But, if pork and gerrymandering and party bosses are so bad, how come politics seemed to work so much better when all were in full flourish and not under attack by reformers. As Rauch argues, “our grandparents were not all fools and crooks.” To be sure, he says, “we can’t go back to their world” of Tammany Hall and paper bags full of cash handed out on the House and Senate floor. But, says Rauch, “We can learn a lot from it.”