Welcome to the HoosLeft podcast, a show about Indiana politics, history, and culture from the unapologetic perspective of the Hoosier left. My name is Scott Aaron Rogers and I’m recording from Bloomington.
Today on the pod, we continue the big anniversary week spectacular (and fund drive) with Monroe Country Democratic Party Chair David Henry. We will briefly discuss his career and entry into politics, his candidacy for county council, and the duties of a country party chair. We’ll also zoom out to look at that role in relation to the state party, congressional districts, and the DNC. Finally, we examine the structure of the party, building power within that structure, and the difficulties of getting such a massive machine to move in your desired direction.
I am a leftist. I avoided the Democratic Party for years. The foundation of this house sucks. It is hard to reconcile with the history of the institution - the two most important foundational personalities in the party were slaveholding Southerners - Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson - the first of whom fathered six children with the enslaved girl he was sexually abusing and the latter marched thousands of indigenous people to their deaths. This was the party of the Confederacy, the Klan, and Jim Crow, the party of corrupt machine bosses from William Tweed to Richard Daly. From its founding, the organization positioned itself as the protector of the “sovereignty of the people”, the party of the common man. It still does.
But “the people” and “the common man” only meant white people until at least the FDR administration. Even then, many of the New Deal’s programs, at best, overlooked, and at worst, overtly discriminated against Black and Hispanic Americans. Only after the party finally embraced civil rights, and the Nixon/Reagan Southern Strategy wooed all the old racist Dixiecrats across the aisle, did Democrats resemble something like a European-style social democratic party I could support. This lasted, what, half a generation? Already, by the Carter administration, Democrats were beginning to flirt with neoliberalism, and after big presidential election losses in 1980, 84, and 88, Bill Clinton consummated the party’s relationship with free-market capitalism. There were cigars.
I’m a leftist. I voted for Ralph Nader. Twice. And, yeah, I almost exclusively voted for Democratic candidates down-ballot - it’s not like I could vote for a Republican - but I always considered myself an independent and did not register as a member of any party. I became a registered Democrat in 2008 so I could vote for Barack Obama in the primary - and I held such (what’s the word?) HOPE for a transformative presidency, ya know, some CHANGE - but was so disappointed as he governed like another neoliberal and the party forgot down-ballot races exist.
Bernie Sanders in 2016 represented the kind of Democratic Party I’d like to see, and I was extremely disillusioned when he came up short. I thought about staying home in November, voting 3rd party, or even voting Trump out of spite. Yeah, I know; but first of all, I didn’t; and second, I don’t think anyone knew he was going to be THAT bad.
I held my nose, went in that booth (okay - it isn’t really a booth), and voted for Hillary Clinton. Why? There was much talk on my left about Bernie getting screwed, the DNC rigging the primary, and so on. That just wasn’t true. Yes, the primary rules that year, the awarding of superdelegates, favored her - but those were known far in advance and regardless, she simply got more votes than my preferred candidate. The “Bernie got screwed” trope was amplified by bad actors on social media and way too many leftists fell for it. I pulled the lever (okay - there really isn’t a lever) for Hillary because a Clinton presidency would have been better than a Trump presidency, because a Clinton presidency would have meant a liberal Supreme Court and the protection of Roe, and because a Clinton presidency would have meant less real-world harm to marginalized Americans.
And those were the only two real choices.
We don’t have a two party system because of some grand conspiracy between Democrats and Republicans. We have a two party system because of decisions made by dudes in powdered wigs almost 250 years ago. Public policy researcher Benjamin Zycher suggests the founding fathers implemented the Electoral College to ensure a two-party system, with the goal of “forcing candidates and party platforms toward the middle of the political spectrum so as to forge broader-based coalitions, thus increasing consensus and compromise and reducing political strife.” Given the extreme positions of this generation’s GOP, and their continuing electoral relevance, I’m not sure they achieved that goal. AND, in political science, Duverger’s law (definition from Wikipedia) “holds that in political systems with only one winner (as in the U.S.), two main parties tend to emerge with minor parties typically splitting votes away from the most similar major party.” So, as long as most states and jurisdictions use single-member districts with first-past-the-post plurality voting - and as long as the Electoral College exists, you only get two real choices. Voting for the minor party candidate ONLY hurts the major party candidate closest to you.
Look. I’m tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. I want to see a vibrant multi-party system where citizens can vote their conscience without screwing themselves. This requires eliminating the Electoral College and introducing something like ranked-choice voting, multi-member districts, and/or proportional representation. THAT requires Constitutional amendment. THAT requires working within the current system. THAT is why, despite having more beef with the party than the ol’ 96er in “The Great Outdoors”, I’m a Democrat.
My interview with David Henry after this message:
HoosLeft is dedicated to calling out Indiana lawmakers, their financial backers, and the networks of people actively working to make our lives worse by cutting education, cutting healthcare, cutting gaping holes in the social safety net; those whose policies kill children via environmental degradation, lack of access to necessary healthcare, and lax gun control laws; those that sow grief in our homes and communities. I will work to highlight these bad actors so we can replace them with more empathetic leadership. I will also shine the spotlight on Hoosier activists, organizations, and elected officials who are doing the hard work to build a more just, equitable, and compassionate Indiana.
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For a wide view of the global forces at work, check out Monday’ episode with guest Tom LaVonne. We reset the table, putting the current crisis of social breakdown in historical perspective. Yesterday, MADVoters’ Chelsea McDonnel stopped by to summarize the first half of the Indiana General Assembly’s 2024 session. Tomorrow, Indianapolis City Councilman Jesse Brown returns to the pod to discuss his first month-plus on the council, coming into the party - and then government, as an outsider - and some of the resistance he’s faced from fellow Democrats. Those are all available wherever you get your podcasts or at scottaaronrogers.substack.com. Friday, I’ll have a written piece over there. Hope to have you aboard for the full ride.
Once again, that was Monroe County Democratic Party Chair David Henry. Here are my thoughts:
First of all, I really appreciate his candor. I come across way too many partisan cheerleaders and not enough Democratic leaders willing to focus a critical eye on those at the top of the party. This is a guy who gets it, a progressive who came into the party from Indivisible, from the Sanders camp. And he understands that this is a very long game.
And we all have to understand that. There are no quick fixes. And I reject the premise we have to blow the whole thing up and start over. I think that leads down the road to an openly Christofascist dictatorship. Accelerationism is doom.
Republicans built the machine that is currently chipping away at our Democracy over more than 50 years. In 1971, Lewis Powell, whom Nixon would nominate to the Supreme Court the following year, drew up the blueprint for complete corporate oligarchic control of the country in a memo to the US Chamber of Commerce. Through a series of think tanks and foundations - and with LOTS of money from the Koch, Olin, Bradley, DeVos and Coors families, among others - economic elites shepherded the power of, as David mentioned, white evangelical Christian extremism using race, and then abortion, as a wedge issue. They understood this may take decades and the oligarchs finally got what they wanted - legalized political bribery - in 2010’s Citizens United case. The religious zealots had to wait a dozen more years for Dobbs.
The left better damn well understand this, but we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The party’s foundation is rotten, but the house has good bones. Let’s not waste a ton of time, energy, and money building a new structure from scratch. By the time we have the skeleton built, MAGA extremists might burn it down.
I know it might not be a popular opinion, but if leftists like us want to remake this country in our image, we restart by remaking the Democratic Party in our image. Do you live in a county with no party chair? How about you? Is there an opening for precinct committeeperson where you live? Fill it. There isn’t? Run next time. Show up. Make calls. Stop waiting for a savior. It’s you. You’re the savior. Together, we must save ourselves.
Look, say you’re out on a hike and it starts to rain. Torrential downpour. You and your hiking partner each have a tent. Theirs is a pop-up and sets up in no time, but its a little leaky and not very big. Yours is nicer, brand new, all the features you wanted. But it takes some time to set up. They’re both big enough for two people, but just barely. You both cram into the pop-up, right? It might be uncomfortable and you might get a little wet. But you won’t get soaked. The lesser of two evils might suck, but it’s still less evil.
Next time we’ll talk to Democratic Socialist, Indianapolis city councilman Jesse Brown, see what he’s been up to since taking office in January, AND talk about the drippy pop-up he’s sharing with Circle City Democrats. Until then, this has been the HoosLeft Podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.
HoosLeft #21: Steering the Battleship
Guest: Monroe Co. Democratic Party Chair David Henry
Subscribe at https://scottaaronrogers.substack.com
https://www.votedavidhenry.com/
https://www.indivisible.org/
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2016/04/25/trey-hollingsworth-joseph-hollingsworth-hollingsworth-capital-partners-greg-zoeller-indiana-ninth-congressional-district/83274574/
https://indems.org/our-party/resources/faqs/
http://www.thebigsort.com/home.php
https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/martin-van-burens-legacy-was-more-than-just-muttonchops-2
https://journalistsresource.org/economics/economy-perception-roundup/
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3609952-did-newt-gingrich-wreck-american-politics/
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/07/19/gerrymandering-republicans-redmap
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/why-do-candidates-run-for-office-when-theres-little-chance-they-can-win
