Harry Targ
An estimated 300
citizens of the Greater Lafayette, Indiana area assembled Sunday for a Town
Hall with Congressman James Baird, who indicated he would not attend. Organized
by Greater Lafayette Indivisible and allied local organizations people came
with a sense of the immediacy of threats to healthcare, education,
livable incomes, and the very soul of democracy.
Congressman Baird (a member of the three “B’s" and an "R” of Indiana politics) supports the Trump/Musk agenda to destroy democratic institutions and programs that serve the people. The three “B’s are Governor Braun, Senator Banks, Congressman Baird, and the “R” is Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita. Three of the four came from the 4th Congressional district of Indiana and all four oppose the role of government and policies that attendees came to support.
Congressman Baird, 4th Congressional District, for example, opposed the outcome of the 2020 elections, supports President Trumps anti-immigrant policies, supports military aid to Israel, and endorses the destruction of the Department of Education. As to the latter Baird stated on March 25, 2025 that;
“President Trump has made it clear: we are putting parents back in the driver’s seat of their children’s education, not unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. Since the Department of Education was created in 1979 under President Carter, educational outcomes have not improved. Math and reading scores for 13-year-olds are at the lowest levels in decades, while average per-pupil spending has increased. Our children deserve better.”
While school choice policies have been a
disaster for Hoosier education because funding for public education has been
cut, Baird proudly pointed out that
Indiana was an early state that encouraged them.
“Indiana has been a leader in school choice for years, ensuring every
Hoosier family has the freedom to choose the educational option that best fits
their children’s needs. This Executive Order is a monumental step in making
school choice a reality for every family, improving educational outcomes for
our students, empowering parents, and making American education great again.”
Attendees at the Town
Hall spoke with anguished concern about threats to education, persons with
serious mental health needs, impediments to women voters and families
struggling to get by paycheck to paycheck. (As to the latter United Way
empirical studies have found that nearly forty percent of Hoosier households earn
below a livable wage). And many who spoke at the Town Hall pointed out that society’s
wealth is increasingly being concentrated in the hands of a small number of
billionaires.
The audience listening to these testimonies and the presentation by the Lafayette Indivisible moderator was energized and responded with enthusiasm to calls for united action in the weeks ahead. Attendees left the meeting with a sense of common purpose, a commitment to building a united front of groups: labor, healthcare, immigrant rights, anti-racism, women’s groups and progressives in both the Democratic and Republican parties.
The event was energizing and represented one local Indiana community’s response to the threats to democracy and human rights paralleling the grassroots organizing occurring all around the country. Scholars of social movements recently pointed out:
“That Americans seem to be rediscovering the art, science and potency of noncooperation — combined with a robust protest capacity and legal action — shows that resistance against Trump’s agenda in America is not only alive and well. It is savvy, diversifying and probably just getting started.”
