Hoosier Victory Alliance and Organizing for Change in Red America

How we all can contribute to a more democratic America, wherever we are.

Friends,

Welcome to Hoosier Victory Alliance’s first real newsletter. Our purpose here is to create a community of activists and voters across the country and Indiana where we can learn about how Dems can retake Democracy in red states like Indiana. We’ll be talking about our efforts, including the “Every State Blue” project in the coming weeks and months.

WTG: What the Gerrymander? Podcast

We’ll be tying content to our podcast, also named WTG: What the Gerrymander?, which will be hosted by Heidi Beidinger. The first episode will drop in January. Don’t worry, we’ll let you know where to find it and how to tune in.

Speaking of the Podcast, our first guest will be David Pepper, author of Laboratories of Autocracy. You may have seen David on Twitter, or more recently on his substack, Pepperspectives. He’s a former Cincinnati City Council member and is an expert on democracy, and how unaccountable state legislators in gerrymandered states (like Indiana) make extreme policies that the majority of the citizens don’t agree with. Check out his book or his podcast before our episode!

Social and Un-Social Media

Most of you follow the trials and travails of social media after Elon Musk bought Twitter and has been opening it up to Nazi sympathizers and purging it of journalists who cover him. I want to talk a little about why Twitter was so important, and why I think Post.news is the medium I think will succeed it in the near term.

We’ve all heard that Twitter isn’t real life, right? “Regular” people don’t spend a lot of time there, but journalists, lawmakers, activists, and thought leaders do spend a lot of time talking and conversing on Twitter. For activists and state level campaigns, its a place where you can punch above your weight and play in the same sandbox as national or state opinion makers. Twitter isn’t for persuading anyone of your point of view (that’s for Facebook and real life conversations). Twitter was good for amplifying winning messaging, attempting to change the frame of the national narrative, and find other activists with the same pro-democracy goals. But last night the implosion intensified. So, what’s next?

I believe that Post.news is the next place that pro-democracy activists, journalists, political strategists and people interested in a broad public square will go. Unlike Mastadon, which is meant to be anti-viral and more intimate, Post lets you aggregate followers and get your message out to a large number of people. I’ve already accrued more than 1100 followers. The purpose is to be able to organize online, amplify pro-democracy messaging, and give people the tools they need to have conversations in real life about what matters to our society. It is also a place where we can find articles and research about the topics we care about, from experts we’ve vetted already. So, please follow us on Post. www.post.news/hoosiervictory. Plus, post has a lot of puppy pics and a very neighborhoodly vibe.

Organizing

In coming newsletters, I’ll be talking about relational organizing (organizing the people you already know in your personal networks), donor organizing (becoming a hub for raising small dollar donations from people you know), data gathering, messaging, and other topics. Stay tuned for more.

Stuff to Consume

In every newsletter, we’ll give you recommendations on something to watch, read, listen to, or generally consume. Today I want to recommend Rachel Maddow’s podcast Ultra. It is a limited series about Nazis who reached into the highest levels of society and government in the 1930s and 1940s. The parallels to today are frightening. You can find it here.

Indiana Insights

We’ll also have an item or two from Indiana each issue, so Hoosiers can find a special section devoted to an issue in Indiana. For today, I’ll point you to Dr. Gabriel Bosslet’s Medium series on healthcare in Indiana. You can find it here.

Happy Holidays

This is already too long, and I don’t want to inundate you with too much as you’re preparing for the winter holidays. For now, please pass this along, and enjoy Chanukkah, Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate. And here’s to a better, more democratic 2023.

Can’t wait to talk more in the coming year. We have such exciting stuff to do together!

—Stephanie

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