Most of us are obsessively focused on the national election, but the stakes of our state-level choices are equally dire–at least, in Indiana.
The Indiana GOP is running a staewide ticket composed of lunatic White Christian Nationalist Micah Beckwith, two Beckwith clones, and MAGA Mike Braun. I’ve posted numerous times about Todd Rokita, our embarrassing, unethical Attorney General. Today, I want to remind readers that the only difference between Beckwith and Jim Banks, who is running for the U.S. Senate, is that Banks is too politically-savvy to publicly claim the White Christian Nationalist title to which he is amply entitled.
Let me just reiterate why Banks is–as I’ve previously noted–wrong about everything. In Congress, he joined clowns like Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene, pursuing a pro-Trump, anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-liberty performative politics.
He makes no bones about his desire for a national ban on abortion with no exceptions, not even for rape, incest or life of the mother. He has an A+ rating from Pro-Life America, and a 100% lifetime rating from the National Right to Life Committee. His voting record on abortion/reproductive health can be accessed here.
He opposes even the most modest efforts to control the proliferation of firearms. He opposes both a renewal of the ban on assault weapons and a federal “Red Flag” law. He supports concealed carry and has voted against background checks for private sales. His voting record on gun issues can be accessed here.
Banks calls climate change a “liberal hoax,” and the Biden Administration’s environmental efforts “a war on energy.” The League of Conservation Voters gives him a 1% lifetime rating. His votes on the environment can be accessed here.
When it comes to labor issues, Banks gets a zero rating from the AFL-CIO. In the Indiana legislature, he supported “Right to work” legislation (dubbed by labor as “Right to work for less.”) On vote after vote in Congress, he has voted against labor; a list of those votes can be seen here.
He continues to oppose any expansion of healthcare coverage, and rejects medical science. He voted against the most recent expansion of Medicaid and supports legislation that would ban vaccine mandates. He has voted to repeal the ACA, and against legislation that would prevent insurers from discriminating on the basis of pre-existing conditions. A review of all of his healthcare votes is here.
Banks has voted repeatedly against efforts to fund research into the effects of marijuana. (Those anti-research votes track well with his “know nothing” approach to all issues.) Banks’ votes on issues related to pot are here.
He is an extremist on immigration. He supports finishing Trump’s wall, eliminating federal funding for sanctuary cities, and deporting “criminal illegal aliens.” He opposes legislation granting amnesty for any undocumented persons (presumably including children currently protected by DACA) and opposes any expansion of guest-worker programs.
Banks created the “anti-Woke” caucus in the House of Representatives and introduced legislation to outlaw any remaining affirmative action in college admissions. He has been dubbed “Focus on the Family’s Man in Washington.” He opposes all DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs. He has been especially vocal in his opposition to gay rights generally, and to trans children especially– in addition to his “Anti-Woke Caucus,” he has supported efforts to ban trans people from the military, prevent trans women from participating in women’s sports, and prevent medical personnel from treating children for gender dysphoria. He recently sponsored a particularly odious bill that would prevent agencies charged with placing children in foster homes from taking measures to see that gay and trans children not be placed with foster parents who have religious objections to homosexuality, saying that refusal to place those children in such homes was discrimination against religion.
Banks consistently attacks educational institutions of all kinds. He has vowed to investigate the National Association of Independent Schools, focusing on the group’s role in political advocacy and its tax-exempt status. He has threatened to “expose” what he calls “widespread political indoctrination” in America’s public schools, and has claimed that lawmakers have a “moral duty” to investigate the use of academic accreditation associations as “political tools by leftist ideologues.”
When Banks was in the Indiana legislature, he voted to allow instruction in creationism and enthusiastically supported the educational vouchers that send tax dollars to private, overwhelmingly religious schools.
And of course, he’s described Trump’s felony convictions as “rigged,” posting on social media that “New York is a liberal sh*t hole.”
As I’ve previously written, having a Neanderthal like Banks in Congress is bad enough. Electing him Senator would be worse.
Republicans should be embarrassed by the whole statewide ticket. As this Republican says, Hoosiers should vote BLUE this year.
Very useful information. This is ample information for people to elect Valerie McCray to the US Senate. Banks would be a catastrophe.
If the Christ, that the likes of Banks and Beckwith and the rest of these so-called Christians, were here today, they would attack him for being WOKE, which he was. They are really on the side of those who nailed him to the cross, and would demand that action. Disgusting people!
There are no shortage of state down-tickets that capture the mindlessness of Republican politics. Indiana is just one of them.
That said, I happened to see snippets of the Madison Square Garden hate-fest this morning and was appalled and disgusted at how closely it resembled the same sort of “festival” in 1939 when the American Nazi Party held a similar “rally”. The Trump campaign has come out as complete, unapologetic fascists, racists, misogynists and hate mongers. And that disgusting wretch will still receive 47% of the votes. Where did we go so wrong as to allow the freedom of speech to become so vile and un-American?
Ian can call me names and assume I am on this blog just to stir up trouble. He, as usual, couldn’t be more wrong. I see what I see and hear what I hear. From Republicans everywhere, I see no congruence with the nation I defended and its principles from what our political environment has descended into. It’s not just Donald Trump. This festering began in 1980 and has increased its decline into money-driven partisanship that is really trying hard to fulfill Marx’s prophecy.
All of corporate America can think only of one thing: tax cuts. Idiots.
Vernon: You’re right. The owners of prestigious news outlets declined to endorse any candidate, I assume to not offend the future king. They and others show us that no matter the stakes for all, their only concern is always about their future earnings.
Sadly, Banks would probably gladly own everything reported in the article, and it would make too many, maybe a majority, of Hoosier voters MORE inclined to vote for him.
Your article was so helpful. Just finished reading Fever In the Heartland – those men of whom you speak would definitely be part of that “fever”. How sad for Indiana and the United States. We need to get behind the thought of the “blue” tickets to save our country from the lean toward Hitlerism. Who would have thought? Banks would definitely have followed Hitler – in a way, I feel sorry for him for being so dedicated to such anti-kindness of any sort and having the inability to see a big picture. Go, Indiana, and show him that he is so very wrong!
“You’ve got your problems and I’ve got mine,” as the song says. You’ve got those folks to worry about and I’ve got Rick Scott.
Good luck to all of us.
Kkenna is correct about the so-called Christian Nationalists in the USA would crucify Christ again for being a liberal woke imposter. I’m not sure what bible they follow, but they seem to reject all of the New Testament.
I do agree with Banks about biological male transgenders competing in women’s sports. I’m not sure who thought that was ever appropriate. And, if some boy recognizes himself as a non-binary or female, they have no business using girl’s facilities. I’ll show up at the school board if my daughter has to share bathrooms with biological males.
As for all his ratings from the extreme right-wing, that’s all one needs to know to vote against the politician. Tying in my comment from yesterday, this far-right shift in our country’s politics has allowed the Democratic Party to move center-right and still capture liberal votes even though I do not recognize Biden or Harris as liberals. Not even close. It’s all performative bullshit.
Both parties utilize target marketing when establishing their stances and agendas. Banks and his campaign strategists can take those outrageous stances because they align with Republicans in his district. It’s the same reason that many former democrats in my district have left and become republicans so they can get elected. “To thine own self be true.”
Most Hoosiers aren’t just backward; they are ignorant and gullible, which is a very bad combination.
Quid pro quo, anyone? We now see clearly that Besos will interfere with his newspaper’s mission when a big space contract might be negatively impacted if the other guy wins. Two executives of his Blue Origin company met with tfg after Bezos stopped the endorsement of Harris.
The Republicans have the “for sale” signs ready to go. The White House will simply revive the old program, minus the hotel, which made tfg a ton of money. If they manage to do a trifecta, it will feel like a fire sale. They will sell out our democracy in a heartbeat and we the people won’t see a dime.
Banks is so sure he will be elected to replace Braun that he has refused to publicly debate his fellow Senator candidates. During his very first term in the IN legislature he quickly became an ALEC organization favorite. Since then he has shamelessly represented corporate interests over his supposed citizen constituents.
Banks has three young daughters and I don’t believe for one second that if one of them were to be raped that he would force her to carry the child of her rapist. He would use his wealthy donor connections to assist him with quietly obtaining a secret abortion for her. His paid for laws would never be applied to his own family.
My readings of ancient history taught me that our species culturally evolved through storytelling. We tell each other stories, and by doing that, we hope to expand our influence among others.
We like to think we are more intelligent than our ancestors, though based on the stories we have been told, we believe that we aren’t.
The beat goes on.
All politicians are storytellers, and based on previous stories we each have been exposed to, some are more memorable than others. They stick in various brains and fall out of others.
Many stories that stick with me are those I read in holy books called textbooks.
Others read more from other holy books that are more ancient than mine.
We are all the same in that regard.
Todd. If you knew more about transgender people and better understood the hatred they face, I think you would see that they are simply being used as the “other” of this election cycle to stir up fear and hatred. Neither you nor your daughter are in any danger from them. Also, the IHSAA already has policies in place to deal with transgender issues in high school sports. Sensible people are making sensible decisions about potential conflicts related to the issue. Rest easy and don’t fall for the hysterical provoking propaganda.
Todd said – “It’s the same reason that many former democrats in my district have left and become republicans so they can get elected.” The same thing has happened in my county. Many in my county switched parties several years ago just to keep the government jobs they already have and others switched in order to be newly elected to positions in local government.
Voting straight R tickets became out of control soon after Fox spews’ came on the scene to offer FREE news stations to cable and digital subscribers.
We in NC got you beat down ballot. We have Michelle Morrow (R) tied for Superintendent of Public Instruction: Morrow is a former nurse and homeschool teacher who has homeschooled her children in North Carolina. She’s posted about Covid-19 vaccine conspiracy theories and called public schools liberal “indoctrination centers” and urged people not to send their children to them. She’s also called for the “killing of all traitors,” including prominent Democratic politicians and liberal philanthropists, such as Bill Gates. She called for former President Barack Obama to be killed by firing squad on pay-per-view. She took her children to the 1/6 event, but did not participate.
Nancy said this about Banks, “His paid-for laws would never be applied to his own family.”
Correct! That has already been happening for decades in this country. The oligarchs and political class are all part of the “rules for thee but not for me” hypocrisy.
For instance, Peter Thiel is a married gay man with children yet he is the mentor of JD Vance. Do you think Vance’s hatred for gays applies to his mentor? LOL
Another hypocritical instance is Elon Musk’s 12+ kids from IVF and never married all the women. He’s just propagating his seed. Why do you think Trump changed his tune and started telling women he was the “King of IVF” and the “Champion for Women?”
What’s the expression? “There’s an exception to every rule.” The billionaire oligarchs and their millionaire politicians are the exceptions.
The entire abortion issue for the Republican Party comes down to racism. They believe black women are constantly getting pregnant and getting late-term abortions. Their MAGATs believe the same thing. Again, target marketing.
And Sharon, I haven’t fallen for any hatred schemes against transgenders or any other gender issues. Do I think biological males should be competing against women? Not.
And if you read this Wikipedia post about non-binary, I dare you to tell me you follow all this gender nonsense. We’ve gone too far with all this “open-mindedness” to accommodate everyone’s “feelings.” The parades, celebrations, and transgenders reading stories to kids, drag queens, etc., have pushed me well beyond my limits of what’s acceptable and what’s not. In your bedroom is fine, but I just don’t need it in my face and in my daughter’s bathroom.
Here’s the Wikipedia post:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-binary_gender
I haven’t needed the machismo of white males in my face every single day of my long life. Worrying about who and where uses a restroom is the very last thing I am concerned about when I need the facilities.
That being said, the power of gender identity is not exclusively physical. I would bet there are plenty of women who are as strong or stronger that some men and vice versa.
A person present at birth decides the gender of the child makes a judgement that is subjective. How sad that the animus of so many is focused on a very small proportion of the population when there are plenty of much more concerning threats to our children, like unfettered access to semi-automatic weapons.
JD – well and bravely said
Todd. So we’ve gone too far with open mindedness? You are revealing your bigotry. There is no valid reason why a transgender person’s, or any other person’s, civil rights should be dependent on your acceptance. You should not be free to express yourself and engage in public activities or your choice unless you are willing to extend the same freedom to everyone else.
Public activities of your choice would include dressing the way you want and attending parades and associating with other people. In short, anything you have a right to do in public, an LGBTQ person has a right to do in public.
This is why the race is so close.
If you have a penis,you’re male.
If you have a vagina,you’re female. That’s reality. The science sayeth so.
No matter how open minded a woman/mother happens to be,she doesn’t want an unknown male walking into the restroom with her daughter. Think of J Edgar Hoover ..he was a cross dresser.
Moreover,mothers do not want their daughters competing against boys in girl’s
sports. This is actually another manner where male privilege infringes upon female space.
Bickering over things such as this undercuts the credibility of Democrats. It serves as another bright shiny object to distract one from more impactful subjects. It underpins white male privilege- it’s almost exclusively white males–and keeps the tribes at odds.
This is why Trump will garner the majority of the female vote. Don’t be angry at me,I’m just the canary in the coal mine.
Todd and Ian, we know that some people are born with both genitalia. There are also genetic conditions that mess with sexuality. I’m afraid your definitions of male and female are no longer scientifically correct.