Rep. Ed DeLaney: Reflecting on Republican ruin in Indiana

I am thrice limited in writing about the current turmoil inside the once-unified Indiana Republican Party.

First, I am a Democrat. So I am not an insider, only an interested observer. Second, I am writing on deadline, one day before the critical May primary. Lastly, my target audience, traditional Republicans, is small. Traditional pro-business Republicans are in retreat, able to complain but not to seek solutions. But, here I go.

Traditional Indiana Republicans need to look at their reflection in a mirror. They act as though the decline in decency and party unity befell them through no fault of their own. That excuse died on Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump provoked an assault on the Capitol, the symbol of democracy.

Indiana’s then leading Republican, Mike Pence, refused Trump’s order to halt his departure. But Pence then went silent as to the pressure Trump had put on him. He and the establishment stood by as his party refused to impeach Trump. This left Trump free to run again.

He did so freed from the restraints that traditional Republicans had used to hold him back in his first term. They went quiet and remain there

As the author Ian Buruma has said in a very different context, when your old beliefs crumble there is a “temptation to look away.”

Loyalty now is paid to a party that no longer functions as a brake on extremism. Old-school Republicans turn their eyes away. The primary chaos in Indiana this spring is the price they must pay.

If the traditional leaders of the Indiana Republican Party want to restore sanity to their party they must end their silence. They should look into their mirrors, then get their mouths and their money moving. They should open their wallets.

They let Sen. Jim Banks, former Congressman David McIntosh of the Club for Growth and lawyer Jim Bopp, who brought us the Citizens United decision, go after decent legislators with relentless attack ads.

What should traditional Republicans reflect about when analyzing their current plight? What corrective actions might they take?

• Republican members of Congress might pass more than one or two bills. How about a well-thought-out immigration law, now that ICE is proving unpopular? How about a concern with corruption in government?

• Might Republican lawyers let us know what they think about the hollowing out of the once-proud Department of Justice? Will they support the halt in prosecuting white-collar crime or the trafficking in presidential pardons?

• Will they note that the White House is investing public funds in big businesses and in unproven start-ups? For decades these lawyers claimed that they were the only thing protecting free markets from government overreach and the Democrats. What are they saying now? Will the bond lawyers look away from the attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve?

• Will Republicans who care about trade or foreign policy remain silent as NATO is condemned and long-term trading partners look for markets outside of the U.S.?

• Will establishment pastors continue to cede the field to Micah Beckwith? Is he the positive role model our kids need?

Democrats are looking to the future. We want to deal with the problems our young people face. It might be fears about artificial intelligence or the fact that the average first-time homebuyer is 40 years old.

Traditional Republicans are letting their party be tied to a vision of a beautiful past when one race and one gender ran everything and all was well. They know better. Meanwhile, my party and I are looking to the future.•

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DeLaney, an Indianapolis attorney, is a Democrat representing the 86th District in the Indiana House of Representatives. Send comments to [email protected].

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