The Mad Centrist
"A sane person to an insane society must appear insane." ― Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Not Mad as in Angry, Mad as in Insane.
And in an insane world, the sane are simply Mad. I am The Mad Centrist.
You can be too!
The Mad Centrist podcast is a middle ground, pragmatic, politically polite, and irreverently independent show. Pulling the rug out from beneath Democrats and Republicans alike, while respecting democrats and republican citizens (the distinction between Party and people is critical!). Amusing anecdotes of the crazy world we find ourselves in, how to maybe get along better, and pull the world back towards sanity, and do so while having some fun!
The Mad Centrist
Voting Rights: Cheat or Lose
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Splitting the nation in two is going very well these days.
Texas rams through a redistricting effort. California puts redistricting on the ballot and wins. Then something happened that brought the Gerrymandering Wars to new heights:
Louisiana challenged the Voting Rights Act, and after losing, and losing again on appeal, the Supreme Court heard the case - and this episode was born.
Learn about the Voting Rights Act, some history and a little bit about the Constitution and the Southern States that tried to ignore it - successfully for some time. What changed, what got better, and how it stands now.
Notes:
Article on the little DC shootout: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/04/secret-service-shoots-armed-man-near-white-house-00905911
Episode 64 on the National Guard: https://www.themadcentrist.com/2079783/episodes
Lyndon B. Johnson, fact check: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/apr/14/barack-obama/lyndon-johnson-opposed-every-civil-rights-proposal/
Government Archives on the Voting Rights Act: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/voting-rights-act
Shelby v. Holder case: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/570/529/
AP Article with Justice Alito's writing: https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/elections/2026/supreme-court-weakens-the-voting-rights-act-and-aids-gop-efforts-to-control-the-house/
The Guardian article on the wrong data used to strike down the Voting Rights Act: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/08/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-misleading-data-doj?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
The political podcast for everyone!