Daniel G. Newman

In manga/graphic novel form, this book shows what is wrong with American democracy, and what the average person can do about it.

All of "the usual suspects" are here, including dark money, corporate control of Washington, gerrymandering and Citizens United, among many others. Did you know that all members of Congress are obligated to spend several hours a day, every day, on the phone looking for money, instead of doing the people's business?

Is there anything that the average person can do about it? In your town, or state, look for a group that, for instance, advocates for public financing of political campaigns, and get involved (don't just join and not go to any of the meetings). If no such group exists, what is stopping you from starting such a group?

This book includes many examples of people, and groups, who are standing up, and actually trying to do something about America's broken democracy. This book easily deserves six stars. It is very easy to read, and says a lot.… (more)

I don't know if I've ever read a non-fiction comic like this before, and I have to say: it was a really good way to keep me interested in the topic. There was one section in the middle especially that I don't think I would have kept reading if this book was written in traditional prose format. It was just too dark (appropriate, since it was largely about dark money in campaign finance) and depressing—but the comic format kept me reading where prose would not.

It does get a bit heavy-handed in places, and I haven't yet done any additional research to determine if I feel this was appropriate to the reality, or extreme. If it's all true and unembellished, then the state of our government is even more depressing than I had realized.

Luckily, there is a section at the end that focus on what we can do next. I think ending this book without some action items and steps to fix it would have left me feeling sad and upset, but ending with a chapter that summarizes the next steps touched on in previous chapters—and expanding them, as well as adding new things—ends the book on a positive note with at least a touch of hope. I also really appreciate the list of sources cited, and the index. I wasn't expecting that, given the comic format, but it's going to be really helpful when I revisit some of the ideas and action items listed here.… (more)

One of those books you read to make yourself mad and sad as you try to convince yourself to finally get off your fat ass and act. The author is open about his biases and makes reasonable cases for his diagnoses and solutions. He might even be able to sway some folks who aren't too deeply embedded in Trumpism, though probably not.

At times the Koch Brothers stuff, based on the book Dark Money, sounds as wild as the George Soros/Bill Gates conspiracy theories always being tossed around by conservatives on social media and Fox News reader comments. I should probably read that book.

This book works best when it offers concrete solutions to election reform, though it seemed contradictory to move away from "winner takes all" elections at the local and state level with ranked choice and proportional representation while pushing the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact for presidential elections.

Anyway, interesting ideas are offered in an introductory way, but will require additional research to fully get behind.

Regardless, I'm behind voting Trump out of office in November and reforming the mess we've gotten into.… (more)