Much to Do to Save Democracy
Friends and Constituents,
The general theme of 2025 has been "Unspeakable horrors are conducted at breakneck speed in our government, and reaction has been delayed."
I have thought often of Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff - in cartoons, he always continued moving forward until he looked at the camera and realized he was falling.
At the very end of our legislative session in the Indiana General Assembly, legislators faced a sudden, unexpected $2 billion shortfall in projected revenue as a direct implication of ongoing uncertainty and trade policy from the federal government. The budget that was passed this week makes massive cuts to public health as a response. This, in turn, will likely cause downstream economic devastation.
At the same time, Donald Trump's unprecedented assault on the rule of law and due process continue to escalate. This afternoon, a Circuit Court Judge, Hannah Dugan, was arrested by the FBI and charged with two felonies for failing to allow ICE agents to arrest a person out of her courtroom.
I am happy to sit and talk peacefully with people who hold different political views than I do. I understand and agree that Donald Trump won election as President in November of 2024 with almost 50% of the popular vote. But without the consent of the governed, as determined by our shared foundational document, the United States Constitution, there is no legitimacy to this kind of authoritarian actions. I call on all Americans to resist the rise of authoritarianism by protesting the egregious behavior of the Trump administration that defies the checks and balances called for by the Constitution.
One of the biggest such overreaches has been the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The US Supreme Court issued a rare unanimous ruling ordering the Trump administration to help facilitate Abrego Garcia's return - thus far, the administration has ignored this order.
Reader: whether you call yourself a conservative, a liberal, a socialist, or a libertarian, I hope you see that dictatorial power in the hands of one President leads to the death of our democracy and an end to the experiment of a government of, by, and for the people.
Please join me next Wednesday, April 30th, at the US District Court at 46 E. Ohio Street, 46204 for a vigil insisting on protecting the constitution and bringing Kilmar Abrego Garcia home.
But the fight for democracy and against abuse must also extend to our workplaces! That is why I'm encouraging everyone to attend a webinar coming up on May 10th at noon. Lauren Roberts, one of the heroic women who went public about the abuse she experienced at the hands of Mayor Joe Hogsett's chief of staff Thomas Cook, is one of four panelists. Lauren and her co-hosts will be helping to share best practices for would-be whistleblowers to empower themselves and end abusive behavior.
I wanted to provide one final call to action, that I was shocked I hadn't already shared: as readers are hopefully already aware, Indianapolis has a Vision Zero Working Group that is tasked with reducing traffic fatalities to 0 by 2035. In order to prioritize that work, Health By Design is collecting information in their Vision Zero survey and map tool. You can add specific points of frustration to a map and take a quick survey about what your priorities are. Please, please take a few minutes to fill out this survey, which closes on April 30th!
https://visionzeroplan.com/
Your voice, your efforts make all the difference, from local issues to federal ones. When we work together, we absolutely have the power to create a better world.
Take care of yourselves, and take care of each other.
In love and solidarity,
Jesse