Very important book to read. It gets a bit tiring after about the third state when the story seems to repeat itself (Districts were ok, REDMAP hits, districts turn terrible, Democrats lose bigtime), however I learned a lot. Also very hard to read and not get incredibly furious ( )

Never has a non-fiction book infuriated me as much as this book has. It was a real eye opener in the problem that is gerrymandering in America.

To learn that a party as a whole conspired to and executed a plan to take over the American government, and more importantly, succeeding at doing so should leave any true American seeing red.

Project Redmap usurped our nation, and threw the ideals of our forefathers under the bus for the sake of gaining power.

I urge everyone to get this book, read it, then read it again. See what politicians have done in our country. Not for what they believe in, not for doing what was right, but to quote the guy who came up with the plan:

"I'd rather it be us than them". ( )

If you really want to know one of the main causes of the dysfunction in Congress in the last 6 years, this book spills the beans quite well. It goes by the name "gerrymandering," and the most gerrymandered districts ever were the result of redistricting done in states with GOP majorities after the midterm 2010 elections.

In states where this occurred, even when the statewide vote was majority Democrat, an overwhelming majority of seats went to Republicans. According to the author, this imbalanced situation will likely persist for some time to come, thus depriving the majority of voters appropriate representation. Some solutions are offered, but the outlook for the foreseeable future is bleak, barring some unforeseen political upheaval. ( )

The graphics on the inside covers of RAT F**KED are not Rorschach drawings. They are the actual congressional or legislative districts in several US states as determined by their GOP- controlled state legislatures. They help explain why Congress and many statehouses have GOP majorities even though the numbers of Democrats in those states are higher than or almost equal to the number of Republicans. As the book says at the end, “The House of Representatives was designed to be the chamber most responsive to the will of the people. Instead, it has become impervious and insulated from it.” David Daley drove along the parameters of every district mentioned in the book, examining the differences between what was on each side of the dividing line and how the districts spread over long, irregular areas.
The term “rat f**king” originated during the 1970s by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they investigated the Watergate breakthrough that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon and the indictment of many of his top level staff members. It refers to the dirty tricks played by politicians, in these cases Republicans, in order to win elections. While the activities have appeared in many guises, in this book it refers specifically to actions taken by the Republican party to draw Congressional districts in key states in such a manner that their candidates would be sure to win elections for at least a decade. “We have been sorted into districts where the middle does not matter, where the contest only comes down to the most ideological and rancorous on either side.” Democratic candidates were packed into smaller areas while other areas would be almost certain to vote for the Republicans. The Democrats have done it, e.g., in Chicago in 2010, but most of the activity has been done by the Republicans. The term for this is gerrymandering. District lines were drawn to protect incumbents. Instead of the electorate picking their representatives, the representatives were picking the people. There are no electoral consequences for extremism. It may even be rewarded in the district. GOP thought ahead and stocked courts with GOP judges.
It didn’t happen by chance. Computer technology enabled them to work block by block to determine the political affiliation, contributions, income, race, gender, ethnicity, and how many voters actually showed up at the polls. They were able to project changes in the demographics for at least the next decade. The computer program, called REDMAP cost $30 million. Technology is a threat and a promise. Easier to do, easier to spot. For the GOP, it was a bargain. In 2012, Obama received 332 votes in the Electoral College while Romney received 206. Democrats won 23 out of the 33 Senate races . Even though 1.4 million more Americans voted for the Democrat candidate, the GOP won 33 more House seats than Democrats.
Eight states are singled out as the worst offenders or biggest winners, depending on your outlook. In Pennsylvania in 2008, Democrats had a 12-7 Congressional advantage. In 2010, 1.2 million more people were registered as Democrats than as Republicans but the GOP majority turned it 21-7 in their favor. In 2012, there were a half million more votes for Democrat House candidates than for Republican candidates and Obama had more than 300,000 more votes than Romney, but the Democrats won only 28 percent of the seats. The GOP captured 9 of their 13 seats with less than 60% of the votes. Three of the five Democrats won by more than 75 percent of the votes. Among the maps considered were one called “NC Without Odd Minority Districts” and NC House Less Convoluted.”
Along with targeting districts into which to pack Democrats, spending large sums of money, massive advertising, much of it misleading or actual lies during the last month of the campaign, all work to discourage Democrats from voting. For example, in Pennsylvania, the GOP publicized spending $10 million for the Arlen Spector Library. The truth was the $10 million figure was for the capital budget for the entire state. The library cost was $600 million.
In North Carolina’s 12th district, from Greensboro to Charlotte, has a 907 mile perimeter. As of this writing, courts ruled the redistricting unconstitutional, though the boundaries will not change before the 2016 election.
In Michigan, Democrats had a 65-42 lead. After redistricting, the GOP picked up 20 House seats and Republican majorities in both state houses. Obama won by just under 10 points. The Democratic Senate candidate won by 20 points. But the GOP Congress candidates won 9-5.
The map for District 14 was developed to combine the black voters in Detroit and Pontiac while skirting around areas that had more Republicans and could be divided among several districts. One small area, almost completely encircled by District14, was siphoned out to so the wealthy, white Republican residents could guarantee GOP winners.
In Ohio, of the 16 state legislative districts, 12 of them went to Republicans even though they had won only 51% of the vote. Email records exposed the planning that went into determining boundaries for safe districts that could endure for years. The maps were not available for the Democrat members of the legislative committee, let alone the public to examine, before they were presented on the floor and passed by the GOP. When groups fight to get rid of the gerrymandering, the GOP state government uses taxpayer money to defend them while the Democrats have to find outside funding.
In Florida, it took four years for the GOP redistricting plan to get to the GOP Supreme Court, which found it unconstitutional. The plan came from secret meetings and two separate meetings, one private and one public. People who testified were preselected and coached.
In Wisconsin, the GOP used what they called the “efficiency gap.” That was the difference between the parties’ wasted votes divided by the total votes cast after voters were either crammed into a district or divided among several districts depending on the result they wanted (i.e., more GOP seats). When drawing up the redistricting plan, only GOP legislators were permitted to see it and they had to sign a confidentiality agreement first, which they all did. They were only shown their own district.
Iowa tried to make redistricting work by passing very specific requirements for the make up of the redistricting committee. One advantage was the population of the state is very homogeneous. Secondly, the elected officials wanted it to work without creating problems. They wanted districts where each party had a chance of winning the election. But REDMAP was used and the GOP came out ahead of their percentage figures would suggest. The extremists elected burned out who dropped out. “Politicians...find if there’s more competition, then they’re more likely to work with one another.”
In Arizona, the first time they tried using an independent commission after the 2000 census, it got worse because of an ambitious Democrat. One of his appointees only interest was in preserving a seat for the incumbent.
In 2012, Democratic candidates for Congress took more votes than Republicans. For the first time in forty years, they failed to take control of the House. The mapmakers make it hard to affect elections. More money flows into politics with each cycle. Mapmaking technology will only improve. Broad support for Obama’s issues--climate change, immigration, reproductive rights, guns, minimum wage, as well as universal health care–are supported by the public. They are defeated by the gerrymandered office holders. Representatives are pressured to vote certain ways, usually more to the right, whether they agree with that position or not, to remain in office.
What can be done to correct this? GOP pushing for voter ID laws, complicated registration, reduced polling hours and locations to limit the number of people who will probably vote Democratic, primarily minorities and those with a lower economic status. Voter fraud is a smokescreen since it is extremely rare. The best way for eligible voters to make a major change is to actually cast a ballot. Only 36.6% of the registered voters actually voted in 2014, the lowest turnout since the forties. Apathetic Democrats have elected the current members by staying home. In 1994, only 38.8% of eligible voters turned out. Newt Gingrich called the GOP win a mandate, instituted his“Contract for America” and caused a government shutdown.
From 2006-2012, only a quarter of all Americans voted. Those that did were whiter, wealthier, and older than the general population. In 2010, non-voters would have gone Democratic 34% to 31%. Presidential-year-only voters backed Democrats 43% to 37. The ones who turned out regularly: 50% to 46%.
Other methods, more complicated and costly, are for citizens to use referendums and initiatives to stand up and say our democratic values matter too deeply.
The changes must be at all levels of government. The President’s powers are limited, as we saw what Obama faced with a GOP dominated Congress dedicated to prevent any of his issues. But it’s the local and state levels that most influence our lives and where future federal leaders earn their credentials. Most important in gerrymandering situation, it is at the state level that districts are created.
The more people who actually learn more about the candidates and vote intelligently, the less this problem will be able to continue.
While the title of the book really turned me off, it has been used to describe dirty political tricks. The book itself is well-written and researched and every eligible voter, especially those who don’t vote for whatever reason, should read it, preferably before the next election. ( )

This is one of the most important books about American politics published in the past years. It discusses the topic of gerrymandering on a state-by-state basis explaining how the gerrymandering took place and what the consequences are as a result. Forget what all of the pundits have to say since, as a result of gerrymandering, prospects for the Democratic party are bleak until after 2030. ( )