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The Indiana Republican Party is winning elections and then undercutting both political traditions and personal responsibility. State officials take on surprising roles. There are repeated efforts to turn Indianapolis into a plaything for criticism.
Our state, and maybe even the Republican Party itself, will soon pay for feeding the Republican base with revenge rather than results. It has enjoyed the freedom given by the U.S. Supreme Court to benefit from dark money. After two rounds of unrestrained creation of lopsided maps as now permitted by the Supreme Court, what has been lost? Is this like a snake about to eat its own tail?
◗ The first loss: responsibility for education
Since our 1851 state constitution was adopted, there have been two sources of responsibility for education: The taxpayers both paid for and provided control of public education, while individual families and their supporters paid for and controlled private and religious education.
The first crack in this fundamental division of responsibilities came with the charter school movement. It justified both less public financial support and less public control by claiming to help minorities and generate innovation in education.
Within a decade or so, the Republican legislative leaders decided to double down by starting to fund private and religious schools for families with income at or near poverty levels. Initially, there were real limits on who could claim state dollars. Those are nearly gone, but that is not enough for some.
Our current lieutenant governor has now turned “educational choice” into welfare for the rich. She is campaigning for higher office by insisting that even those families with the highest incomes get a voucher. No longer is this a program to provide alternatives for poor families in failing schools. It will provide state money to well-off families who are already paying their own way in thriving schools. All this with little public control or accountability.
The lieutenant governor has taken the fig leaf off the justification for educational choice. The cost of these vouchers for the well-to-do will come at the expense of the 90% of students in traditional public schools.
◗ The second loss: respect for roles
The Indiana Republican Party has lost all respect for the proper role of state officials. Our attorney general has confused himself with a crusader king. He visits the border in Texas and asserts a role in immigration policy. He takes on TikTok, acting as if he were conducting foreign policy. As to what he has done in the abortion debate—I will leave that to other members of my family. Happily, the judicial system shows signs of restraining him.
Meanwhile, in the state Senate, a former Indianapolis councilor tried to rewrite local traffic laws affecting right turns on red. His reasoned defense of this overreach is that the City-County Council is being “stupid.”
◗ Sweet revenge
Happily, there might be a price to be paid for all this deviation from normal ways of governing. It is what I call the “Diego Morales Effect.” Morales snuck up on the Republican establishment to win the nomination for secretary of state. Now a cleric named Micah Beckwith is openly campaigning to foist himself on the Republican ticket next year as the candidate to succeed Suzanne Crouch. The traditional role of the governor in picking a running mate is to be undercut. Let the fun begin.•
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DeLaney, an Indianapolis attorney, is a Democrat representing the 86th District in the Indiana House of Representatives. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.
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