Why on earth be an Indiana Democrat?

Choosing blue in Indiana isn't easy - unless supporting policies that actually help people is important to you.

Hamilton County Democrats gathered in spring 2025 to support the reinvigorated party.

Part of my morning ritual is listening to political news. Three themes predominate: One, President Donald Trump is living up to the worst of our fears with his blatantly corrupt and authoritarian actions. Two, Republicans from city councils to the halls of Congress and the Supreme Court have wholly sold out to his every whim no matter the harm caused. And three, Democrats are totally without a plan to counter the GOP power grab and win elections.

Somehow, it is the third of these that gets the most airplay.

Let's be real. Republicans are better at the political game.

Winning elections requires motivating enough people to maintain at least minimal awareness of upcoming opportunities to vote. It requires making people willing to register, using the right forms and providing the right info. It requires educating people about who your desired candidates are and giving people a good-enough rationale to cast their lot with them. It requires actually moving people to action to submit their ballot in person or via mail, on time. And it requires framing every outcome as proof of your party's superiority, no matter what, so they don't abandon you and stay home next go round.

Republicans long ago abandoned any sense of decorum, respect, restraint, or tolerance for dissenting views. This set the conditions for their absolutely crushing it on each of these tough electoral tasks.

Want people to pay attention? Give them increasingly outrageous stories to latch on to, especially if they activate emotions of fear or disgust. Remember the "kitty litter boxes in high schools" garbage? It was a lie from the start, but it was an opportunity to paint Democrats as filthy, immoral, and harmful to children. Soon, it didn't matter that it was literally (litter-ally?) false - the story became a symbol of Democratic degeneracy that held sway over receptive voters.

Want people to take actions like registering and voting? Paint the threat of the other side winning as so existentially dangerous to our society and personal safety that NOT voting for your candidates becomes a moral failure. Thus the galling 2016 moniker for a possible Hillary Clinton presidency as the "Flight 93 Election," an appalling argument likening any failure to vote for Trump as akin to the passengers of United Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001 having decided not to rise up against their terrorist captors.

Want folks to keep supporting you, even when you lose? This one can really be attributed to Trump himself - just call the result fraudulent and claim to have actually won. Even better, tell folks before they vote that the only way you can possibly be declared the loser is if fraud is committed by Democrats. How convenient! Republicans win, the system is beautiful and fair. Republicans lose, the Democrats are criminals and the system must be overhauled - or elections done away with altogether.

Given that Republicans observe no rules when power is on the line, Democrats do look weak and disorganized by comparison. And who wants to vote for a weak and disorganized party? How can we be trusted to govern if we can't even show strength and unity in the pursuit of electoral victory?

My answer is easy. I'm a Democrat because I cannot stomach policies that lead to struggle, suffering, loss of life, and the demise of democracy.

Our strength as Indiana Democrats is fighting for the right policies.

Who created the social safety net of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food assistance, and disaster relief that we all count on? Democrats - despite often fierce opposition from Republicans. And who has been steadily destroying those programs and the good they bring ever since? Republicans - with the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act being an escalating example of their callous abandonment of the average American's basic needs.

Which party was in power on 9/11, led the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, set financial regulations that created the 2008 financial crisis, allowed the COVID-19 pandemic to rage across the country, overturned Roe vs. Wade, stood up for gun manufacturers after mass shooting and mass shooting, memory-holed the January 6 insurrection, defunded scientific and medical research, permitted a huge spike in neo-Nazism and militia violence, and elected the nation's one and only felon president? Republicans - ignoring Democratic and public outcry at every turn.

Is it easy being a Democrat in Indiana?

Actually, yes - it is. I care about truth and I don't want to cause harm. And I think if not for the lies and the noise, many current GOP voters would support what we want to do.

We are seeing our fellow Hoosiers start to realize that they have been hoodwinked, and we are ready to embrace them to move us all forward. If you know anyone who is not registered to vote, now's a great time to get them on the books! Go to https://www.in.gov/sos/elections/voter-information/register-to-vote/ to see how to help.