My two main impressions of the book

I have two main impression about the book "How To Rig An Election" and its author Allen Raymond.

1. I was a bit surprised by Raymond's unapologetic amorality. He didn't seem at all perturbed by the idea that the point of government was simply to raise money and keep getting elected. And his efforts to hide the fact that he's a sociopath with the constant references to his family weren't all that convincing. Is there a variant of the phrase "deathbed conversion" that describes people who find Jesus (or whatever) only when they're about to go to jail?

2. All these politics tricks seemed like Mickey Mouse stuff that only makes a difference in close elections. In the end, all the northeastern Republican foolishness is being swept away by the larger trend towards political regionalism. The Republican party is now the party of the south. Nearly every Republican you see on tv speaks in a southern accent the general outlook of the national party just doesn't fly in the northeast. The party is dead in New England (there is a total of one -- ONE -- Republican house member in all of New England) and on its way to dying in New York State (we could have as few as three Republican House members out of 29 when this election is done). I have a bit of an issue with political operatives -- on both sides -- who act like their snake oil is some kind of a magic balm. And I have even more of an issue with the way the press lionizes them. This goes just as much (or more) for James Carville as for Karl Rove. That's what pleases me most about Obama's campaign -- that it focuses on big systematic change, increased voter registration, increased turn out, new modes of raising money, actual outreach to grassroots, etc. In the end, these things change the political landscape in a way that a few nasty mailers can't.

In a way, I fear this is typical of our society. CEOs are lauded for coming with new gimmicks -- of both the marketing and accounting variety -- rather than for actual innovation. The solution to every misstep seems to be "rebranding".