My sister was one of those Hoosiers who once held out hope that Indiana’s Senator Todd Young would grow a spine. After all–unlike Senator Jim Banks–he appears to have a working brain and at least a dim understanding of the current constitutional crisis. But after several attempts to communicate with him, she concluded direct messaging was useless–that he is simply more concerned with retaining his seat in the Senate than in fulfilling his constitutional duties or protecting the common good. Frustrated, she has written an “open letter” to him, and sent it to local media outlets.
I don’t know whether those media outlets will print it, but today I am reproducing–and enthusiastically endorsing– it.
______________
Senator Young,
I am one of the many constituents who have written, phoned, and/or visited your office, and given the non-responsive form letters I’ve received in return, I seriously doubt if any of my concerns have been heard, so I am writing this open letter in hopes that someone will share it with you. (I have not made a similar effort to communicate with Senator Banks, who is clearly a lost cause, but due to previous actions and remarks on your part, I had hoped you might be more independent, more open to reason – thus your recent behavior has disappointed me greatly.)
You were a Marine. You are currently a member of Congress. In both of those capacities, you swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. You did not swear allegiance to a person or a party, but to our founding document – to a set of principles. You continue to violate that oath in multiple ways.
In spite of his obvious gross incompetence and lack of qualifications for the job, you voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, putting the lives of service members and the national security of our country at risk. You put your loyalty to a cult leader ahead of concern for the health of your constituents by confirming another grossly unqualified candidate – a conspiracy theorist without any scientific background – as head of the HHS. You ignored questions about the dependability of Tulsi Gabbard to guard sensitive information necessary to the safety of our country. These are just three of the many example of times you have shirked your duty.
The United States is in a crisis, one that could be somewhat mitigated if only a few Republicans would put country before party and the good of the people before their own self-interest – if they would remember their oath to uphold the Constitution and take back the power it grants them and which they have so cravenly ceded to a wannabe dictator.
You could help negate Trump’s executive orders, most of which are grossly illegal. You could help counter the horrific consequences of Elon Musk’s attempts to destroy government agencies that provide critical services to your constituents. (And whose actions have, coincidentally, put an end to several of those agencies’ investigations into his very questionable business dealings.) How does cutting off funding for cancer research or Alzheimer’s disease benefit the residents of Indiana? How will gutting Education and the Arts help citizens of this (already under-educated) state? Tell me how your own children will benefit from leaving them an environment with less breathable air, drinkable water, and safe food. How do you think women and other marginalized groups in Indiana feel about being returned to second class citizenship, and how do citizens on the edge of retirement—many of them Hoosiers who have struggled for years to put food on their tables– feel about the GOP’s vicious proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicaid?.
In my almost 78 years (several of which I spent as a member of a Republican Party that no longer exists), I have never seen an administration that is so brazenly corrupt. History will record that every member of Congress who failed to protest this corruption, who cravenly enabled our would-be autocrat, was complicit in that corruption.
It’s probably just as well that former principled Republicans such as William Ruckelshaus, Dick Lugar, and Bill Hudnut are not here to see the debacle you have made of a once Grand Old Party.
_________
Those of you who are so inclined might forward a copy of the letter to Young’s office, with a note suggesting your agreement with its message. Given the sentiments expressed at Young’s “empty chair” Town Hall, it’s clear my sister speaks for a significant number of angry Hoosiers…..
Powerful! and absolutely on point.
I have called many many times. Recordings. Have written. Emailed. Same response as your sister – form response and nothing else.
Sheila, what’s your sister’s name? I’ll publish it as an opinion piece on Muncie Voice.
Todd graduated from the Naval Academy but served in a Marine unit. He served in the intelligence unit and should know the score well.
It’s rather apparent that Todd is not a sociopath like Banks because he is aging quickly in office. That happens to those who try to serve a corrupt institution but have a conscience. Alcohol works for some in Washington, and maybe drugs, but it inevitably ages them quickly, like Todd. It’s a spiritual disease, and there is absolutely no way to avoid it unless you’re a sociopath, without conscience. It’s why sociopaths are drawn to Washington and chief executive positions. A heavy conscience will age a person rapidly.
For the record, Todd’s sponsors want him to be in high places that serve their interests. Deregulation and tearing down the administrative state serve their corporate goals. He’s useless if he becomes an outcast in Indianapolis or Washington. If he plays along to get along, then he gets to serve on influential committees. He’s not going to take a stand against Trump unless the whole party starts to take a stand, and I do not see that happening anytime soon.
I did read a good article yesterday about a division in the autocratic regime between the Tech Bros, who think they are gods, and the Catholics (Vance et al.), who believe in a god. This should be interesting to watch.
The Tech Bros follow Curtis Yarvin, who’s starting to get press in the WaPo and NYT. Harvard invited him to debate one of the professors in a private session. He advocates for the destruction or demolition of the administrative state and replacing it with a Tech State headed by a Tech Ceo. Vance would fit the bill nicely since he’s both a Catholic and mentored (and sponsored) by Peter Thiel.
It seems cracks are forming in the regime. Trump is even showing signs of abandoning Bibi as too much of a liability. I would love to see Bibi in The Hague.
Great letter. I too have called many times. Sometimes I get a staff member, mostly a recording and I leave a respectful message. The few responses were the stock form email touting all things the good senator is doing for us: taking students on tour of his place of non-working, bipartisan efforts to help this or that business, etc.
He has yet to address his support for the rule of law, that he’ll no longer approve incompetent nitwits from Fox to run agencies, and so on. He’s a big disappointment. Not a leader.
Cud’s to your sister for her letter. I make this suggestion to all who are so inclined: Write out your letter, and before sending (or mailing) it, call the Washington office ice of the intended recipient and read it to the recording or the aide who answers the phone. then send it. Your letter will have added impact by being heard on a phone call, which has a greater impact than a letter does. Don’t bother with signing those petitions. they are only marketing tools and have zero effect other than to trigger an automated response, and then your name and address will be put on a list for donation requests from every campaign in the country.
Making progress is not an event but an evolution. Wisdom is the same, as are capitalism, socialism, innovation, and evolutionary linguistics. They all start with distinctions, either/or, and then move on to nuance, subtleties, adjectives, and descriptors.
Wise people are so because of continued progress in experiencing life in all shades of gray.
I wouldn’t know Senator Todd Young if I ran into him on the street. He’s a stranger to me.
In the spirit of nuance, we look at the people who had the wisdom to determine and document liberal democracy, starting with the Magna Carta. These people were not politicians or career policymakers. Still, their interest in founding a liberal democratic country came from their progress in living accomplished lives. They knew nuance first, then applied it to self-governance.
Here and now, there is a move to lead the country back to black and white despite the centuries-old progress of subtlety, nuance, and shades of gray because people are disparate, subtle, and diverse. I have wandered into several places, times, and cultures, and everyone I ever met was absolutely unique.
Woke is the acceptance of all of that through experiencing all of that.
Like your sister I too have sent emails to Young’s office and have not gotten a real response. And like your sister, I have given up on him. What sticks with me however, is the fact that he was once a Marine and is now a coward. How does that happen to a person?
I have written to Sen Young many times. The last email just asked why he was not honoring his oath of office and stated he will be remembered as a coward and a traitor.
Excellent letter. Count me among those that have “communicated” with Todd only to get a very bland “thank you for your communication….it is an honor to serve….”.
I hope someone has the guts to publish the letter.
I am yet another who has emailed Young countless times…and I am not even receiving form responses back most of the time. When I do, they come weeks later. I give up on him—and then something new happens, and I do email him Again.
Your sister’s letter is great.
I will send it to my friends.
Thank you for sharing it.
Having had similar experience with the Senator’s self-serving responses to emails which never address my concerns, I have stopped sending them. I respond to his FB posts with pointed comments about his poor job performance and complete disregard for his oath of office and his oath as a Marine intelligence officer.
The world as we knew it before Jan. 20th is gone for good. The work of renewal and reconstruction will take many more years than I have left to live. I hope that my children and theirs are up to the job but fear that they will suffer much pain in the process. It is not what I strove for throughout my life. It makes me understand the consequences of the Civil War’s aftermath on ordinary folks who had to deal with a devastated country and the deep distrust of their fellow countrymen and women. How do you look to a future for your family when each day needs so much of your focus and labor just to survive?
Change is coming to us very quickly and with dire consequences for all but the extremely wealthy. The world watches as the dominant force for democracy dies a self-administered death by a thousand cuts.
https://youtu.be/xAZBpukSc2M
Protest music – some hope
Me too. Lots of messages, no meaningful replies. He masquerades as a reasonable man, but his support for Trump reveals his true colors. Maybe that is even worse than Banks who is more honest about his aims. Neither of them deserves our support.
I have called and written to Young to no avail. A look at his Facebook page shows how angry and frustrated many Hoosiers are with damaging, dangerous and self-serving policies of felon47’s administration.
Today’s column and comments are America today. Many of us older folks want to believe that it and its leaders are “of, for and by The People”. Everyone else no longer trusts most “pols”, most companies, science, etc.. They would not understand why anyone would contact their representative and expect any engaged response. And this is why so many don’t bother to vote.
If you really want to get a response, you have to personalize your letter.. If you have a friend or family member who is in a nursing home, speak to your friend about contacting the Senator to tell him how your friend will be negatively impacted by the proposed cuts to Medicaid. If the friend is on Medicaid, that makes it easier. If not, check with the administration of the home. Ask what is the percentage of their patients on Medicaid. Talk in your letter about the consequences of the bill four your friend. Use his or name. Note that this is why you need to speak with your friend first.
If you don’t personalize it, your letter will be put in the, “just another lib who can’t handle real life” pile. If you give them a real constituent name, it goes into a “must respond” pile.
Oops “four your friend” should be “for your friend”! Sorry.
I remember when we were kids, my sister used to plug her ears and close her eyes and walk around like she was invisible. She really thought was invisible!
Now that’s what a child does, they still don’t understand reality yet!
Politicians have learned to tune out the words and be able to disappear like a child does. They hold no responsibility for their actions, because they plug their ears and close their eyes!
So how do you make them see you? How do you make them hear you? Well, in times past, it was the pitchforks and the torches! When you light a fire underneath someone’s keister, they’re going to leap. I would imagine the time is coming quickly when people are going to take action which forces those politicians to actually see and hear them. Until that point, they’ll remain deaf and blind to your tragedies and concerns.
Is interesting, listening to all of this tariff business everyday on a different news stations. And how just a few days ago, all of the car manufacturers said that they were “not” going to pass along the increase in cost to the consumer. And just yesterday, they were all announcing increases of between 2 and $5,000 per vehicle. I suppose they figure people are going to buy cars regardless. I’m sure it will end up being much more than $5,000 eventually, then, it will price people right out of the market.
Do you think they hear you? Do you think they see you? The politicians will remain blind and deaf until they’re forced to see and hear. They can tell their boss, who really is not supposed to be their boss, that he needs to change his direction!
How do they remain blind and deaf to the plight of people who fought in wars for this country, being deported? How do they remain blind and deaf to families being ripped apart? How do they remain deaf and blind to all those kids who were taken from their parents during this dude’s first term, and haven’t been found?
This country is a great place? No, this country is a great facsimile of Nazi Germany. And it’s going to get closer and closer and closer to being that very thing that the world fought against not that long ago.
“Right now in the United States, the breakdown and the repair of its social contract are locked in a race. If America can mend that contract before Trump and his MAGA movement inflict lasting damage…then there is still hope. The ‘beacon of democracy’ can shine again.”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/12/china/china-mao-trump-cultural-revolution-intl-hnk?cid=ios_app
I once went to his office to talk about an issue. When the Security Guards at the door asked my destination, I said I was going to Senator Todd’s office. They chuckled and asked: “What for? He’s never here.”
Peggy,
Do you really think a letter like you suggested would change a GOP vote? Do you have any examples of one that did recently? Just curious.
Ditto to the letter. I have written called etc and I always say my husband is a Vietnam vet now 70 pct disabled and that Trump disrespects veterans. I remind the person who answers or on voicemail (which is more like) that I am retired atty and my husband is retired cpa so we can’t support the legality or financial crazy so called audits by DOGE. His letters never take a position. Btw Young also has a background in economics so he should know about tariffs. Time to take out an ad shaming both senators.
J. Sorg,
I like the idea of pitchforks and torches. Another good idea is to start constructing guillotines in the Nevada desert – maybe the location of Burning Man.
If we built 500 guillotines and performed 16 executions per thirty minutes, we could wipe out Congress in a 3-day weekend on Live Pay Per View. We could then start on the oligarchs – billionaires to multi-millionaires.
That is taking action, as Lester always encourages us to do. Anything less, and we are wasting our time.
Todd,
The only action that “counts”, short of a general strike (highly unlikely), is to elect non-partisan, non-ideological servant leaders at every level of government and prove (thereby disproving history) that a real democracy can happen and flourish. There are many local elections coming this November, an off-year at the polls when even fewer folks vote…Not sunshine ahead.
Regardless of what I think of Todd Young, WHY would he respond to a liberal – because she is, espousing those talking points that are totally opposite to reality
I hope your sister tracks the publishers and the non-publishers and reports back.
Becky, the Ruling Triumvirate is hastening the demise of the country as a place to live, to do do business with, to emigrate to legally or illegally and to include in alliances.
Lester,
I don’t have recent examples. I can tell you that, in my experience, a named constituent, with a problem will generally be taken more seriously than an often repeated generalized yadda, yadda, yadda! If they see the same wording over and over, they won’t even read the letter. In one of my many incarnations, I was responsible for responding to Congressional letters. Now that I think.about it, that was during the dark ages.😁
Pete
Don’t know what world you’re living in????
Oh MSNBC world!!!!