1. Book. The Southernization of America: A Story of Democracy in the Balance by Frye Gaillard (a recent presenter at our Wildacres Retreat) and Cynthia Tucker (a longtime journalist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution), New South Books, 2022. A quote from the book by the late Congressman from Georgia, John Lewis: “Ordinarypeople with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.” (pp. 104-105).

2. Book. Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning by Liz Cheney (a former Congresswoman from Wyoming), Little,Brown, 2023. “There is a reason why people serving in our government take an oath to the Constitution. As our founding fathers recognized, democracy is fragile. People in positions of public trust are duty bound to defend it – to step forward when action is required.” (book jacket back cover).

3. Book. The Real Washington Consensus: Modernization Theory and the Delusions of American Strategy by Charles King (Professor at Georgetown University) in the November/December 2023 Foreign Affairs. “Affective polarization – the sense among voters and their leaders that the other side is not merely wrong but malicious – will present problems for the peaceful transition of power and the respect for national institutions, especially in what has effectively become a federation of one – party states. An electoral system blatantly corrupt by the standards of other established democracies, awash in private money and with weak mechanisms of internal reform, will embolden authoritarians who promise to destroy it all in one cleansing fire.” (p. 103).

4. Article (requires subscription to NYT): Rural Voters Republican Realignment

5. Book. Tyranny of the Minority by Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky.

6. Book. The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science–and Reality. Chris Mooney (2012), John Wiley & Sons.

7. Pdf link. Anatomy of a NC Gerrymander

8. Pdf link. How Democracy Died in NC 2019

9. Pdf link. Vance County – The Roots of Gerrymandering in NC

10. Book. The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness and the Rise of Scott Walker by Katherine Cramer 

11. Book. Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America by John Sides, Michael Tesler, and Lynn Vavreck

12. Website, factors working for and against Trump. Perception Gap.

13. Article by Chelsea Kaufman, pdf link. Where are the Values Voters?