Episode 39: Putting Stakes in the Ground

HoosLeft Podcast

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Episode 39: Putting Stakes in the Ground

Scott Aaron Rogers

Jun 14, 2024

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.

After speaking with Diversity & Inclusion consultant -and former Staff Director for D&I at Notre Dame - Eric Love, last week, we double dip in North Central Indiana, with South Bend’s Lori Camp, Democratic candidate for the US House of Representatives for Indiana’s 2nd district.

From her campaign website,

“Lori Camp is a lifelong resident of South Bend, Indiana. She is a 1985 graduate of James Whitcomb Riley High School and earned a degree in Criminal Justice from IU South Bend. Lori is the Operations and Training Manager as well as the Vendor Compliance Coordinator for Donnell Systems, a small software firm in South Bend. Married to her husband Bob, their daughter Katie is a college student.
Lori has served on the South Bend Community Schools Magnet School Task Force which helped the district determine how the magnet programs could be improved.
For the past six years, Lori has been a dive coach for South Bend Adams, St. Joseph and Mishawaka High Schools. Before that she volunteered as a board member and treasurer of her daughter’s gymnastic team.”

In this interview, Lori and I talked about her background & how it prepared her to serve Hoosiers in Washington. We spoke at length about the economy, including healthcare and education, which consume large portions of family budgets. We also got into immigration, abortion rights, and the far-right attack on American democracy itself. Finally, we talked about pressing current events like one of our closest allies openly committing genocide, and our Supreme Court openly engaging in corruption, before turning to her increasingly-fascistic incumbent opponent.

My God, we really do live in the worst timeline.

Once again, today’s interview went into overtime. I really do try to aim for an hour program start to finish, but what the hell; there’s no network setting a time limit, so if we go long, we go long. Now, that said, I trimmed about 25% and still overshot the mark. So, an extra deep interview for everybody, with some still left over. Last week, I released the deleted scenes to paid subscribers. Did you guys that received that extra content enjoy it? Lemme know what you think. For those of you yet to make the leap, is this something that entices you? No? What would? Again, I want your feedback. I really want to lean into HoosLeft as a pro-democracy, organizing project. I might be the guy with the microphone, but I want everybody within earshot to think of themselves as participants.

Remember the 3 P’s of organizing: PEOPLE coming together to exercise POWER - which Dr. MLK defined as “the ability to achieve PURPOSE” - a specific concrete goal.

That’s us, you and I, and everybody we know, doing whatever we can, and then reaching deep to find more, to build a more just, equitable, and compassionate Indiana, and America.

That’s why I invite the guests I do. When we speak with candidates and elected officials, we have a direct line to those who do, or might, exercise the legitimate power of government on our behalf. When we speak with activists, we have opportunities to join with them and/or learn from their activism. When we speak with academics and experts, we broaden our knowledge base so we can better understand the larger forces at work. I’ve got a jam-packed summer lineup already in the works, with multiple Congressional candidates and some nationally-renowned authors sprinkled in amongst Hoosiers working at the state and local level to help their neighbors.

I’m constantly working to bring more and more elected officials, activists, organizers, authors, and experts, into our community so we - and OUR PEOPLE, our extended networks - can more effectively come together to exercise our POWER for our PURPOSE of building a better Indiana.

Unfortunately, we live in a late capitalist hellscape and doing this work requires money. I currently work as an independent craftsman during the day and work on this project on evenings and weekends. I would LOVE nothing more than to be able to do this work full-time, to build our network of committed Hoosiers and allies. If you can, help me out with a paid subscription at scottaaronrogers.substack.com. For five dollars a month or $50 a year, you can help me push our state in a better direction, and maybe if we reach critical mass, I can put down my tool belt and devote my full time to you, to this project, and to Indiana’s future. So, if you have the means, pause right now, go to scottaaronrogers.substack.com and subscribe at the paid level.

And while the best way to help this project is a financial contribution, if you can’t afford it at this time, you can still help. Subscribe at the free level over on Substack. Set your favorite podcast player to auto-download new episodes of the show. Rate and review the show on whatever platform you use. Follow me on social media at facebook.com/hoosleft (spell); I’m also on Bluesky at the same handle. On Instagram, Threads, and Twitter, I’m at scottrog78 (spell) and on Mastodon at scottrog78@hoosier.social. Full video episodes of the pod are now available on YouTube, with clips on TikTok: the handle on both of those is @hoosleft. Please subscribe on whichever platforms you use, and make judicious use of the comment function. The DM’s are always open to discuss ideas for the project.

But, most importantly, share our message. Forward the articles to friends, family, and colleagues; don’t just like, but share on social media; invite others to this community of Indiana leftists. Nobody is coming to save us - we’ve gotta do it ourselves. To those who have joined this community already, especially those paid subscribers, you fill my heart and have my sincere thanks. And to everybody, thanks for listening.

Here’s my interview with Lori Camp.

Once again, Lori Camp, Democratic candidate for United States Congress from Indiana’s 2nd District.

Big thanks to her for being so generous with her time. Just a down-to-earth, regular-ass person, doing her part to improve her community. Seeing an unopposed Republican, volunteering as tribute - to make the incumbent do the work and use resources that could have been used in other races. This alone deserves our thanks and our support.

But she isn’t some sacrificial lamb, there to put up token resistance. Lori does an exceptionally good job of translating a remarkably progressive platform into traditional Hoosier values.

We talked about the economy and she pointed the finger right at corporate profiteering. When we talked about healthcare, she said she wanted every for-profit entity out of the process. Sure, I’d go further, but Lori proposed major reforms to the student loan system, expanding the Supreme Court, and codifying women’s right to choose on day one of the new Congress.

Yet, Lori doesn’t sound like a radical. She speaks of work-ethic, follow-through, and compromise. She deftly explains the radical right’s abortion ban as government overreach. That resonates. And it turns out progressive values ARE Hoosier values.

Never forget that the progressive left position always wins the blind taste test. Our ideas are overwhelmingly popular. And because I can’t resist a pun, Camp understands that sought-after change is great place to plant one’s stake. We negotiate from there. Not from the already-too-far-right center.

And though I’m engaging in word-play, let’s get serious and talk about the stakes in this upcoming election. American democracy itself IS on the line, and that is not an exaggeration. We know who Rudy Yakym is. He’s had his chance to reject Trump and Trumpism, to reject Christian nationalism, to stand up and say ‘enough,’ but Rudy always bends the knee. The invertebrate Yakym will gladly sell out Hoosiers for a bit part in an American reich.

So, if you live in Indiana’s 2nd Congressional district, it’s time to get involved. South Bend, Elkhart, Goshen, Mishawaka. Check your voter registration. Plymouth, Warsaw, Rochester, Peru, make sure your friends, neighbors, and anyone you know who values democracy does the same. North Judson, Bass Lake, Wabash, Grissom, commit to making sure those people vote on or before election day, November 5. Remind them constantly; early voting starts October 8. Encourage them to vote early and use the remaining time to bring their people into the fold. In 2020, Americans turned out in record numbers to vote in the face of a viral pandemic. In 2024, Americans need to make democracy go viral.

Thanks for listening. Thank you to my guest today, Lori Camp, can be found at campforcongress.com. Please help her in whatever way you can, be it financially - those recurring donations go a long way, by canvassing, by writing letters, whatever you can do. If you want to hear more from our conversation, I’ve probably got a good 30 minutes worth of bonus content. That’ll go out to paid subscribers in the next few days. Get your ass on over to scottaaronrogers.substack.com and subscribe at the paid level if you want to hear that sweet, sweet bonus content. In addition to Substack, you can find me on Facebook, Bluesky, YouTube and TikTok at hoosleft and on most other social media sites at scottrog78. If you want send me as message, slide up in my DMs on social media or email me at scottrog78@gmail.com. I know I just asked for money for Lori’s campaign, but if you are able, help me out too. Let’s keep this project growing. Until next time, this has been the HoosLeft podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.

HoosLeft Podcast, Episode 39: Putting Stakes in the Ground

Guest: Lori Camp, Democrat for US House of Representatives (IN-02)

https://scottaaronrogers.substack.com/subscribe

https://www.campforcongress.com/

https://www.madvoters.org/

https://www.surveyandballotsystems.com/blog/participation/the-dangers-of-uncontested-elections/

https://inequality.org/research/inflation-price-gouging/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-free-market-is-bad-at-providing-health-care/2019/03/27/3e153ebc-4f31-11e9-bdb7-44f948cc0605_story.html

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/05/01/hollow-political-parties-donald-trump-00155297

https://www.wgbh.org/news/education-news/2023-09-08/other-countries-show-student-loans-can-be-simple-and-humane

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2024/03/24/research-shows-immigrants-benefit-us-taxpayers/

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/arizona-abortion-ballot-measure/