In order to transform the world, we must transform ourselves.
~ Grace Lee Boggs - social activist, philosopher, community organizer
It turns out, joy and laughter are good for democracy. On Sunday, July 21, at 1:46 pm EDT, the 2024 presidential campaign was turned upside down. “What were you doing when you heard…” has become a meme. I know exactly what I was doing; I was telling my neighbors not to despair about our democracy. I am “that person” who has the perennial political yard signs, and the sign du jour is “Dictator or Democracy, That’s the Choice”. A neighbor couple was walking their dog in front of our house. Sitting on the porch swing, I casually greeted them and asked how they were doing? The woman let out a big sigh and with despair in her voice replied, “I am really worried” as she pointed to the sign. I told her not to despair, that there was a ‘movement’ underfoot of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to protect our democracy. I talked about a few of the zoom calls that I just recently participated in with thousands of people exploring the details of Project 2025. “Stay right there, give me one second” I implored as I ran upstairs to get a couple of our Hoosiers for Democracy postcards with the handy QR subscription code included. “I’ve co-founded a new organization, and we have a Substack newsletter that will give you tons of ideas of how to make a difference for democracy”, I said as I handed them the cards as a token of hope. I invited them to join the movement with other Hoosiers committed to electing non-extremist candidates in Indiana. In the background my phone was ringing (It was my husband calling to tell me the news) but I ignored it and kept encouraging my neighbors. They nodded, not quite convinced and kept walking.
I pulled out my phone to check out the missed call and saw that my newsfeed was exploding with the breaking news that President Biden had stepped down as a candidate. We were living history in the making. He stated that he would not seek re-election feeling that it was in the ‘best interest of the party and the country’ to step down. I paused for a moment to let the news sink in. Then I called after my neighbors telling them what had just happened, my voice shaking with emotion. That afternoon as other neighbors passed, they would clap at the sign or add a few skips to their steps or stop and talk about what this might mean. It was a brand-new day in the neighborhood.
Did You Know:
Indiana has strong Democratic, non-extremist candidates running for election up and down the ballot. Jennifer McCormick and Terry Goodin are running against Mike Braun and his self-proclaimed Christian nationalist Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith. Mike Braun is a MAGA loyalist, and Micah Beckwith is locally known for his role in the Hamilton East Public Library's attempt to move young adult literature into the adult section of the library. He has also stated that the January 6, 2021, attack on our U.S. Capital was “divinely inspired”.
Destiny Wells. is poised to defeat Todd Rokita for Attorney General and Valerie McCray is running for U.S. Senate, hoping to defeat MAGA extremist Jim Banks. Additionally, for the first time in a long time, Hoosiers have a chance to break the GOP supermajority stronghold that has captured our Statehouse due to extreme gerrymandering and low voter turnout. A supermajority renders the minority party powerless to influence legislation, discourages candidates of the opposing party to even make a bid for Statehouse seats and overtime builds voter apathy. These dynamics erode public trust in politics, in politicians and in democracy. Indiana has suffered from a supermajority trifecta for sixteen years.
There is a strong undercurrent of excitement and momentum in our state concerning this election. The tired trope that ‘Democrats can’t win in Indiana’ is not prognostic, but it can be prophetic if we fall for that false premise. We have a gerrymandered, minority rule, voter suppressed MAGA rigged state that works against non-extreme candidates winning. We can change that. Our work is to ‘transform’ any sense of despair, apathy, and fatalism that has creeped into our collective psyche into joy and hope that is fueled by our love for freedom, democracy and decency. We can do this!
Why It Matters:
Christian nationalism is the belief that a particular expression of Christianity should be infused with public civic life, and this narrow fundamentalist expression should be upheld and protected through social policy and structure.
Project 2025 is a 900-page playbook for infusing the values and precepts of Christian nationalism into our United States government if any GOP candidate is elected president. If Mike Braun is Governor, Micah Beckwith will make sure he adheres to the playbook.
Indiana has already passed legislation that is aligned with and faithful to Project 2025. Here are just a few examples:
Indiana immediately implemented a six-week ban on abortions following the 2022 Supreme Court Dobbs Decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. This was just the beginning; Project 2025 is a frontal assault on reproductive freedoms including reversing the FDA approval of abortion pills. The ultimate goal is to classify abortion as ‘murder’, thus opening the way for criminalizing women and doctors who perform abortion for any reason, including saving the life of the mother.
Our supermajority GOP state legislature has continued to expand Indiana’s ‘voucher’ program that allows parents to use tax funded educational vouchers to send their kids to private schools, most often Christian schools, taking money away from public school funds. Indiana markets these programs as ‘school choice’ and a vehicle for low-income students to access higher quality education. However, if you are a family of four living in Indiana, you can have a household income of $230,880 and qualify for a ‘choice scholarship’. The net impact of Indiana’s voucher program is that of depriving lower income urban neighborhoods from having well-funded local public schools. Indiana’s voucher program now costs taxpayers $439 million dollars while not showing any evidence of improved educational outcomes. This is the ‘gateway’ to doing away with public education. Project 2025 will abolish the Department of Education, eliminate the ability of teachers to organize, and will overhaul the DOE’s curriculum to align with extremist viewpoints.
Indiana has banned gender affirming care for Indiana trans-gender youth, despite the fact that every medical group, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association oppose such restrictions. Todd Rokita supports this ban; he called the law “commonsense”. This totally aligns with Project 2025’s guidelines which removes federal protections for all LGBTQ+ people and pave the road to criminalizing transgender people.
Indiana has some of the most extreme laws in the country that impact the lives of our communities, our families and our children who have no vote, no voice. We haven’t even talked about gun violence, maternal mortality, reduced regulations of our water and air, voter suppression and partisan gerrymandering. It’s time for a change.
What You Can Do:
It is important to stay informed and to encourage everyone to vote in this election. The issues are on our side—freedom, democracy and decency are popular this election cycle. On Friday, July 26, former President Trump was speaking to Christians at the Turning Point Action Believers’ Summit in West Palm Beach. Listen to his promise to them and to you.
“Get out and vote. Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what: it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore my beautiful Christians…Get out, you’ve got to get out and vote. In four years, you wont’ have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.
The assignment is simple. Vote for every non-extremist candidate on the ballot. Start with Kamala Harris and go from there. We are spotlighting a few statewide candidates below. We will continue to spotlight candidates and provide voter information on races across the state over our next several posts. Stay tuned!
Help register voters and GOTV. Send unregistered voters to indianavoters.in.gov for easy online registration.
We are working with volunteers who have created “Voting is your Superpower” postcards with a QR code for registering to vote. If you are interested in helping to distribute these cards, please contact us at hoosiers4democracy@gmail.com for more information.
The last day to register to vote is October 7, 2024. Be sure to check your voter registration status at indianavoters.in.gov before the deadline!
Join a grassroots movement. Indivisible Northwest Indiana does amazing work in informing voters about important issues and organizing for action. There are also Indivisible chapters in Muncie, Lafayette and South Bend. Women 4 Change Indiana is a home grown grass roots advocacy and activist movement that was launched in response to the 2016 election, and Red, Wine & Blue is literally changing the world. Connect with others who are working to protect our freedoms.
We are all in this together, so consider supporting non-extremist candidates in districts that are not your local district. Once MAGA extremists candidates are elected across the state, they support extreme legislation and sit on important committees that impact all Hoosiers. Here are a few house districts that are flippable and could up-end the supermajority stranglehold the GOP has on our state. (Click anywhere in the table below to access the full list of candidates and website links.)
Volunteer and/or donate to the campaign for Jennifer McCormick for Governor.
Volunteer and/or donate to the campaign for Destiny Wells for Attorney General.
Volunteer and/or donate to the campaign for Valerie McCray for Senate.
Be bold, put out a yard sign; they are great conversation starters.
Share this newsletter with your network. Let’s grow this movement together.
Hearts and minds are changed through relationships, connections, and heartfelt conversations. Let’s get to work and make sure this isn’t the last time we get to vote.
Yours in democracy,
Debbie, Rachel and Barbara
Notes:
Grace Lee Boggs was an American author, social activist, philosopher and community organizer. She was significantly instrumental in starting the Asian American movement and active in the civil rights movement. She lived to be 100 years old, and at the young age of 95 she co-authored her last book, The The Next American Revolution:Sustainable Activism for the 21st Century. She died in 2015.
For a deep dive video that explores Christian nationalism see here
For more information about Trump’s statements about this being the last time you will need to vote see here