While at the Netroots Nation convention and attending many caucus's and panels we heard a lot about the radical laws in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio. We sat in on a Midwest Labor caucus and they only spoke about those three states. Indiana was rarely mentioned. We were at our capital fighting against Right To Work For Less at the same time Wisconsin was, but it was rarely reported in the media. It boggles my mind of why Indiana is rarely to never mentioned. Is it because it's considered "a red state?" That I don't know, but there are many blue counties and voters and many are effected by the same laws and Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Hoosiers are feeling the same pain as those citizens from Mi, Oh, Wi, and are trying to fight these things with a lot less help from the outside. I think the biggest fight we have in Indiana is trying to educate voters, get Democrats to vote (especially in Northwest Indiana) and get voters to stop voting against themselves.
In Indiana we have voter I.D. laws, we are Right To Work for Less,Governor Pence is refusing to expand Medicaid under Obamacare and they want to prevent out of state students from voting; these are just few of the laws. Now Mike Pence and the Indiana Republican Congress are putting a vote on the ballot in 2014 to Amend the Indiana Constitution to make same sex marriage illegal. How they can do that also boggles the mind since it completely goes against the constitutions 14th Amendment, but I wonder how much help we are going to have to get the message out to the voters especially in southern Indiana to get them to vote "no?"
For those of you that are thinking that Indiana isn't the only state ignored. You are right. Maybe the problem is that we focus mainly on the "blue or purple states" that have radical governors that are trying to change laws rather than focus on all the states that are going through the same things. The only way to change things is to not focus on a few, but focus on them all. We need to make everyone aware in every state what these radical crazies are trying to do. Not just in Michigan Ohio, Wisconsin or even Indiana, and it would be nice to get the media to do the same. I know wishful thinking.
