There’s a standard sentence in investment prospectuses: past performance is no guarantee of future returns.
That is obviously a fair point when you are considering the purchase of stock; it’s far less persuasive when you are casting a vote. In fact, when one candidate is an incumbent, checking past performance is usually an excellent guide to the positions that candidate will take in the future.
Recently, an article in The Indiana Citizen highlighted a Common Cause scorecard on an element of past performance of Indiana’s Congressional delegation–their votes to protect the country’s democratic institutions.
The fifth biennial scorecard compiled by Common Cause rated seven of Indiana’s nine U.S. representatives and two U.S. senators as doing little to preserve democracy during the 118th Congress.
Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog, focused on 10 democracy-related bills in the U.S. Senate and 13 in the U.S. House, covering such topics as voting rights, election security, ballot access and ethics reform for the U.S. Supreme Court when rating the federal lawmakers in its 2024 Democracy Scorecard. Then the organization examined the record of every congressional member to determine whether he or she took a “pro-democracy” stance on these issues.
Reps. Frank Mrvan and Andre Carson, Democrats representing the 1st and 7th congressional districts, respectively, were the only members in Indiana’s congressional delegation who achieved near-perfect scores. Carson took a pro-democracy position on 12 of the 13 bills while Mrvan took a pro-democracy position on 11 of the 13 bills, according to the Common Cause scorecard.
Unsurprisingly, three Hoosier Republicans –- Sens. Mike Braun and Todd Young and Fifth District Rep. Victoria Spartz– rated a zero. Braun is currently running for Governor, and Spartz–despite indicating earlier that she didn’t intend to run again– is once again a candidate for the 5th district seat.
The other six members of Indiana’s congressional delegation – all of whom are also Republicans – received low scores, although not zeros. Reps. Rudy Yakym, of Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District, Jim Banks, of the 3rd District, James Baird, of the 4th District, Greg Pence, of the 6th District and Erin Houchin, of the 9th District took pro-democracy stances on just one of the 13 bills. Retiring Rep. Larry Bucshson, of the 8th Congressional District, earned a score of 2 out of 13.
The article quoted Aaron Dusso, chair of the Department of Political Science at IU-Indianapolis, and his reference to the 2018 book, “How Democracies Die.” That book was published in 2018 by Harvard University political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, and it was widely reviewed and discussed. It focused on measures of democratic health, and especially on four major threats to democracy– rejection of democratic rules; denial of political opponents’ legitimacy; tolerance of political violence; and willingness to curtail freedoms, particularly of the press. Since 2016, MAGA Republicans have increased their support for all four, ramping up efforts at vote suppression and gerrymandering, supporting Trump’s “big lie while making phony claims about non-citizens voting and his threats to jail political opponents, telling pollsters that violence “may be necessary” and unremittingly attacking the mainstream media.
Elected GOP officials aren’t doing the people’s work, either.
The scorecard is rating the members of the 118th Congress, which Common Cause called “one of the most dysfunctional in American history.” Through Aug. 15, 2024, just 78 standalone bills – or 0.5% of all the bills introduced in the 118th Congress – have become law, according to Common Cause. This compares to the 116th and 117th Congresses, in which 2% of the bills introduced became law and the 114th and the 115th Congresses in which 3% of the bills passed to the president’s desk.
In fact, Common Cause asserted that in its first year, the 118th Congress turned in the least-productive first year performance of any Congress in nearly a century.
Dusso pointed out that politicians typically act and vote in ways they think their constituents want. When lawmakers continue getting elected, they are justified in thinking that they are fulfilling voters’ wishes.
“It’s probably our fault that this is what’s happening,” Dusso said. “We’re willing to tolerate these types of things and we continue to elect individuals and we continue to elect a Congress that isn’t able to pass bills in any real serious way. And, that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.”
I know Aaron Dusso to be a brilliant scholar, but I’m hopeful that his last sentence is wrong–that this will be the year when We the People begin a long-overdue change, the year we eject incumbents who have failed to respect either the Constitution or the democratic process.
Mike Braun and Jim Banks are clearly unworthy of the promotions they seek, and the others who have failed to protect American democracy should not be returned to Congress to do more damage.
We can do better.
We can do better, but will we? I’m hopeful that the relatively large on the ground effort at the top of the ticket will not only be effective for the President/Veep, but also have a trickle down impact.🙏🙏🙏
Thank you, again.
The list would be shorter nationwide, if you just included Republicans who DID support the Constitution, democracy and the rule of law. Are there any of those?
Indiana is just one of the many “red” states who have lurched to the right toward outright fascism and dictatorship. Why? Because Republicans have become – or already were – spineless, fearful of Trump and are really not very smart.
We are already. In a sense two countries. In Indiana – Naptownites are the “foreigners”. Neighboring Illinois would be similar except Inner Greater Chicago Area skews the numbers. Republicans and their Monied Parrtners have worked tactically to build a broad coalition- Toxic Christianity + Fear of The Others
+ frequent Ineptitude of the Dems and The Left- have resulted in the Wool covering many – so for examples – Women’s Basic Rights dont necessarily motivate many privileged Whie Women to confront the MEN and Too many white men don’t Organize Against Maga- delusions abound- like Reps are better for the Economy + we need to “Defend Democracy “ – which pushes for War Spending Not – “Welfare” and “Socialism “ dangerous buzzwords – that are Social Security and Healthcare- will “we” prevail? No clue but I can’t imagine Reps losing both Houses and the Presidency- without Supreme Court intervention and much violence- hope I’m wrong
Sheila writes, “We can do better.”
It’s a statement of hope, but hope alone won’t change the situation. As the truism goes, “We get the government we deserve.” It’s up to us, as a collective, to demand better.
Just about every trendline in our democratic republic is downward. According to the Democracy Index, the US is a flawed democracy, trailing Canada and Scandinavian countries by several points, as today’s blog indicates.
In 2022, 24% of registered voters locally bothered to cast a ballot. The Republicans swept the Election because the Democrats went MIA.
The collective is ignorant of the government and doesn’t believe their vote counts. However, they may be onto something since our oligarchy uses gerrymandering and other strategies to secure power that doesn’t leave their hands. While the elected officials rank poorly in pro-democracy voting, they rank high in consistently supporting the oligarchy that funds their campaigns.
Speaking of lame media, I still haven’t heard from WYFI or Indiana Capital Chronicles regarding Braun’s “nonprofit think-tank providing his policies.” ICC even repeated Braun’s false claim that he founded his company, Meyer Distribution. His dad bought it from the Founder, and then Braun bought it from his father.
So much for Indianapolis’s press freedom; however, it’s not by force—they willingly won’t hold government officials accountable, just like the IndyStar. As long as the press is MIA, the general public is low-information voters. I don’t see this getting better anytime soon.
Is the “We” electing them, or is Mr. Gerry Mandering doing so? If the former “we” deserve what we get, if the latter….
Singing the same refraine gets old –always blaming the public.
The blame should be aimed at the two major political organizations.
Lower voter turnout means one thing–the public isn’t enthused about the choices given them.
There’s also the bifurcation among Democratic Party supporters which occured in 2016.
The DNC continues to stretch the created schism.
I guess destroying Dean’s 50 State Strategy wasn’t such a bright idea,eh?
One more thing..
Disparaging hourly workers for the previous handful of years was not the most productive method for gaining support.
Btw, Walz’ hunting moment is reminiscent of the Dukakis tank moment. I believe there is an undertow of acknowledgment among the public that is..If It Becomes Adventageous To The Establishment To Cleanse The Country Of Perceived Undesireables…well, there is precedent and this administration has officially normalized ethnic-cleansing.
Supporting genocide whilst being a beached layabout will be Biden’s legacy.
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“A Republic, Madam, if we can keep it.” – Benjamin Franklin
Jim, I believe Gentle Ben had to call it a Republic because not all the citizens of the US could participate in electing its representatives. Only white male property owners were considered “voting citizens.” Serfs, women, and blacks were excluded.
It’s why I claim we were an oligarchy at the onset and even before the American Revolution. While more citizens were allowed to vote later, we remain an oligarchy or form of republic where the rich control our government in the states and our federal government.
Authoritarianism has never worked because each of us is nowhere near as stupid or as smart as all of us. When all of us are free to exist independently, we tend towards being informed though as we naturally organize ourselves into the expertise we naturally come by.
Even business, professional sports, and the military, organizations that are naturally and necessarily authoritarian in their structures, know about the dangers of “micromanagement.”
When everyone is free to do their work and make decisions about what they uniquely do, with minimum rules and thinking for themselves, things proceed as smoothly as they are capable, which is more than those treated as all alike, who never are.
Per KPCnews in September, 2022:
“…40% of the Indiana General Assembly seats on the ballot are unopposed, meaning 2-in-5 lawmakers, mostly incumbents, are shoo-ins back to their seats.”
When there is no competition for a seat at the table, there is little incentive for anyone to vote. The unopposed candidate could be the only one voting and still be elected.
It is time to put the electoral maps into the hands of non-partisan commissioners and out of the hands of the politicians who have party or personal self-interest as the sole motivator, not public service or common good.
As a side note, I am rethinking my plan to vote on election day instead of early voting. I had wanted my vote to tabulated immediately instead of as part of the absentee count. Now I may vote early to avoid the likelihood of violence and intimidation at polling places on election day. If in doubt about that occurrence, listen to the rhetoric coming from the head of the R ticket and all of the right-wing social media agitators. They are clearly and precisely tell us all exactly what they will do on election day and after.
For more specific voting records on all bills go to https://justfacts.votesmart.org/
One would think that when one’s name is listed among the “lousy legislators” it would be like if a teacher posts your “F” paper in front of the class. No, these people don’t seem to “get it”, and when you are number 50 out of 50 states that is not a story that is ending well for you. If you don’t have the imagination to develop programs and spend money to increase the quality of life, you don’t display your inability by bragging that you return the taxes to the taxpayers, or realize that quality of life in a state is 33 out of 50, is not necessarily a good sign.