Review by Kirkus Book Review
Analysis of the curious politics of North Carolina, a definitively purple state. Cooper, a political scientist, writes that the Old North State is purple, a swing state, constantly competitive, or "whatever other middle-of-the-road moniker you want to throw at it." That's as a collectivity, by which measure "North Carolinians are among the most moderate in the country." There are outliers, of course: go to Charlotte or Chapel Hill, he writes, and you'll find a politics reminiscent of the San Francisco Bay Area, whereas if you head into the countryside you're in pretty solidly red country. These forces are balanced out enough that, apart from the attorney general's post, which seems unshakably Democratic, political seats in the state constantly shift between parties: the current governor is Democratic, whereas the legislature is Republican. Therein lies a rub, Cooper notes, for the governor has little actual power, the legislature almost untrammeled weight, and one of the latter's current projects has been to gerrymander the state for a permanent Republican majority and to limit the governor's power even further. Evenhandedly, Cooper observes simply that "just as certain is the fact that the party in power will gerrymander to hold onto its power is the fact that the minority party will advocate for reform," and so has it been of late. While Cooper suggests that much of the electorate is generally fair-minded, he does note that there are some oddities in the system, including the continued presence of a literary test in order to qualify to vote--a definitive holdover from the days of slavery. Foreseeing a future in which present trends of nationalization, competition, and polarization become ever more pronounced, he proposes reforms (increasing the governor's line-item veto power) and rejects others (term limits). A useful handbook for students of political trends throughout the U.S. in a turbulent election year. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
