I spoke about Hoosiers’ post-election options to a group of volunteers at a Women 4 Change event a couple of days ago. Here’s what I told them. Much of it will sound familiar….
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I’ve done a lot of thinking since the election. Some of my conclusions are pretty obvious:
Americans don’t occupy a common reality, thanks to our information environment. It isn’t just the fragmentation and the ease with which we can all indulge our confirmation biases, although that’s a big part of it. It’s also the case that Rightwing propaganda sites are all pumping out and reinforcing the same talking points, misinformation and propaganda. The result is that many people occupy bubbles impervious to inconvenient facts.
We know that Americans are polarized between educated and uneducated, informed and uninformed people. In November, voters who reported following political news went for Harris by 8 points, while voters who reported seldom or never following the news went for Trump by 19 points.
During the campaign, we were repeatedly told that the election was a battle for American democracy. But we’ve already lost that battle. We lost it in 2010, when the Republican RedMap project was successful in gerrymandering across the country. W4C has been fighting Indiana’s extreme gerrymandering—thus far, without success—so you all understand how pernicious partisan redistricting is. Not only does it tilt the playing field, it suppresses turnout. Since 2010, Republicans have exercised power vastly in excess of their percentage of the vote, especially in the U.S. House and in statehouses around the country. That’s especially been the case in states like Indiana where we don’t have access to mechanisms like referenda or initiatives.
The question, as always, is what can groups like W4C do? How do we counter the loss of democratic decision-making?
Here’s my preliminary “take” on that question:
- We need to focus on Indiana. Our resources are limited, and the likelihood that we can have much of an effect elsewhere is minimal.
- We need to communicate. Not just with each other—although that’s helpful too—but in ways calculated to break through to those who follow only Rightwing news sources or none at all. I’ve been working with Hoosiers 4 Democracy to plan a peaceful protest on Monument Circle, to take place on the day of the Inauguration. We will bring together people representing as many parts of the community as possible, to explain why we resist the profound anti-Americanism of the coming administration. It should be covered by Indiana media outlets.
- What we need, however, goes far beyond such isolated events. We need a plan to take factual information into all parts of the state, to people who haven’t been paying attention, who haven’t been voting, who aren’t going to visit blogs and websites and credible media that don’t reinforce the misinformation that makes them comfortable.
- Ideally, that plan should be produced by a “pro-democracy” coalition that includes as many partners as possible: the ACLU, faith leaders, Common Cause, W4C, H4D, etc. etc. The coalition should plan a two-pronged movement: one focused on penetrating the (largely rural) information bubble, and one focused on the General Assembly. With respect to the legislature, my own preference would be to lobby for a referendum. Indiana’s legislators will not abandon gerrymandering, because they benefit from it– most owe their seats to it. If we could at least generate support for a referendum, in the future we could use that process to overturn gerrymandering.
The next few years are going to be difficult—and pivotal. We have some assets: at the state level; extremist Christian Nationalists like Micah Beckwith offend a lot of people who typically vote Republican. At the national level, if Trump follows through with his promises (threats?), the negative effects will be pretty immediate and hard to ignore.
Our job should be to ensure that Hoosiers know what these people are doing, and why their actions are inconsistent with the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, basic ethics and common sense.
Unfortunately, [not how I like to start a reply to Prof Kennedy’s blog today] once the Oval Office would be occupied by trump, a dictatorship will follow. A dictatorship would be absolute rule. An example: a couple of friends suggested Pres Biden should pardon as many people as possible and that we should not say 2024’s election for POTUS was hacked. I said, “Once in office, trump will vacate anything Pres Biden has done as being void because the 2020 election was rigged, consequently, any nonviolent means must be used to prevent trump taking office.” Pres Biden should invoke emergency powers (he can cite what Heritage Foundation has told trump to cite), prevent trump from taking office (Amend 14 sec 3) & go about a rebuild. That will be a form of authoritarian rule – i.e., dictatorship. At least we can imagine an end point to that, plus people like me are highly unlikely to be taken away to camps. This is not a pleasant prospect, but a quote from a famous person can help: “You fools. Don’t you realize what it means if the Chinese remain? Don’t you remember your history? The last time the Chinese came, they stayed for a thousand years. The French are foreigners. They are weak. Colonialism is dying. The white man is finished in Asia. But if the Chinese stay now, they will never go. As for me, I prefer to sniff French shit for five years than eat Chinese shit for the rest of my life.” Ho Chi Minh said that after WWII, when he explained a 5-year agreement w/the French. Pres Biden must invoke emergency powers, including those under Exec Order 13848, signed in 2018, to address foreign threats to the nation’s elections.
Professor-I have great respect for Women4Change and you. Your words are perfect. We can follow your thoughts and win back what we need yo bring our state and then our country back to the Republic we need to be. Thank you.
Mark,
Your comments and suggestions would surely bring out the 2021 insurrectionists 2.0. A civil war 2.0 would soon follow. It’s not going to happen. Since we lack any statesmen like old Uncle Ho, we’ll just have to smell Trump’s shit until he dies.
Vernon,
I appreciate your observations. I don’t say/write these matters lightly. There reasons to believe the 2021 insurrectionists, once pardoned, will engage in carnage. They have reason to believe they will be forgiven. After Krystallnacht, Goebbels billed victims for the damage done by the brownshirts. The problems go “local,” too. I shudder to think what will happen when Mike Braun dies in office. The list of “Things Indiana’s Lt Gov Can Do” has been chopped to a far shorter document for Beckwith. As Gov he’ll remove any restrains (as “God” no doubt will tell her/him.)
The whole problem lies in the realm of social media, and all of its offshoots! Folks would rather be told what to believe and how to believe, rather than actively learning what the truth may be. For the most part, humans en’masse are lazy, they take the path of least resistance. They follow a mob mentality. Having an actual modicum of intellect is more rare than one might think. Keep them dumb and stupid. It’s the way the churches conducted business from the beginning. No one could read scripture, because the population was discouraged to be literate. So they were told what scripture said and what it meant. They couldn’t figure it out for themselves! This seeped over into politics, and capitalist practices. Now they’re all scrambled together.
People cannot think for themselves, they can’t extrapolate, They can’t discern, they can’t theorize, they can’t analyze, they’re just a bunch of zombies, ignorant ones at that! They said glued to their televisions or telephones, waiting for direction to be pumped into that empty cavity on their shoulders. Definitely proves that evolution does not create anything better, lol!
Mark,
Yeah. I lived in Texas for 15 years and watched the Rick Perry/Greg Abbott/Ken Paxton sewer dwellers destroy democracy there too. Did you see where Paxton is now suing a New York doctor for prescribing abortion medication to a Texas woman? These people are so embedded in their own ideology that serving the greater good is totally lost on them. Typical of Republicans everywhere.
Humans and our abstraction-centered brains love to organize details into buckets and then create another abstract word to define the bucket. This is a sensible way to move from the complex towards simplicity; it’s a cognitive shortcut. Both MAGA and liberal democrats do it. Mathematicians conceived a branch of their specialized knowledge to deal with it. Statistics.
Unfortunately, it’s convenient, but dealing with each detail is also essential.
For instance, MAGA is, in reality, a coalition of the unlike rather than homogeneous.
The possibilities that their cognitive shortcuts could lead to are too numerous to mention, and the worst of them is tragic beyond comparison.
Also, MAGA is a future certainty, not a present one. It’s a consequence of a government run by inexperience, misinformation, and intentions that are not hostile to the country but to our Constitution and 250 years of ever-evolving government keeping up with the times.
We cannot resist January 20, 2025, but we can pay close attention to what unfolds after that and constantly update our plans to recover in four years.
Focusing on the State: I worry about the power our Indiana governor has to authorize private military groups under Indiana Code 10-16-2-3 & 4. There are plenty of illegal militia groups (Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, KKK) in Indiana who armed themselves in preparation of a civil war if the 2024 elections did not go their way. As state commander in chief, the governor has the power to authorize these groups to act as part of his state militia and employ them to serve as front-line crusaders in his Christian Nationalist culture wars. And who would prevent this from happening at a national level also given who has control of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our federal government?
To get an idea about what the next four years will be like, I would recommend reading either or both of the books by Anne Applebaum, especially first of the two. They are: Twilight of Democracy, and Autocracy, Inc.
There will be untold dumpster fires each and every day as the Trump administration begins its “governance” and Trump tries to implement his agenda. He can be defeated earlier at the ballot box in 2026 by removing his control of Congress. That should be the plan. His agenda will place many GOP seats in jeopardy in that election.
This morning, many interesting takes on how to react toward an autocratic government in Indiana and Washington. I agree with Sheila about focusing on local efforts with energy and resources. As Trump/Musk eliminate federal programs/departments, the states will become more critical and powerful.
Hopefully, the 1/20 protest in Indy will be enough to draw the attention of the local media. I haven’t heard anything about the IndyStar in years, but I assume it still is in operation. That means notifying the local TV station media.
Many rallying points will emerge over the next few weeks as P2025 and DOGE implement their plans. Sheila’s recommendation that all the leftist groups merge is an excellent idea. I think it would be a good idea to have a social media expert assist this group so they can spread the word on various channels.
My recommendation is DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY because they are as guilty of being anti-democratic as the GOP. The judge denied TikTok’s appeal to override Biden’s policy to ban the social media outlet primarily because it refused to stifle anti-genocide voices. It has nothing to do with the Chinese Communist Party. Marco Rubio’s committee against China was full of disinformation shared by both the DP and RP.
Don’t let the DP co-opt any movements on the left. That is how they stifle uprisings by the people. It’s a long-running strategy, so please keep in mind this fact, especially in Indiana.
I recommend including as many labor unions as possible, even if the leadership initially resists. Labor unions will be essential since the deregulation of the oligarchy will result in even more oppression against workers—Musk brags about firing workers who attempt to organize at Tesla and other facilities. Trump also brags about Musk’s record of firing workers who wear labor union shirts to work. Labor movements across the board will be significant. Isn’t there an Amazon distribution center near Indy? 😉 Bezos loves the P2025 plans of the Heritage Foundation!!
A woman I friended on my Facebook page posted in two separate places today that President Biden should resign from the presidency now and inaugurate Kamala Harris as the first woman president to complete President his term in office. Another woman friend on Facebook announced she is leaving the Internet and Facebook because she cannot deal with the news and FB posts filled with the coming presidency due to her grief over the death of her beloved cat. Vance would love that one!
The Mark and Vern discussion is interesting and both have valid points as I mull the mind-blowing Facebook posts of two formerly rational and intelligent women I have connections with aside from Facebook. I am having my own mental and emotional difficulties trying to grasp what Trump will or won’t do on day one and all days following and realize none of us has any idea what we will be facing that needs resistance. We are encouraged to continue to support the Democratic sitting officials and organizations who are sending me the same surveys over and over and over claiming I have never responded; I fill them out but will NOT donate on line to any of them so my views do not count. I am hanging onto my money, including my $19 Social Security monthly increase in January till someone can provide viable, intelligent reasons with no price tag to support any of them. I may however continue to complete their surveys till they get tired of my responses with no money in their coffers.
“Our job should be to ensure that Hoosiers know what these people are doing, and why their actions are inconsistent with the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, basic ethics and common sense.” Well; we can hope and pray for a miracle.
The incoming immigration zcar is planning to start the Great Deportation in Chicago on January 21st and is planning to arrest the mayor if he gets in the way. However Mayor and governor said they will not impede legal means. So, basically it’s going to start in Chicago.
I’ve often imagined should a war be fought in Indiana that 465 is the perfect fortress.
Being that there’s so many hate groups and hateful dangerous and armed people, we are actually considering getting a rifle and a hand gun. I don’t like guns, I went to a range once, the power trip was enough to know I never wanted one. I have several machetes hidden through my home in case, but you can’t bring a knife to a gun fight.
I will be at the circle on the 20 h, hopefully it will give me something to hope for.
The most important action I have taken since the election was sending a significant check to the ACLU. I don’t have enough money to buy anyone, but I am willing to use what I do have to support them. What they stand for and fight for is right there in their name and they have a great track record.
I also read, think, and write and I use those abilities. I do not agree with Todd’s advice to refuse to associate with the Democratic Party. They are mostly on our side and are often the only thing standing between us and complete defeat. It is important to identify our allies and work with them and many of them are Democrats.
Sheila, I appreciate your comments. Most of all, I like that you reference a pro-democracy movement. This isn’t left against right but whether one supports democracy or not.
The overriding plan would be to educate as many Americans about the reality of our situation, not the “alternative facts” version.
As much as a part of me is expecting to experience some schadenfreude, as Trump’s “policies” blow up in the faces of those who voted flor him (some are reportedly already unhappy with his walking back on the lowering costs promise), I think, Sheila, you have outlined a valuable tactic for trying to bring Americans closer together, good luck in Indiana.
Sharon; I have renewed my ACLU membership and am following a post Indivisible which has been supported by ACLU. How sad we have few options to continue supporting after the recent Trump era which so blatantly has worked to end democracy, Rule of Law and Constitution of the United States and red state constitution who are not following their own regulations and laws.
The two things that could make the best change happen:
1. Push forward a bill for an independent, non-partisan redistricting commission
2. Push forward a bill or constitutional change to provide for citizen ballot initiatives.
Here’s what IN looks like through a pro-democracy lens: https://www.lgbtmap.org/democracy_maps/state_profile/IN
COUNT ME IN! Finally, someone has spoken the words ‘work for referendum option’. Bless you I may not live to see it but it must be begun. Thank you
When DT told all of those Christian nationalists that they wouldn’t have to vote anymore after he won the presidency, what do you think he meant? He’s going to take that piece of paper that was written by the founders and toss it in the fireplace at the White House. There’s a very realistic possibility that there will be no more elections, that there will only be martial law. Do you think the military would go along with that? Who knows, maybe there would be a coup. At any rate, The sky looks quite stormy. This reminds me exactly of something else that happened, Germany in the late 20s and 30s. What you hear and what you see is exactly parallel with that time. Get rid of labor unions, get rid of The communist, only allow state approved religion. Demolish every liberal-minded educational facility and program. Execute or imprison all the disagree with the master plan. Everyone better go along with the program, because if you don’t have your state identification, you won’t be able to eat, buy or sell! Joe Biden isn’t going anywhere, he’d have to be removed! Everyone can ring their hands all they want, that’s not going to make a bit of difference. The warning signs of been there, but everyone lives in the state of denial, and that ain’t a river in Egypt. So let the band play as the Titanic slips below the surface to become a tomb.
The Democrats need 4 Republicans to stop bills in the Senate, or 3 Republicans to stop bills in the house bills in the house. We need to know what senators and house members we need to deluge with non-partisan messages encouraging them to stop especially egregious bills.
Good news!
Biden commuted the sentence for the kids-for-cash judge of Luzerne County.
Oh,wait! What are we protesting against?
Sheila — I would appreciate more info in what you are doing with Hoosiers for Democracy and what that group’s plans are in general. I would like to be able to replicate it in SC in some way.
I am attending an SC-ACLU Zoom workshop on Monday night but still want to do more.
I am not optimistic about future under Trump — I agree with Helen. I do believe the MAGAts are just itching to blow away some people and will look for any excuse to do it — especially the group that was at the Jan. 6 insurrection and would just love to get back at the libs. They will be celebrated this time (think Kyle Rittenhouse and George Zimmerman) and KNOW that Trump has their backs. I would move but I can’t leave my kids to deal with this.
The former judge was sentenced to 17 years in 2010. He has served 15 of those years including home detention during covid. His co-defendant is still in prison. Both men are in their 70s.
A commutation is not a pardon. The conviction stands.
tfg pardoned Flynn, Stone, Manafort, people convicted on trying to overthrow an election. He also has nominated a convicted felon whom he pardoned to be U.S. Ambassador to France who just happens to be his son-in-law’s father.
That is what we are protesting.
Sheila, I was at the event at which you shared these remarks. Thanks for your wisdom and resolve. We can do hard things!