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Ungerrymander America

Zane Gustafson

#45 in Society & Culture this week

Ungerrymander America is a show exploring the past, present, and future of the systems we live within. Episodes are also released as videos on the Ungerrymander America YouTube.

The show is hosted by Zane Gustafson, the Seattle-based author of the 2024 book Polemic for Democracy, which laid out a blueprint for constitutional change. Please rate and share the show if you want more content about systemic change.

You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. You can also make a one time donation on Venmo. Thank you for listening!

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  • 4 episodes
  • Avg 47 min
  • English

Episodes 4

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  • October 11 · 59 min

    Grand Strategy for a Prosperous Homeland

    The fruits of American Empire have not been distributed fairly among the people! Retired diplomat Carmela Conroy is running in the suprisingly competitive Fifth District in Washington with a laser focus on the bread and butter issues of her district: health care, economic opportunity, education, agriculture, and trade. I talked with her about how her experience in the State Department informs her views and approach today. We also discussed warfare in the 21st century and how Congress can restore constitutional checks and balances. Ungerrymander America relies on listener support! Please like, rate, comment, or share with a friend. My website! https://ungerrymanderamerica.com/ Buy my book! https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=e6FpRlwhFaYMhOMP0kOZs4KAZhMdFoLGQEnx0oQp9Ob New merch! https://ungerrymander-america.myshopify.com/collections/all

    • Chapters
  • September 25 · 49 min

    Fighting Cynicism and Implementing Seattle's RCV with City Council candidate Nilu Jenks

    This is the actual solution to gerrymandering: proportional representation, and specifically proportional ranked choice voting. My conversation with Nilu Jenks, Seattle City Council candidate and political director at FairVoteWA, is a look behind the scenes at how difficult it has been to pass RCV in Washington, as well as how important it is to implement RCV correctly once it is passed. 0:00 Welcome Nilu Jenks! 6:05 How negative campaigning feeds cynicism 14:10 The "Seattle Model" of Ranked Choice Voting 23:00 Why and how the two-party system resists proportional RCV 38:45 Building a multiparty system through proportional RCV 46:47 Nilu's message to District 5 and final question!

    • Chapters
  • September 8 · 59 min

    Touching Grass with Oskar Quentin

    I drove 26 hours round trip, Seattle to Sacramento, to talk about the state of political discourse with up-and-coming political debate streamer ⁨Oskar Quentin. I got him to talk about the behind the scenes strategies he uses to game the algorithm and how he wishes mainstream news would adopt some of his debate tactics in talking to politicians. Oskar streams live every day at 10 am central time on TikTok and Youtube. 0:00 Oskar joins the show! 2:22 Navigating modern media discourse 4:53 How google has gotten worse and why wikipedia is trustworthy 12:58 Modeling critical thinking and the state of education 18:43 How Oskar harnessed the algorithm 24:01 On Minnesota's response to ICE 28:18 Oskar defines "chud" 36:08 Are chuds foolish or evil? 42:27 How Oskar disarms the "gish-gallop" 50:17 Oskar's message to his future self 53:10 Oskar's post-stream routine 58:21 If Oskar were President....

    • Chapters
  • July 28 · 18 min

    America 250: A Republic, if you can keep it

    Recorded on July 4th, 2026, this solo episode takes stock of the American Republic on its 250th birthday. Looking back at our history of Gilded Age corruption, and at how the Roman Republic gradually declined to Empire, allows us to see an American system at the temporal crossroads of empire. Find the video version of this episode at the Ungerrymander America YouTube channel, and follow the show on Instagram and TikTok. This is the first episode uploaded to this podcast feed, and I will be uploading a large backlog of episodes and audiobook chapters. Thank you for listening and please subscribe to get new episodes.

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Showing 1–4 of 4 episodes