I’ve posted previously about Indiana’s latest–and most intrusive–anti-abortion legislation.
In the wake of the Governor’s “prayerful” signature of that measure, it seems that a group of Hoosier women has formed “Periods for Pence.” The concept is simple enough: since the Governor is so …interested…in our “lady parts,” Hoosier women are calling his office to report on the particulars of their monthly menses.
Evidently–and hilariously– the Governor’s office is being inundated with snarky “reports” about the details of women’s periods. (Readers who want to get in on the fun are encouraged to go to the group’s Facebook Page.)
Excellent as this trolling is, however, political theater really is no substitute for competent political leadership.
The Pence administration has been an unmitigated disaster for Indiana, not just because the Governor’s emphasis on social issues at the expense of actual governance has given us a decaying infrastructure and interfered with educational progress, among other things, but because it has been very, very bad for business.
When Georgia’s Republican Governor vetoed that state’s RFRA, observers noted that the Governor wanted to avoid the damaging economic repercussions that Indiana had experienced in the wake of Governor Pence’s very different decision in Indiana.
As I have written elsewhere: even Georgia doesn’t want to be Indiana.
But as this latest assault on Hoosier women demonstrates, it goes well beyond RFRA. This Governor has undone years of efforts to position Indianapolis and Indiana as welcoming, business-friendly venues.
Remember “Hoosier Hospitality”?
Under Mike Pence, Indiana garnered negative headlines for refusing to allow a single family of Syrian refugees to resettle in our “hospitable” state. His ongoing assault on the Superintendent of Public Instruction (elected, inconveniently, with more votes than Pence garnered) has given us a black eye in the national education community.
And now, in the wake of Pence’s “prayerful” signing of the nation’s most punitive and restrictive abortion law, national media is once again portraying Indiana as anything but hospitable.
The New York Times ran a scathing editorial. A banner in Salon.com was accusatory: “Mike Pence’s sadistic abortion law: Indiana passes draconian anti-choice bill geared towards humiliating and bankrupting women who have abortions.” Slate noted that “Indiana’s HB 1337 is So Extreme Even Republicans Don’t Like It.” Other headlines referred to the bill as “extreme,” “chilling” and “most restrictive in the nation.”
These latest headlines add to the national impression that Indiana is a state hostile both to LGBT individuals and women’s autonomy. And whatever one’s position on these issues, that image spells nothing but trouble for the state’s economy.
The business community has opposed these culture war eruptions for a very good reason: the message they send is terrible for business.
It’s hard enough recruiting top-flight talent—the sort of employee who is in high demand—to a state with no mountains, no oceans, a middling-to-poor quality of life (poor public transportation, ill-maintained parks, struggling schools), without adding a reputation for homophobia and chauvinism.
I’ve lived in Indianapolis all my life. I’ve been involved, over the years, in a number of efforts to “sell” our city. I still have fond memories of my time in the Hudnut Administration, when Bill Hudnut–a Mayor with a very different understanding of both Republicanism and Christianity than our Governor—talked about building an inclusive and welcoming “City on the Hill.” People in that Administration, and several that followed it, worked tirelessly to garner “good” PR for Indianapolis.
We knew then that a positive image wouldn’t just generate convention business, important as that is for the city and state’s bottom line, but that being seen as a welcoming and inclusive and vibrant city would encourage businesses to locate here, and those already here to expand.
We wanted to encourage all kinds of people to join us in building our local economy; not just those who went to a particular church or subscribed to a particular version of Christianity.
A lot of people have worked hard and spent a lot of money over the years, promoting Hoosier Hospitality. Too bad we elected a Governor who seems determined to undo it all.
“political theater is no substitute for competent political leadership.” How true that is! And it applies to the opposition to this bill as well as to its supporters.
Where was the opposition when this was first proposed? Debated? Before the signing? I did not get so much as a peep out of my state legislator, a Democrat woman no less. And our leader John Gregg? Missing as usual. Never saw a thing from PP either.
When there is no competent leadership all you are left with is political theater.
I would just like to point out that Pence was only able to sign that bill because the Republican super majority in our legislature dreamed it up and passed it.
I had heard that GOP donors in 2012 told Pence to stay away from the social issues if he expected to receive repeat donations in 2016. Does anyone know if they kept their word? Is Pence receiving donations from business this year?
Well stated; we have said it all before. Theresa’s comment is also spot-on; what ever happened to the democrats in Indiana? The only one I ever see is Ann Delaney on IWIR; she does a good job of defining positions and critiquing the opposition, but jeez where are the candidates?
I’m with Theresa, never heard a word about this until it was signed! WTF?
The facebook group is great though, love it. Brilliant idea.
AMEN, Sheila, and AMEN again!
“Honest To Goodness Indiana” now has a different connotation than when that ill-gotten phrase was first coined. It can now be thought of as WTF?
Pence deserves the messy mess (and, girls, we do know how messy that is) by receiving direct reports in “Periods For Pence”. Almost makes me sorry I don’t have any to report, in detail, along with cost, sometimes medical, dealing with those “times of the month” entails. We are again the source of embarrassing publicity nationwide; and again it is regarding an issue that is none of Pence’s – or any other politician’s – business. Nor is it the business of churches to delve into this issue which, in Biblical days, removed women from direct contact with humanity for seven days till we completed the nasty business of menstruating.
Ugly as all of this is; I, personally have hit the jackpot with Sheila’s blog today and Matthew Tully’s column, “Hudnut unloads on state of GOP”. I have wanted to know the past few years what Mayor Bill Hudnut’s views are on the current Republican party. Read the column, buy a copy of the Star if you don’t have access to it otherwise…it is more than worth the cost. Also, the front page headline, “EARLY VOTING STARTS TODAY” works into both articles, IF there are enough thinking Republicans left in this city and state to put these two finely authored articles together before marking their ballots.
Thank you Sheila and thank you Mayor Bill Hudnut; maybe these articles will promote others to display the courage to speak out against the unAmerican realities of the current Republican party – starting here in Indiana.
Theresa,
‘When there is no competent leadership all you are left with is political theater.’
You couldn’t have stated the problem any better. But it is also a nationwide problem with the Democratic Party. “When push comes to shove,” how competent is a Hillary Clinton or a Bernie Sanders? In my estimation not competent enough to handle a Donald Trump or the major problems facing us all in America.
The same fingerprints are on this misoginystic law as were on RFRA and HJR-6 and many other hateful pieces of legislation, and they belong to the Christian evangelical theocrats who behind the scenes pull the strings of the mindless pawns who do their bidding in the General Assembly. It’s time to take back our Legislature from these fanatics.
Marv, I agree that it is a nationwide problem. Way too much of the Democrat Party has become enmeshed in the establishment, unable to think, much less act outside of the box. Here in Indiana I see the Democrat Party as dead. Until some new leadership arises, I see nothing to do but to bury the corpse. That said, I’ll be marching on Saturday with my granddaughters, voting in the primary, going door to door for Bernie and holding tight to my beliefs about democracy, freedom, and equality.
Marv; I live in a 60 year old house with all the usual problems, drive a 20 year old car which leaks worse than my almost 79 year old body. This is what I have at my disposal to deal with and I deal with it all.
What we have on the political scene is the option between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton nationally and local option between rarely seen John Gregg (who is running unopposed in the primary) and currently sitting Gov. Pence. These are the issues we must deal with at this time. Your repeated displeasure with our current national – and Indiana’s local – options brings to mind a saying by my little old Irish mother; “S*+t in one hand and wish in the other, see which gets full the fastest.” PLEASE, join us nationally to get Bernie (preferably) or Hillary into the White House and keep your fingers crossed that we here in Indiana can dump Pence for once and for all from state government. We can only work with what we have available; that old adage, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” At least Bush is currently out of hand and out of the bushes on the national level.
Still friends?
JoAnn and Theresa,
“Thank you Sheila and thank you Mayor Bill Hudnut; maybe these articles will promote others to display the courage to speak out against the unAmerican realities of the current Republican party – starting here in Indiana.”
It’s not strange to me that Both Sheila and Bill Hudnut come from a Republican background, not a Democratic one. Much of the problem with the Democratic Party lies with Bill Clinton and his “triangulation strategy.” We went from George Bush the cheerleader to Bill Clinton the drum major. What do we expect from this continual mess? I hope it’s not courage.
America is literally rotting from the inside out. Other than a few blue beacons of light, primarily on the coasts, the rest of the country is poorly educated, addled by religion, and fearful of progress. Given the corporate ownership of media, the oligarchs’ ownership of politics, and the extreme lack of leadership on the left, I see no easy way out for us. Perhaps the only (dimly) shining light is the willingness of our corporate masters to shame the dimwitted peasants away from their Gods and the associated bigotry.
Over it,
“Perhaps the only (dimly) shining light is the willingness of our corporate masters to shame the dimwitted peasants away from their Gods and the associated bigotry.”
You’re 100% right. That’s all there is left at this point in time. They’re our only chance. They have a lot to lose $$$ when this charade finally collapses. Hopefully, they’ll see the light soon enough. But don’t bet too much on it.
Planned Parenthood’s advocacy team had a strong precence at the statehouse this session trying to fight this bill and coming out publicly against it from the beginning. Sign up for their action alerts at ppink.org.
JoAnn,
“Your repeated displeasure with our current national – and Indiana’s local – options brings to mind a saying by my little old Irish mother; “S*+t in one hand and wish in the other, see which gets full the fastest.” PLEASE, join us nationally to get Bernie (preferably) or Hillary into the White House and keep your fingers crossed that we here in Indiana can dump Pence for once and for all from state government.” “Still friends?”
Sure we are. But there are more options than just national and Indiana. There’s Jacksonville. In that regard (check my website) I’m moving on two fronts: 1. calling for the recall of the TEA PARTY mayor. And, 2. calling for the international boycott of the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars. They play one of their games in England every year.
The Ground Zero of the problems you’re facing in Indiana with the Tea Party originated out of Dallas and was transferred to Jacksonville in 1991. I’m with you on our national problems.
But I see the main problem to be the Tea Party and not Donald Trump. He’s nothing without them. And I’m confident I can do something about it. Whether dead or alive.
The far right in this country has been organized, funded, and politically active for nearly 50 years. Democrats have not responded to the threat from the right, mostly because they can’t believe that people could be so cynical. Well, wake up Dems! The Democratic party needs to get out there and register as many people as possible, make sure they have appropriate id, and get them to the polls. Reliance on magical thinking won’t work. You can’t just have a revolution. You need to have all the pieces in place to carry through on your agenda, including a Democratic House and Senate.
The far right in this country has been organized, funded, and politically active for nearly 50 years. Democrats have not responded to the threat from the right, mostly because they can’t believe that people could be so cynical. Well, wake up Dems! The Democratic party needs to get out there and register as many people as possible, make sure they have appropriate id, and get them to the polls. Reliance on magical thinking won’t work. You can’t just have a revolution. You need to have all the pieces in place to carry through on your agenda, including a Democratic House and Senate.
What Munich was to Germany in the 20’s and the 30’s, Jacksonville is to America in 2016. As it turned out, Munich was more important, in the long run, than Berlin.
Hey, Gov. Pence! Didn’t you used to go to the liberal Catholic church St. Thomas Aquinas before you got all evangelical? I was able to fly under the radar and purchase an endometrial ablation at St.Vincent, a Catholic hospital, even though by their estimation I was still of child-bearing age (46!). Maybe you should focus on the hypocrisy of your own supporters, and leave the rest of us alone. I simply must have one of those girly Gadsden flags shown on the Periods for Pence site. LOL!!
There are a lot of people talking about Hillary and Bernie in the comments section, but how many of you get this fired up about your candidates for state legislature?
That would be the problem here. Years of ignorance and apathy at the state level, added to massive gerrymandering and a state Democratic party that can barely muster opposition to these ideologues is what has gotten us to this point.
If you want to stop the bleeding here in Indiana, you’re going to have to actually pay attention to what’s happening IN INDIANA. That means knowing who your legislators are, who is running, who needs to be pressured, and what kind of nasty legislation is proposed.
It means not waiting to be told that something bad is going down when the DEFAULT for the Indiana General Assembly has been HORRIBLE for a decade or more. There is no excuse for ignorance about this point.
And neither Bernie nor Hillary is going to stop our state from doing horrible shit. That’s…well…kinda up to us.
@DJShiva- I do know who my state and local officeholders are. Unfortunately, they apparently do not care to hear from constituents with requests for clarification of policy or even the simplest questions about governance. When I contact their office electronically, if I get any response at all, it is canned. The one exception to that is the mayor’s office. Both the current and past mayor’s office representatives are very responsive and always helpful in attempting to solve problems. It can take multiple contacts, but the job usually gets done in a reasonable time.
As a side note, we have been gerrymandered at least three times in the time we have lived in Indianapolis. I am currently represented by Susan Brooks in Congress. Our home is in the Glendale/Broad Ripple area of a fairly dense urban neighborhood. Ms. Brooks represents a decidedly suburban, deeply Republican leaning district. My problems and concerns are very different in the city than her predominantly suburban constituents. My local representative is a very young and inexperienced woman that I have yet to hear from or even see in public.
In both cases, voter apathy and/or complete disengagement have led to my voice being virtually inaudible in the public forum.
The local media, most especially the newspaper and TV are poor excuses for journalism when it comes to reporting on the activities of all political bodies, whether local or state. As I have stated before, I depend on Fort Wayne and Evansville newspaper coverage of our legislature. As a resident of the state capitol city, that says a lot. Of course, those in power would rather we get no news or filtered news (JustIN, anyone?) to make sure that there is no blowback when they push through the “surprise” agenda. And they wonder why people are angry, cynical and disengaged.
Soon to be ex-governor Pence, why is it that your party- the GOP- plays the role of the party of ‘stay out of my business’ is so ‘in other peoples business?’
Is “Periods for Pence’ a perfect metaphor for his handling of his last elected position? Or is his ‘abortion of the legal system’ a better metaphor?
Neither is meant to deference of the women of Indiana, yet look to what he’s done to your rights! I stand with women of Indiana. Pence, stop it, please.
DJ Shiva’s comment echoes what I’ve been screaming about for some time now. Yes, it is better to have a Democrat in the White House than a Republican Tea Partier, but direction comes more from Congress, which is comprised of representatives from primarily gerrymandered districts, and from state and local legislators.
We have got to get busy to force implementation of independent commissions to determine voting districts, many of which have been gerrymandered in such a way that there is no avenue for altering the composition of federal and state legislatures.
We must also start focusing on the down-ticket elections. Here in Virginia, we have a state legislature that strongly supports the rights of gun owners, just passed legislation to allow parents to block their children from reading certain books (which the Democratic governor vetoed), and the list goes on. The legislature is primarily composed of old, white conservative men (both Republican and Democratic) from districts that have been gerrymandered to protect their electability. They can be voted out, but it would take a concerted effort to overturn the status quo.
Freedom comes from democracy. All of the governed choosing who governs. It’s the only source. Freedom at all is freedom for all.
All other -ocracies, like theocracy for instance, are about power. Empowering one segment of society over all others.
Wealthy white straight male Christian has always been a privileged class in America and we apparently aren’t about to free others and lose our privilege.
Of course now demographics reveals that we are a minority in America which informs as to why democracy and freedom are under attack on all fronts. Nobody’s a bigger fan of status quo than those to whom it grants power and privilege.
Freedom is worth fighting for and we can’t delegate that solely to the military.
Many of our ancestors did their part. Now we have to do ours.
Hoosier Hospitality? Crossroads of America? It has cost many millions if not billions over the years to construct a sense of welcoming to the state, especially welcoming new businesses, new plant, conventions, sports events etc. etc. etc. Are these to be sacrificed on the altar of telling women what to do with their bodies? The answer is – yes. What’s next, a burning at the stake a la Salem in 1692 of women who have decided to take charge of their own reproductive health? The stocks in the public square? What are we thinking? Or are we?
As Harrison Ullmann of NUVO used to point out back in the 1980’s and 1990’s we have a Bayh-Smith Party in Indiana (Evan Bayh and $teve Gold$mith). As a native of South Chicago, I was surprised at what was essentially a truce between the Democrats and Republicans at various levels in Indiana.
If the Democratic Party here in Indiana was an Army they would be court-martialed for cowardice in the face of the enemy. The Democratic Party here in Indiana lives like the small Mammals did during the age of the Dinosaurs, scurrying about just hoping to stay out of the way of the Republican Dinosaurs.
Bernie is the only hope for now for the Democratic Party. He has displayed remarkable courage his whole life.
“Periods for Pence”… It’s catchy…and as you say “theatrical”…
But I’m curious, are the originators and supporting legislators of this reprehensible law receiving similar attention? They came up with the law, no? They passed it…No? Pence was only happy to sign it…
What difference will it make to our representative democracy if only singular authority figures are held responsible for such bad laws?
DJ Shiva; thank you for stressing this most important issue. Ignoring local level elections is how the Republicans took hold of the House in the 2010 election and the Senate in 2012. This gave them the stronghold to run President Obama and this entire country; holding us hostage at times. All elections are vital and we DO need to know who we are voting for.
Sheila, et al.,
Do you think Pence’s penchant, and that of the Repub Rulers, for misgoverning is reflective of (1) a failure to understand the locus of power in a democracy, (2) ignorance of and about ideas like conservative, liberal, majority rule, civil disobedience, and rule of law, and (3) if so, what does it mean for our body politic?
(1) For example, the Abortion bill places power over women’s choice and body at the highest level of government and controls all other individuals and entities. The RFRA law and the proposed LGBT civil rights amendment incongruously placed the locus of power at the other end of the power continuum empowering individuals to defy the law and harm others for the mere assertion of personal religious assertions. At least Webster, Calhoun, and Thoreau were internally consistent in favoring nation, state, and individual. Pence Pals are not inconsistent. They are incoherent.
(2) In addition, the Pence Pals continue the 44 -year-old guerrilla war against the law of our land, Roe v. Wade, without regard to coherent conservative or liberal ideas, statist or individual power, Madison Federalist 10, and rule of law and origin of law. Under RFRA and certain iterations of the LGBT civil rights amendment, their chief concern was the incongruous, statutory protection of civil disobedience on the basis of the most ephemeral assertions of individual religious offence at LGBTs. Under the Abortion bill their chief concern is the power of government to impose a religious belief on individual women’s choice and bodies without regard to their views. And at the same time, the Abortion bill violates national settled constitutional law and suppresses individual rights…..in the name of state’s rights?
(3) What does it mean for our body politic when political beliefs, thoughts, and ideas loose all coherence at their center and fall apart in the words and deeds of political leaders and parties who are de facto political atheists and agnostics who don’t even know what the don’t believe or do believe? I my judgment, it signals decline and portends fall.
What do you folks think?
When Nixon began the long downhill slide of the GOP I naturally assumed that it would not go without notice and soon responsible Republicans would make a mid course correction and recover. I’m simply astounded that that didn’t happen. It’s truly an eye opening revelation of tribal behavior. A mob simply becomes mindless caught up in their own myth making.
Now I’m not sure that I even see the possibility of correction. Crash and burn seems most likely.
Of course Democrats are also poised to maintain the two party system after the crash. A more liberal and more centrist wing.
Wouldn’t in be great if history reports that 2016 was the peak of the chaos and the country climbed continuously up from here.
Folks pay attention to how your representative vote too!! There are some brave representatives not following the party line but listening to their constituents wishes when voting. Cindy Kirkhoffer is one of those representatives.
https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2016/bills/house/1337#document-d18a1af5
Pete,
“When Nixon began the long downhill slide of the GOP I naturally assumed that it would not go without notice and soon responsible Republicans would make a mid course correction and recover. I’m simply astounded that that didn’t happen.”
A “Black Swan” is an event that lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility. Second, it carries an extreme impact.
Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature make us concoct explications for its occurence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable. These perturbations are not only large, but they have lasting effects.~Nassim Taleb
“Taleb argues that people neither understand the significance of Black Swans nor prepare for them. Instead, we act as though naive induction were a valid method and expect the regular patterns we see in the past (or impose on it) to continue into the future. There are two problems with this behavior. First, although there often are patterns in the past, they may not continue. We often act like the turkey who sees that everything is fine day after day, never suspecting the rude surprise on the last Wednesday of November. The fact that we get away with treating risks as low in a series of transactions can easily lead us to conclude that it is safe to continue to play the game; frequently exceeding the speed limit without unfortunate consequences can lead drivers to conclude that they need not worry about either speed limits or the police; multiple instances of surviving crises can lead people to think that these dangerous circumstances are manageable.”
“Taleb argues that this propensity is compounded by our intellectual shortcomings. Drawing on cognitive psychology, he shows that people are quick to impose a theory, explanantion, or narrative on data and events that are ambiguous, confusing, and contradictory. In retrospect,
anyone with a modicum of imagination and skill can explain anything that has happened, and this gives us undue confidence in our ability to understand what will happen in the future. We are very quick to see new information as fitting with the patterns we expect, and we significantly overestimate our ability to understand, predict, and control our worlds. Furthemore, “experts” do not do much (if any) better than laypeople, and they may be more skilled than anyone at explaining away their past error, thus preserving their incorrect belief in a regular world and in their ability to comprehend it.
“Black Swan in Politics” by Robert Jervis, “Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society,” Vol. 21, Number 4, 2009, pp. 478 & 481.
We’ve had a sub-surface “Black Swan” in our midst for a very long time. We are now observing the great damage it has done to America’s socio/political culture.
@ Theresa Bowers: Well said. I was wondering about that as well. And add all the newspapers to that list. And in the famous words of saint Ronnie: ” It’s not what you do, it’s how you look doing it.”
genius trolling……