Book Review: How to Rig an Election

by Allen Raymond

After reading Allen Raymond's How to Rig an Election, I have but one question: How did this guy get and stay married? I mean, seriously.

The book calls into question all that is truly at the heart of morality. Raymond graduated from college and after a few years in the work world, he asked himself "what's next?" and decided to go back to school for politics - not for a love of government or any of its pieces or forms but rather because he thought he might be able to do it. What followed was a downward spiral into a life where there was only fuzz, never a line, between what was right and wrong, where the only thing that mattered was success. In all my disbelief for the things that occurred throughout his story, I was also mesmerized, because I think his story is very real. Lines are blurry, not only in the political world, but everywhere. Raymond's case may be an extreme example and his candor may be unique, but he's such a case study for the reality of our world today.

A key question comes toward the end of the book, when Raymond's wife says to him "At the end of the day ... it comes down to who you are. When you're alone and confronted with yourself, do you like what you see?" I won't tell you how he responds, but I will tell you that by this point in the book, I was surprised by the answer. At the heart of this book is not only a story about the political world, but one man's struggle with morality. With Raymond, the reader experiences a struggle to weigh success and value with acceptability.

I was a little nervous picking up Raymond's story. My take on our government and political system tend to be a little more cynical than I'd like them to be, and it's easy for me to lose my normal positive outlook when I feel overwhelmed by some of the truths of the world around me. They're weighty. And I feared this story would put me into one of those states. Luckily, although the path the book takes is definitely one of uncovering the unsavory realities of the world, its open nature almost makes up for the problems it uncovers. Instead of making me downtrodden, it made me nearly empowered - more confident in my ability to think through to the truth and to make my own decisions rather than to take at face value.

All in all, Allen Raymond's memoir of conspiracy is not only a valuable inside look into the political climate that is especially prevalent in our current election year but also an examination of the human condition and the struggle for power and success as well as the process of deciding right and wrong as well as the line of acceptable individual behavior.