Break the Republican Stranglehold in Indiana
Long Nguyen
Under the current two party system, the working class has no representation in the electoral system. Both political parties represent the billionaire class. To win working class demands like free healthcare for all by taxing the rich, rent control or a party for the working class, the Democratic and Republican Parties have to be demolished. The way to beat Trump, the right wing, and win voters is by putting forward working class representatives.
For many Americans, a vote for Trump was a massive middle finger to a system that does not care about anyone but the rich. Kamala Harris represented a continuation of Joe Biden’s free-falling economy and the continuation of the genocide in Gaza.
But the Republican Party has not kept to its promise to bring down prices, curb inflation, end the wars, and improve the economy. Trump promised that he would not touch Medicaid or social social security. Instead he cut Medicare and Medicaid funding by over a trillion dollars, and spent $1 billion a day waging war on Iran.
Working people dread voting for either political party. The voter turnout in 2024 was 65% of eligible voters. 75 million voted for Kamala Harris and 77 million voted for Donald Trump. That leaves 86 million people that did not vote. These are abysmal candidates that no working person wants to vote for but are forced on us by the two billionaire parties.
Voters in Indiana want an alternative option. This includes Republican voters. Polling shows that popularity for the Democratic and Republican parties are at historic lows. Trump’s approval rating is only at 35%.
Polling by Defend Forgotten America reveals that Hoosiers are concerned about the growing healthcare crisis. 86% of voters in Indiana were concerned that Rural Hoosiers would lose access to healthcare, 89% were concerned that local hospitals would eliminate critical services, 90% were concerned that emergency rooms would face overcrowding, 87% were concerned that rural women would lose access to OBGYN services and 73% agreed that “the Indiana state government should do more to protect hospitals in our local communities. A resounding 71% of Hoosiers oppose the plan to cut over $1 billion from Indiana’s Medicaid program.
Four in five voters in Indiana support raising the current $7.25 minimum wage. For data centers, 47% said they expect a negative impact while 29% say they expect a positive impact. Polling shows 64% believe abortion should be legal.
These are the issues that Hoosiers care about, and yet the Republican Party has done the exact opposite.
Indiana has been ruled by a Republican trifecta in the Governor, Senate and House since 2011. The Republican Party has held the Senate since 1992. Republicans have massive supermajorities in both chambers — 70 percent in the House, and 80 percent in the Senate.
What have they done with all that power?
Indiana has one of the highest eviction rates in the country. Almost 10 percent of Hoosier households are threatened with eviction every year. Yet Indiana Republicans have responded by protecting LANDLORDS, not renters. In 2021, Indiana Republicans banned local governments from passing almost any protections for renters. Republicans have also banned cities from increasing the minimum wage beyond the poverty wage of $7.25.
Indiana is in a healthcare crisis, and Republicans have made it worse. Earlier this year, the Indiana Republicans passed a bill to kick 100,000 Hoosiers off of Medicaid. They have also blocked local governments from taxing the rich to fund healthcare (or anything else). On top of that, Republicans passed a draconian and unpopular abortion ban in 2022.
Indiana Republicans are desperate to prevent the kinds of victories that workers, renters, and socialists have won in other states. In Seattle, workers won major victories like a $10/month cap on late rent fees, a ban on winter and school-year evictions, and a $21.30/hour minimum wage. They also won free abortion care and a major tax on Amazon to fund affordable housing.
The solution is not to elect Democrats. The Democratic Party doesn’t want workers to win these kinds of victories either. In Seattle, workers had to fight against the Democratic Party to win anything. They had to elect an independent socialist, Kshama Sawant, to fight for working-class interests inside City Hall.
The solution is to break from the Republican and Democrat Parties and to build an independent socialist party.
The day-to-day issues that Hoosiers care about such as free healthcare, living wages, or controlling skyrocketing utility bills are being ignored by the Democrat and Republican parties. Even when these capitalist parties pay lip service to working-class demands, the candidates never deliver. These billionaire party candidates lie all the time!
Instead of Republican or Democrat leadership, workers need working-class representatives. These should be independent socialist candidates. The Socialist Party of Indiana is spearheading a fight to do exactly that.