Ah, Indiana! Long understood by sentient Hoosiers as the middle finger of the south, a state trying valiantly to replace Mississippi at the bottom of the civic barrel.
I thought about Indiana’s retrograde governance when I came across an article from The Bulwark, arguing that while Trumpism is clearly incompatible with liberal democracy, it is quite compatible with the governance of states that have never quite emerged from the Confederacy.
Liberal democracy has never put down deep roots in the South in the way it did across the rest of the country. The region never really abandoned its warped electoral politics and inclination to single-party cronyism, a Southern political instinct that helps explain how Democratic dominance transformed so completely into Republican one-party rule following the civil rights era. Inequality continues to define economic life in the region. Southern states have remained hostile to many minority groups, particularly LGBTQ Americans, and they are wildly out of step with most other states on reproductive rights. And incarceration in the South remains both less humane and more common than in other regions.
Trumpism is intent upon “southernizing” America. (Okay, I know that isn’t really a word…) The article quoted our creepy vice-president, JD Vance, who during the campaign opined that “American history is a constant war between Northern Yankees and Southern Bourbons” and went on to conclude that “whichever side the hillbillies are on, wins.” He added that he applies that image to America’s current politics , because–in his (Yale-educated) hillbilly view– ” the Northern Yankees are now the hyperwoke, coastal elites.”
The Bourbons, in this understanding, were the Southern planters and professionals who opposed Reconstruction. They fomented discord among poor whites to ensure that they would focus their political energies on their peers rather than those who were their de facto rulers. That elite applauded when, In 1896, the Supreme Court approved segregation with the principle of “separate but equal.”
In 1898, America’s first coup d’etat took place as the Democrats of Wilmington, North Carolina issued a “White Declaration of Independence.” They were attacking the coalition of black Republicans and white Populists that had control of the local government in the 1890s, which the old Confederates of the city found intolerable. With their resentment and rage being fueled by white Democratic powerbrokers, two thousand armed men forced out the duly elected government. None were more pleased by this result than their Bourbon backers.
The article reports that this “banker-planter-lawyer” class is largely responsible for the South’s political and economic underdevelopment–that it was “ostensibly pro-business but viciously self-interested” and that as a consequence, the South as a region still lags economically—pinned down by poverty and hobbled by the absence of public investments. The states have few worker protections, and its working classes have difficulty earning a living wage, making It “virtually impossible” to exist on the income of a single, low-wage, 40-hour-a-week job, especially in the absence of social welfare/healthcare.
That paragraph could have been written about Indiana.
From “Right to Work” (for less) legislation, to one of the nation’s most regressive tax systems, to the legislature’s constant knee-bending to landlords who prey on the poor, to vicious cuts in Medicaid, to restrictions on abortion that are sending medical practitioners out of the state, to the theft of tax dollars from public schools in order to subsidize wealthy Hoosiers and religious schools…the list goes on.
Some years ago, I wrote about ALICE, an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed; it applies to households with income above the federal poverty level, but below the actual, basic cost of living. United Way of Indiana found that more than one in three Hoosier households was unable to afford the basics of housing, food, health care and transportation, despite working hard, that 37% of households lived below the Alice threshold, (14% below the poverty level and another 23% above poverty but below the cost of living), that these were families and individuals with jobs, so most didn’t qualify for social services in Indiana, and that the jobs they fill are critically important–these are child care workers, laborers, movers, home health aides, heavy truck drivers, store clerks, repair workers and office assistants—and they are unsure if they’ll be able to put dinner on the table each night.
And just like those southern Bourbons, our elected overlords couldn’t care less. They focus instead upon deflecting responsibility by turning struggling Hoosiers against each other–hence the legislative attacks on trans children and DEI and moronic pronouncements that Black folks benefitted from the 3/5ths compromise.
The theory is, if we’re provided with scapegoats, perhaps we won’t notice the Bourbon corruption, or the lack of public investment in social and physical infrastructure…
I will again recommend you read “Black in Indiana” by local prize winning journalist and author Eunice Trotter. A personal story of Hoosier Confederacy government before the Civil War began; the racist mindset of Indiana residents remains with us in different forms, the most prevalent at this time is the level of Trumpism and pseudo christianity in the form of laws against civil rights. D.C. Stephenson’s KKK legacy remains in the shadows of this government body but is active 24/7.
“From “Right to Work” (for less) legislation, to one of the nation’s most regressive tax systems, to the legislature’s constant knee-bending to landlords who prey on the poor, to vicious cuts in Medicaid, to restrictions on abortion that are sending medical practitioners out of the state, to the theft of tax dollars from public schools in order to subsidize wealthy Hoosiers and religious schools…the list goes on.”
Ah, yes, one of the oligarchs’ dilemmas. When I was doing research for an article about the local oligarchs who had a “collection” on display about how well they treated blacks, they lured them to Indiana to work in their factories. It was all bullshit propaganda. They may have given them a job (lower pay than whites), but they were completely isolated on where to live or spend their social hours. The oligarchs used neighborhood restrictions to isolate them on the East side of town.
What was fascinating is that the oligarch brothers also brought in many workers from Jamestown, TN, who were very much part of the South’s mentality. We had a major KKK movement comprised of those Southern descendants.
That dynamic still plays out today since the TN Democrats (working class) who lived on the South side of town, are all MAGATs today. They found the racism of Trump and the Republican Party appealing! 😉
By the way, it’s not discussed much in the lame media, but the mass incarceration of black people is nothing but legalized slavery. They use inmates as free labor for local companies, farms, and other oligarchic endeavors. It’s also why private prisons are used – once again, the government has laws to follow, but the private prison industry does not. If you want to know one of the reasons our prison population is so large, it’s legalized slavery.
Beckwith’s philosophy about “doing Africans a favor by putting them to work in America” is still prevalent all over. I did much contract work and lived in parts of Mississippi and Alabama. Most of the executives had “housewives” and mistresses. You rarely saw a minority working in professional positions. They were always in “service roles.” A friend took me to Augusta, GA, for the Masters tournament, where his parents had lived for eons, and a mammy raised him. All summer long, they reenact the Civil War battles. I told him once, “No matter how many times you reenact those battles, you’ll still lose.” His neck turned bright red because he got so mad.
“The South Shall Rise Again”
Todd, the same thing occurred in Cleveland. I worked with the sons and grandsons of those blacks lured to the factories after the Civil War.
Slavery is our original sin and it will not be expunged by democracy or any other political movement. It’s here to stay because it is the culture derived solely from indentured servitude.
How depressing. J. D. Vance … Please. How do law schools graduate such dolts?
Everything humans do reflects the conditions being experienced by boots on the ground, with more power or less, at every specific time in history and place on earth.
Most of us do not add anything to human knowledge, but we use what we were born with and into. For most of our history, our freedom to live came from owning land, a concept that emerged as we moved from hunting and gathering to agricultural and then to industrial centric living, thanks to emerging knowledge about controlling the application of energy beyond our own from domestic animals, human slaves, and our growing understanding of the universe to create surplus wealth.
Our reproductive success has “rewarded” our species now with 8.2 billion of us, and we have resolved the concept of ownership to every place on earth, from miles below to miles above our planet.
But, no matter how far we have come, we can’t escape the binds of ownership and control of what we own individually or collectively.
Our time on earth is spent on a spectrum from what we own and control individually and in groups, defined more inclusively up to what all humans own, control, and manage.
The distribution of wealth among our population from ownership defines society. Some believe owning the tools to create wealth counts more. Some believe owning land does. Some minimize ownership because it is burdensome. Some argue that collaborative collective ownership yields greater rewards.
I believe that satisfaction in life does not revolve around ownership at all. What is valuable is how we invest the time we each have an unknown but fixed allocation, towards being rewarded individually.
Yes, today Indiana has moved to Mississippi, marked by one of the worst legislatures in our history and by a vengeful governor and a dangerous Lt. Gov.. But there is a different tradition, just a generation or two ago and at other times, when Indiana was never at the front but somewhere in the middle on the key indicators of well-being. And there were leaders–Lugar, Bayh, Hamilton, Welsh, Orr.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Indiana had the best state public health system in the nation. In the 1930s Hoosiers embraced the New Deal and Gov. McNutt.
middletown Oh. vances big time. Bidens Infrastructure act was set to pour 500 million into Cleveland-cliffs shut down steel plant to renew its process to electric/hydrogen made steel. far more cost effective, and better process to better grades of steel. trump decided its not going to happen. trump grandstanded with coal liners to keep the plant clean goodolcoal. except Cleveland_cliff has no intention to open it again for costs of process. not cost effective to use coal..Middletowns 1200 layed off steel workers,lose again..
ya gotta wonder how trump and vance even had a chance..p.s. we truckers are of the dollar profit king of the indiana toll road. then were harrased by state and county law enforcement by using hwy 20. local buisnesses and cities have banned any semi trucks for parking in any buisnesses and most cities. but i suppose ya still want your fulfillments on time with a smile,right? were tired of rip off truckstops that only have fast food. and we need a place to park safely to get the stress off us when WE need it,not some electronic log telling us when we can.. get the picture.. indy is not trucker friendly..
Original sin and greed, what a combination!
Well this kind of is interesting! Where are the deniers today? Where are those who are self deluded, or willfully ignorant? As humanity changed for the better over the millennia? As far back as we can go and man’s or humanity’s researchable history, has there ever been a time of peace? Has there ever been a time when there was some sort of kumbaya spirit? From the beginning, humanity has been rotten to the core.
The willingness to enslave, the willingness to commit genocide on a scale that’s mind-boggling, the willingness to steal, the willingness to conquer, the willingness to murder, is all too easily developed in human societies.
So what’s the hope? What’s the solution? To donate money to those who have been asking for it since I can remember and since my ancestors can remember or could remember! And what have they done? What one group fights against, like the Democrats, they flip the script, and supposedly they’re the good guys! And the good guys flip the script and turn out to be the bad guys! It makes no sense. And yet, these folks and this institution of politics are supposed to bring some sort of solution to what’s happening? It never has It never can, and it never will!
Why would any government that’s supposed to be Democratic deny citizens their daily sustenance? Why would they deny citizens their education? Why would they deny citizens their health and welfare?
The same reason they are willing to enslave, they’re willing to commit genocide! Because they don’t care about you, they care about power, they care about being worshiped themselves as some sort of a god, so how are they going to help everyone else? These politicians are looking for sacrifices at their own altars, to prove you’re willingness to suffer for them. Lol, and we have folks claiming things are going to be fantastic and always were fantastic? All of the wars, all of the crusades, prove otherwise!
I started writing earlier, and got a call about my young nephew committing suicide because of opioid addiction. My son is fighting some sort of infection that’s taking his life at the Mayo clinic! My wife is inconsolable. She is up there with him, while I am dealing with everything here. My mother is sick, my sister and my wife’s sister have lost kids in the past year due to cancer. My wife is terminal, and she lost both of her parents in the past couple of years. So, faith and hope are something that are
precious, but also, so many seem to have faith and hope only in what they can see, but disperse or disparage what they can’t see. As bad as things are, they’re only going to get worse. And if you can’t cultivate some sort of rationality in your life, and continue to live and some sort of willful delusion, then nothing will ever change, because it never has in the past. Is there something better? I believe so. But I’m willing to put my hope and faith and beliefs to the test rather than give up.
Those who claim the panacea, are conspicuously absent as I write this. Because it’s coming from more than just me, that there’s a great deal of hopelessness and historical ammunition to prove the ignorance of the human species. And hey, I understand everyone has the right to believe what they wish, but when the rubber hits the road, who’s going to stand fast and who is going to collapse into a heaping pile? I think the world has shown it’s more of a heaping pile than the opposite. Too bad humanity is at a loss as to why this is or what to do about it.
Reading today’s blog I was thinking about the early 1900s. At that time Indiana was a center of intellectuals. James Whitman Riley, who Samuel Clements called the greatest storyteller of his time, Theodore Dreiser, Booth Tarkington, and Gene Stratton-Porter. My favorite of these is Booth Tarkington.
We had newer, younger writers who are excellent, like Kurt Vonnegut, Jessamyn West, Edward Eggleston, Dan Wakefield, and Mari Evans. They represent the next generation of writers, post WWII.
Indiana was the birthplace of the auto industry. That was before industrialization, so the jobs were artisinal, not mind numbing hell holes. The Indy 500 was the place the car makers tested their new devices and ideas.
We’ve gone far off track from what we were trying to be. We used to be proud of our colleges and universities. We lost ourselves. We became what we feared. Now we must be waiting to be saved by a leader who will rise up out of the madness. I hope he or she is real, but I fear it’s up to us to make the changes to bring Indiana back to the civilised world.
There seems to be much justifiable despair today over many aspects of our foreseeable future.
That motivates some towards becoming the change that will lead us back to hopeful, but despair paralyzes some as well.
The majority of the 10,000 generations of homo sapiens behind us lived in despair but enough found sufficient hope to build progress away from endless suffering.
It’s possible that the good times here are in the past but those who build progress will keep on trying and betting their time on earth can be improved.
What better investment of time and energy than that?
I’d like to again recommend to anyone who feels a sense of hopelessness and despair a book that has had an important impact on.my life. As you may know, I do not believe in the supernatural, so this may seem odd coming from me, but if you read it I think you will understand.
The Book of Joy by the Dalai Llama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu with Douglas Abrams.
If I remember correctly, the subtitle is Creating Lasting Happiness in a Changing World. I am sometimes chided (or ridiculed, even) by certain contributors to this platform any time I suggest that I possess optimism or hope or believe in the possibility of progress. To them, especially, I make this recommendation.
Oh, boy, this was a big one today.
Let me say something personal.15 years ago, I was suffering from severe depression about the state of the world and trying to make a living in Anderson, Indiana. I am better now. Part of it came from realizing not all the big stuff can be solved, but we can all do our part in undermining the bad things in this world. We cannot slip into an apathy that then becomes nihilism.
Mr. Smekems, I now live in Muncie, and one of the more amazing things I see here are the number of interracial couples. In Anderson, this was far more common, even 40 years ago. When I first came to Ball State, a black family had moved into Shedtown and the father was staying awake at night with a rifle. I wondered what kind of town I had come to. There is hope.
Mr. Madison, what you write about are what I call the Old Hoosiers, those who came before the industrialization of Indiana. Those were my relatives. Those on my mother’s die deplored how Southern this state had become, and most left. My father’s family can still be found in Greene County. It has been too easy for us to take off elsewhere – Indiana is a good place to be from. Vonnegut, Dreiser, Hoagie Carmichael, Cole Porter all did this. There is no good reason for Hoosiers to leave the state to find a better life. We need to find some way to turn that thinking around.
I am generally not a radical – I still think we need to get rid of class basketball – but either we attack the belief of many voters in this state, and also of non-voters, that nothing can be done to change the politics of this state, or things will get only worse. No, we are not Vermont, but neither are we as retrograde as the current GOP thinks we are.
Oh, someone mentioned D.C. Stephenson. I was brought up to consider him evil. That I got from my great-aunt, who voted straight ticket Republican. She also was for horse racing and the right to an abortion. She was born in 1907. I do not see where she would have any place in today’s GOP.
May I say something about the horse’s patoot, JD Vance? It was the farm boys from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio who won the Civil War, not a bunch of hillbillies.
Thanks for the good work, Ms. Kennedy.
Wonderful comments today one and all! On top of all of these other things I mentioned, my wife’s young nephew was hit by a car this evening and killed walking to the store. So, time and unforeseen circumstance befall us all.
Sharon, I will have to say the dalai lama, especially the current one, is some sort of freak. Kissing young boys on the mouth and asking them if they would like to kiss him back on the mouth. Amongst other things. I’m not really that interested in something someone like that has to say. Desmond Tutu had a lot of interesting things to say, but in the long run, I think Nelson Mandela had his finger on the pulse more so than any of the above. He paid the price! Nelson Mandela’s sister, many of his relatives and his first wife were Jehovah’s Witnesses. So he obviously had a different outlook compared to the Dalai Lama or Desmond Tutu.