Episode 55: No One Can Serve Two Masters
Guest: Thomas Horrocks (D) - Candidate for Indiana State House, District 62
Complete show notes and more at https://scottaaronrogers.substack.com
https://www.horrocksforhoosiers.com/
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A few months ago, I was honored to host activist, author, and former Chair of the state Democratic Party in Ohio - David Pepper - on this podcast. In his 2021 book , Laboratories of Autocracy, and its 2023 sequel, Saving Democracy, one of the Republican dirty tricks he highlights is extreme gerrymandering. In captured “red” states, GOP legislatures have abused their power to redraw district lines in such a way as to ensure themselves a majority in the statehouse, and that most races will be entirely uncompetitive.
Thus begins a vicious cycle of extremism in which legislators face no accountability, have no incentive to compromise, and must be as partisan as possible in order to fend off opponents in the primary - the only time they might really be challenged. Public outcomes suffer and donors run the show.
Since the critical election of 2010, Indiana Republicans have have run this same playbook in the Hoosier state, holding a supermajority of more than two-thirds of both houses in the assembly the entire time, currently controlling 70 percent of House seats and a whopping 80 percent in the Senate.
True to form, Indiana Republicans have taken the state down an extreme path - crusading against LGBTQ Hoosiers, enacting one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country, and defunding public education to funnel public money to unaccountable private and religious schools - just some of the most heinous legislation passed in recent sessions.
Given the immoderate gerrymandering, Hoosier Democrats do not have a realistic chance of flipping the statehouse this year; but Jennifer McCormick is within striking distance of the governor’s office, Destiny Wells is on Todd Rokita’s heels, and the party has set the entirely achievable goal of flipping the four seats it will take to break the supermajority and, hopefully, force the Republicans to moderate.
And no single house seat is more flippable than my own District 62. Just two years ago, Republican Dave Hall defeated friend-of-the-pod Penny Githens by a mere 74 votes, the closest race in the state.
In 2024, Hall’s Democratic challenger is Thomas Horrocks, a pastor, chaplain in the Army National Guard, and my guest today. This is Horrocks’ second appearance on the show - we first spoke in December of last year. That was before the campaign really got underway, and a whole lot has happened since. In this conversation, we’ll talk about the economy, the culture wars, religious nationalism, public education, the environment, and standing up to big money.
Cited in the interview:
ReCenter Indiana: https://www.recenterindiana.org/
Abortion IS an economic issue: https://www.npr.org/2024/08/27/nx-s1-4998884/the-financial-side-of-abortion-access
Economist Michael J. Hicks on rural population decline and immigration: https://www.courierpress.com/story/opinion/2024/09/25/hicks-immigration-is-the-only-hope-for-indianas-dying-small-towns/75346974007/
Bishop Desmond Tutu quote: https://elevatesociety.com/we-need-to-stop-just/
On Jefferson Shreve and plutocrat philanthropy: https://scottaaronrogers.substack.com/p/reflections-from-a-hospital-room?r=1ss5n3
Dr. Phil Downs ICPE voucher analysis: https://indianacoalitionforpubliced.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/ICPE-Voucher-funds.pdf
Charter school fraud: https://www.chalkbeat.org/indiana/2024/01/23/virtual-charter-school-operators-indicted-for-alleged-enrollment-scam/
Early childhood education pays off: https://neweconomics.org/2023/07/investing-in-universal-early-years-education-pays-for-itself
The racist origin of school vouchers: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/racist-origins-private-school-vouchers/
Environmental impact statements: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/publications/teaching-legal-docs/teaching-legal-docs--what-is-an-environmental-impact-statement-/
Indiana GOP overrides state Supreme Court to let utilities gouge consumers: https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/articles/holcomb-signs-controversial-utility-bill-into-law
“For The People” Act: https://www.brennancenter.org/freedom-vote-act
John Lewis Voting Rights Act: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/john-r-lewis-voting-rights-advancement-act
Once again, that was Thomas Horrocks, Democratic candidate for State House of Representatives District 62, which includes all of Brown, and parts of Monroe and Jackson counties in South Central Indiana.
Over the last few months, I’ve spoken with several scholars of religion - Andrew Whitehead, Matthew Taylor, Karen Park - and now this is my second interview with Pastor Thomas. So, let’s see if this heathen learned anything, and begin my closing thoughts by turning to scripture.
In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verse 24, Jesus says
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Now, let’s bring in a little math and apply the transitive property. If, according to Timothy 3:16, Jesus is God in human flesh, then you cannot serve both Jesus and money.
Let’s go a step further. In Matthew 25 Jesus says, whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me. Again, by the transitive property, then you cannot serve both the least among us and money.
And I’ll be damned if that isn’t basically the same thing you’ll find in the gospel of Pepper, Book 1, Chapter 5,
“…serving private interests earns you far greater rewards than the public interest. And as a politician in a rigged district, the biggest risk you face is being outflanked by an extremist in you next primary, so your incentive is to be as extreme as possible. Even if public outcomes plummet, so long as you are extreme and cater to those private interests, you and your colleagues are reelected, no sweat. And the one thing that will get you ousted from office? Working with the other party on anything. So never do that!.”
Horrocks said 95% of his interactions with voters concerns the economy. Dave Hall and the Republican supermajority make sure Indiana’s economy works for their donors, not for the least of these among us.
Tom brought up the quote by Desmond Tutu about challenging systems. Dave Hall and the Republican supermajority ensure that downstream problems go unsolved if a donor profits upstream.
Who among us are more vulnerable than children? Dave Hall and the Republican supermajority drain the funds earmarked for those children’s public schools and funnel them to their donors in the for-profit education industry and ideologues in the religious indoctrination trade.
Indiana’s waterways are the dirtiest in the nation and our air quality is almost as bad. Dave Hall and the Republican supermajority let our monopoly energy companies pollute with impunity and run an end-around on the very conservative state Supreme Court to force consumers to pay for the cleanup.
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both ordinary Hoosiers and monied interests.
Dave Hall and the Republican supermajority serve their wealthy benefactors. Thomas Horrocks will serve us.
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Episode 55: No One Can Serve Two Masters