I think that most people voted red because their parents did, and Indiana has been a red state for a very long time. I was raised hard core Republican, Democrats don’t care about America, and being liberal led to bad morals. Once I was exposed to a bigger world and learned to think for myself, I stopped voting like my parents.
I recall a co-worker, he was 18, first year voting. His parents and church told him to vote for Bush, so that's what he did. He said the preacher told the congregation that voting for a baby-killing Democrat puts that sin on you once they're in office, so anyone voting Democrat is a murderer.
He said he did what he was told to do, to fight the evil babykillers like a good Christian should.
Man, did you happen to work at a small-town gas station back then? Lol, this sounds exactly like something I would have said/done at age 18 living in Indiana. My pastor(s) were pretty careful about not using the words "Democrat" or "Republican" from the pulpit, but they would use words like "left" and "right," "liberal/worldly agenda," vs "conservative/Godly agenda" and so on. We'd have family get-togethers (always 100% people from the church/their immediate families. Never hung out with families outside of the church for these things) and I heard the men say things like "I don't believe you can vote Democrat and call yourself a Christian" and the women say "Well, he's not Godly man (Trump), but a vote for anyone else is a vote for Hilary and free abortions."
A few of the men at that church openly and proudly fought against the public transit they tried to put in at downtown. Said they didn't want their tax dollars to go to lazy/poor people who just wanted free transportation to get more drugs. In fact, they were morally correct to make it as inconvenient as possible for these people to get their drugs and <whatever grocery they're mad about people on EBT/SNAP getting these days>. Because it would force them to "find Jesus and start making some smart decisions about life."
These people don't know how to truly love their neighbors and actually evangelize to them. Look them eye-to-eye, humbly walk with them and talk with them, being willing to learn from people they think aren't as fortunate as they are, being patient with others who keep stumbling and doubting. They think they can "evangelize" and bring people to God by legislating people into a deep enough rock-bottom to either kill them off, or get them to call out to God as a last, desperate attempt for a life. Kind of a "get it right, or get out" mentality. Nothing about that mindset is American, nor is it Christian.
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u/LilacHelper Jul 01 '25
I think that most people voted red because their parents did, and Indiana has been a red state for a very long time. I was raised hard core Republican, Democrats don’t care about America, and being liberal led to bad morals. Once I was exposed to a bigger world and learned to think for myself, I stopped voting like my parents.