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As any schoolkid might tell you, US elections are based on a bedrock principle: one person, one vote. Each vote carries the same weight. It should be as simple as that.
Yet for much of the country’s history, that hasn't been the case. At various points, whole classes of people were shut out of voting: enslaved Black Americans, Native Americans, and poor White people. The first time women had the right to vote was in 1919.
Going back to America’s early years, the political institutions created by the Founding Fathers were meant to constrain democracy. Newer tactics—like voter suppression and gerrymandering—are layered on top of this anti-democratic foundation to entrench the power of a conservative White minority.
These are some of the conclusions from Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman in his latest book, Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People—and the Fight to Resist It.
This week on Reveal, Berman explains how conservative figures like Pat Buchanan opened the door for Donald Trump and made White Republicans fear becoming a racial minority.
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