When I was much younger, it was common to hear people say that there was no real difference between the political parties. That put-down–while never really accurate– was recognition of the then considerable overlap between the two parties. There were once conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans; that, of course, was before the GOP turned into today’s proto-fascist MAGA.
Today, the put-down is different, along the lines of “a plague on both your houses.” Every day, pundits and pollsters tell us that Americans hate the GOP and disdain the Democrats. I’m not sure where that leaves us ordinary voters, but I am sure it ignores the very real policy differences between the parties.
Those differences become far clearer when you contrast life in Red and Blue states. it turns out that, when Americans elect Democrats to manage their states, the people who live in those states do better.
Some examples:
Democratic states like California, New York, Massachusetts, Washington have raised their minimum wages to $15/hour or higher.
Blue states take measures to protect people’s health coverage (Washington State even created a public health insurance option—the only one in the country to the best of my knowledge) and pass laws requiring paid family and medical leave.
Blue states—including Oregon, California, Washington, Colorado and New York—make it easier to vote, expanding early voting and passing election reforms like automatic voter registration and same day registration.
Blue states support public education, and Blue states like New York, California and Oregon even offer tuition-free college programs.
Indiana’s next-door neighbor, Illinois, is an example of the difference between Democrats who govern for We the People and Republicans who govern for the donor class. This July, Governor Pritzker signed the state’s Prescription Drug Affordability Act, limiting unfair pricing practices and supporting independent pharmacies, along with four bills to help high school students afford to pay for college. In January, Pritzker signed a bill forbidding payment of less than minimum wage to disabled workers.
And the Red states, like Indiana?
Well, we’ve kept the minimum wage at 7.25 since 2009, and only raised it then because of a requirement to match the federal rate. Our Republican overlords are busy throwing people off Medicaid with stricter eligibility checks, work requirements, and enrollment caps–any mechanism to hurt the most vulnerable populations.
Red States like ours have worked hard to make it more difficult to vote; they’ve cut early voting, required specific government-issued IDs, and thrown out ballots with minor errors. Polls in Red Indiana and Kentucky close at 6– earlier than any other state—making it harder for working people to cast ballots.
From education to gun safety, from climate and the environment, from education to worker protection, Democratic lawmakers have, on balance, worked to make citizens’ lives better and fairer. Meanwhile, Republicans continue to wage war against women, gays and non-Christians, while making it harder for working-class Americans to earn a decent living.
Democrats are far from perfect, but the contrast is certainly illuminating.
Which approach really makes America great?
But why do Hoosiers put up with this? Is it just because the Democrats fail in putting these facts to the people and ask don’t we deserve better?
Today it is dictatorship vs. democracy which has quickly reached levels of inhumanity vs. humanity. There is nothing conservative found in the Republican party today; it has been dwindling away for decades and in only six months we find ourselves being buried under an avalanche of loss of human and civil rights and paying the wealthy to find new ways of deprivation to keep us buried.
The United States should be stripped of its membership in NATO before Trump extends his control to finally get the nuclear devastation he has been seeking since his 2016 presidential campaign when he asked “Why can’t we just nuke ’em?”
The conditions of America under Trump’s administration is known globally; why do immigrants want to come here at this time when many of us wish we had an escape route?
“There Really Is A Difference” Living in daily fear of our own government and seeing no end to the destruction of what WAS the American way of life is the primary difference I see.
Well, both parties do unabashedly support Zionist supremacist ideology.
So there’s one subject they agree upon.
Republicans play and prey on Democrats weaknesses. IL – take out Chicago Area voters and it would be a Republican State- Look pre-Dobbs at where there were clinics providing abortions was zero near Rockford whose Area has over 300,000 and dowstate IL girls and women have/had it much worse- Latina/o voters are turning increasingly Republican. Black voters often see that the Democrats care for 3-6 months until Elections. Even Texas would be Majority Democrats if its large cities were “the state”. The “old Dems “- are mostly Worthless- Mamdani- is a true threat to Schumer. Dems- need to realize that a 27% National Popularity- isn’t because they are “too liberal “!
Yes, there is no truth to the uniparty. One state party taxes much higher and spends on Democrats’ pet peeves, but their “working class” pays for it. The middle class pays slightly lower taxes in Red States, but gives more to public services. Neither is going after the rich to get more for the majority!!
Americans are so easily duped.
If you look closer, blue states are getting more for unionized workers but making other working classes or classes without unions pay for it. If you, for one instance, the oligarchy is getting poorer in either blue or red state, you’ve drunk the Kool-Aid.
For instance, our MAGA Mayor stole from an opioid lawsuit settlement to pay for wages for police and fire, and guess what, now they are going to tax more to pay for police, fire, and school raises. These groups are amazingly unionized. The working stiffs are paying more taxes from working-class stiffs and giving more to unionized state employees, sometimes as much as 20% over non-union workers.
Furthermore, Florida and Texas both have lower tax collection rates than Indiana:
https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2025/04/01/how-the-50-states-rank-by-tax-burden-updated-for-2025/158094/
Only 14-15 charges an estate or inheritance tax:
https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/estate-inheritance-taxes/
As we’ve seen on the federal level, it all gets balanced out for the oligarchy. In many cases, the oligarchy’s lawyers even write the laws.
A Red and Blue state taxation is much more complicated than it seems. The oligarchy peddles a lot of propaganda, and some simple measures are explicitly not collected so that they can be ignored. ; )
Having lived in the southern “culture” for way too many years, I experienced the “I’ve vote for Satan before I’d ever vote for a Democrat” mindset. It’s taught through the generations. To those misguided people, Liberal = Evil. Churches there, of course, magnify that attitude through fear and fairy tales. That will never change.
That particular culture that George Marx describes revels in the fact that those people vote against their own best interests as the pound their chests and say, “I’d never vote for a Democrat -ever!”
The real point is that the DNC has to go after those 82 million registered voters who stayed home last November. Convince THEM that they are responsible from saving the country and the Constitution from abject and outright tyranny.
The Trump-ites will do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to rig the 2026 elections. They already know the numbers. If the monstrosity of Trump suspends the elections for some idiot-level crisis that he creates, don’t be surprised if civil war comes to America once again. I hope I’m wrong, but all indicators point in this direction.
Zionist ideology means nothing compared to this political emergency.
You’re wrong. Those 82 million Democrats was not going to support a candidate willing to continue a genuine genocide.
Yes,Zionism undercut efforts to beat Trump.
Come to think of it, Biden and Trump became effective VP’ for Netanyahu.
Democrats being Democrats of conscience wanted no part of Kamala’s promise to continue supporting the genocide.
Plus, having been gaslit by the DNC establishment for the previous 4 years didn’t help matters as well.
To win back those 82 million voters, ya gotta do better than just bellowing constantly Orange Man Bad.
Samuel C. Hasler. It is difficult to overcome the constant stream of lies that pander to undereducated people’s fears, anger and bigotry. When those fears, anger and bigotry are celebrated and reinforced on a daily basis it promotes a mindset that resists all evidence to the contrary. That is what drives the success of the current Republican party.
Even on this platform, we are told daily by Todd that there is no difference between the two parties. He just keeps pounding that point and pretty much ignoring any evidence such as what Sheila has offered today. That tactic is as likely to keep people away from voting for Democrats as the lies told by the MAGATs.
What are Democrats to do? How can they reach people who have drowned in the lies?
I know what I am doing. I know what Sheila is doing. What can you do? Join the Resistance!
Related to what Vernon and Ian – said already – BIPOC voters – either don’t vote or don’t vote for the Presidency – in significant numbers in key states like Michigan and Pennsylvania – because of the Pro-Israel stance of – “mainstream dems”. Polling among Democratic Voters – shows that the Politicians are Well behind the Voters – re: military aid – for sure and aid at all to a lesser degree, the Jews who won’t support Democrats – because of “radical” stances (opposing aid) often won’t vote for Dems – regardless – The Republicans are VERY successful – at dividing opposition to them – by bringing up “Hamas” or “Iran” or “terrorism” – read Tareq Baconi – https://www.georgemarx.org/2024/02/hamas-contained-tareq-baconis-excellent.html – watch a PBS interview of Baconi – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwckjA_DJW0 – In general – divide us – comes from our own – inability to unify – Far too many of us – will Not recognize the importance – of STRONG – efforts on issues such as Racism/Police Violence + Palestinian Rights + Immigrant Rights – we tend to be almost united on unions/ economic issues – but we are Easily Divisible- – on “foreigners” – Even Some Latino Families Tragically are Divided – when – members – oppose “illegal immigrants” – which includes their own family members.
I’m pretty sure that if you asked a red party member if he favored the donor class, the vast majority would not recognize themselves in that description. To change them into blue party voters, conversations have to begin in a place where they can see themselves. Otherwise, they default to control freakism like all humans do, and they ignore the message.
In which reality do they see themselves?
Some people I know hold the mistaken belief that they work harder than others, and they defend hard work. Some defend other prejudices instead of being extra hard workers. There are oh so many ways that we all set up our internal mechanisms to pretend we are each worthwhile.
I believe that figuring out each person’s imagined superpower and at least acknowledging it to begin with is how change begins, but it can only be used in sustained face-to-face discussions, some would say over beers.
Other people require a great deal of patience to get to know, and this broadly applies to all living things. This explains the downfall in local humanity that we are all experiencing because of the universal adoption of entertainment screens of all different dimensions and the invention of social apps.
The parties are vastly different form one another, despite their mutual support for Bibi. The Dems are focused on improving quality of life, while the gopigies, in their support of the oligarchy and MAGA fools are determined to turn the culture into one of “moral degradation.” In the trials of the Nazi scientists and doctors who performed grossly cruel experiments on captives at the Experimental Station at Dachau, the prosecution claimed, appropriately, that “…the guiding principles of the Nazi state had caused a ‘moral degradation’ of the German people and that moral degradation led to the physical degradation of other human beings.
The crimes of the Nazi doctors, the prosecution argued, ‘were the inevitable result of the sinister doctrines which they espoused.'”
Trump is working overtime, when he’s not golfing, to lead the country to a similar social degradation, and the Republicans are doing nothing to prevent that. We have already seen politically motivated violence increase, along with expressions of hatred, in step with same.
People like DeSantis, Bondi, and lunatic Loomer, and right-wing “news” outlets feed that destruction.
The above quotes come from the book “Patient H.M.,” by Luke Dittrich, pg.115.
Ian, yes and no. No to 82 million Democrats. Just some portion of those voters were Democrats. Yes, Zionism in our politics is crazy. BUT, we have been obliged to support Israel since 1948 as part of our Holocaust denial guilt; as did the rest of Europe. The United States, ironically, has been anti-semitic in its politics and national attitude UNTIL the holocaust changed some, but not all minds.
So, now those guilt-fueled “policies” are coming home to roost at the worst possible time in the world. Trump is a psychopath trying to emulate Hitler’s takeover of the Reichstag. Netanyahu is a power-mad despot propping up his presidency with his brutal suppression of the Palestinians. But he keeps playing the defense of Israel card and our MIC keeps making pots of money off of supplying the IDF with EVERYTHING.
In the final analysis, it seems, all we little people have left is (1) the ability to tell the truth from bullshit and (2) vote while we are still allowed. Sharon Miller has it right. Our squabbles here do nothing for the overall problems with humanity’s behavior around the world.
And how many people did the Rwandan rebels kill yesterday? Oh. Right. Just one of the 20+ shooting wars going on around the globe. God’s image? Really? Whoever said that doesn’t live on the earth.
In support of my position, above, i give you the first paragraph of HCR’s current posting:
President Donald J. Trump created a firestorm yesterday when he said that the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, located mostly in Washington, D.C., focuses too much on “how bad slavery was.” But his objection to recognizing the horrors of human enslavement is not simply white supremacy. It is the logical outcome of the political ideology that created MAGA. It is the same ideology that leads him and his loyalists to try to rig the nation’s voting system to create a one-party state.
Ignoring history, and reality, was part and parcel of Hitler’s style.
At the very base of MAGA lies FUD: fear, uncertainty and doubt. Fox (and most rightwing media) create and stoke the FUD relentlessly. These media do this purposefully. The rightwing propaganda machine (led by billionaires, of course) is one of the real evils in this world.
They fight decency, and knowledge and progress at every turn. It’s utterly anti-human.
“{Today, with the chants of those protesting Trump’s takeover of Washington, D.C., echoing in the background, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters: “We’re not going to let the communists destroy a great American city…. [T]hese stupid white hippies…all need to go home and take a nap because they’re all over 90 years old, and we’re gonna get back to the business of protecting the American people and the citizens of Washington, D.C.”}
This is the lie and the hate that is running the slow coup happening while the majority of people constantly feed their addiction to entertainment. It is the circus that has been the tactic of dictators for centuries. Distract, deflect, lie and cheat as much and as often as possible.
The Epstein files must really be damning or he would not be so desperate.
Ask the Democratic Party in the State why they are not standing up better candidates. Why they are not out walking and talking to people. It’s like they just shrugged and walked away.
I didn’t know New York state provided free tuition to its residents. Thank you for letting me know that! I have just started to look at going back to school but didn’t know how I could do it with the price of tuition out here. Maybe I can move back to NY and get my masters.
Sharon Miller, thank you for your response.
I am trying to join the resistance. I will be at the Labor Day demonstration here in Muncie. What worries me that the resistance in Indiana will be as feckless as our Democrat Party. Maybe not as bad as when Jill Long ran for Governor in 2008 – she disappeared from the race for months. I talked to a fellow last year about voting and he declared it made no sense for him to vote since this was a Republican state. We need to give that fellow (who think represents many) a reason to believe otherwise. We need to stand for something besides the same old slogans, and we need to stand for more than get rid of Trump. I would have us change the Indiana Constitution to bring in the recall and direct referendum, to change our elections to a preferred ballot, to change our representation in the House to a proportional representation, mandatory rotation in all of our elected officials, and to end the political gerrymander. I do not see the state Democrats advocating for such changes. I do not think these ideas come within a country mile of Democrat leaders in this state because it would upset the status quo. There is power in the status quo and only a chance at power in changing it. About the only thing I feel like I understand about the working classes supporting Trump is that they are tired of the kabuki theater aspect of our politics. It is the only thing with which I can find agreement with them. That they do not see what change for the sake of change will bring them I can only attribute to how poorly we teach history and the racism/misogyny in which they are stewed. I hope the resistance will give us something to talk about, something to united around, for I believe we need to talk to those who do not vote for a lack of faith in our democracy, those who stayed home on Election Day for whatever reason, and those who oppose us.
As for those who commented on Zionism and Netanyahu – do you think Gaza will get a better future from Trump? Biden’s mistake was thinking he could moderate Bibi. Wrong. We should pay attention to the Israeli protests against their PM. This is not 1967. If the Israelis protest what their government is doing in Gaza, why should we support it? Other than selling weapons, of course.