Boycott Indiana?
I know. The GOP-dominated Legislature and the Governor here in Indiana have put in place an inexcusable piece of legislation.
So the social media insta-reaction was to come up with a hashtag. #BoycottIndiana to be specific.
If you live here and are a Democrat, as I am, it has always been an uphill battle when it comes to politics. We had a proud moment when the state went for Obama in 2008.
We have had Democratic Senators and occasionally Democratic Governors but our legislature has grown into a veto-proof GOP majority. This is not good. Districts have been reshaped so that formally strong Democratic areas have been neutralized or watered-down.
What we need in this state is help. HELP. HELP. HELP.
Telling me you aren’t going to drive through my state isn’t helping anything.
Insisting that large events go elsewhere isn’t helping.
Shunning us isn’t going to help.
Decreasing the number of job opportunities isn’t helping.
Making my fellow Hoosiers poorer isn’t helping.
Running businesses out of the state isn’t helping.
Again, I don’t agree with the legislation. Let’s be clear. There was no need for it.
People have said we should boycott, for a variety of reasons: Texas. Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas, now Indiana. The populations of these states add up to around 80 million people.
The U.S. holds 320 million people. You want to write off a fourth of the population?
How about this? How about working to replace the objectionable politicians we have in abundance?
Let’s use the ballot box to target the politicians who author these bills. We can pick one off here and there.
And while we work toward that worthy goal, how about this?
Let’s work at the grass roots level. Let our local businesses know how much we appreciate their inclusive policies.
Things can be better if we work toward it. At least, we will have tried.
The people who authored this law want you to give up, write us off. By boycotting, you are doing just exactly what they want you to do.
These folks don’t like people watching while they work. That is why the signing was done behind closed doors.
One last time, I think this legislation was absolutely unnecessary. I am not a lone voice here in Indiana. Many fought against the legislation when it was brought up and will continue to fight until it is changed.
I was encouraged to see GenCon reconsider their initial response after the business community reached out to them. I hope after a few days, cooler heads will prevail and we can refocus on changing this law. Business and citizens working together can do this.
This has been difficult personally because many of the people who I have agreed with on the Left don’t seem to be able to hear me on this subject. We have fought the same fights, celebrated the wins, suffered through the losses.
I’m sure the national attention will move on to something else after a while, then we can start trying to fix this.
Peace
Bellbottom Blog 