as:
- Do people truly believe that everyone is equal? Does equality have a place in our democracy? People may think to themselves, "Obviously that is true. Equality is a necessary condition for democracy." I suspect that we make a lot of assumptions about the degree to which people feel this is true, or rather the degree they feel this is true when ranked among a variety of other issues. For example, is preserving one's economic condition more important than preserving a sense of equality within society?
- How should federalism work? We want to give states to be innovative - to generate policies that our leaders may not see as innately plausible on a federal level. That being said, aren't there general norms to which all states must conform in order to be a part of the Union. This question makes me think about the unsettled nature of society towards the end of Reconstruction and with the onset of Jim Crow. I think this question is legitimate and concerns the way equality lives in the United States.
Ultimately it's important, too, for all U.S. citizens to recognize the importance of the Voting Rights Act and the implications it has had for ensuring or suppressing equality via the ballot box. There are an incredible amount of figures, statistics, and personal anecdotes that detail the extent to which this country was not ready for the Supreme Court to defang the VRA.
Also, Carol Anderson is an American treasure. I hope that she and Michelle Alexander, and Rebecca Traister are all friends and talk about how they should rule the world.