By Michael J Hicks
August 4, 2026
Last week, a white supremacist group, “Save Heritage Indiana” held a funeral for one of America’s worst idea — that being American was a matter of bloodline. Hidden to avoid the press, a few dozen souls gathered inside a rented tent to hear someone they called “Commander” Greg Bovino call for the deportation of nearly 1 out of 3 Americans.
This magical number from “Commander” Bovina counts all living immigrants and all their descendants. That would include 19 Senators, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and GOP senators Moreno, Cruz, Risch and more than half of all American Nobel Laureates.
Elsewhere, in Fishers, close to a thousand Hoosiers marched to celebrate America’s best idea — that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Make no mistake, neither of these events were about illegal immigration. They were about who can, and cannot be an American.
These words of our Declaration of Independence are precisely what the “Save Heritage Indiana” gathering seeks to deny. To them, being fully American requires a special pedigree. It is a noxious idea, un-American, foul, bitter, and sterile – like those who hold it.
It is heartening that only a few folks (they claim 130, but pictures show fewer than 60) gathered there to affirm the belief that holding full citizenship in Indiana requires that your great-great-great grandfather (white and Protestant of course) settled here.
By that definition, there were hundreds more “Heritage Hoosiers” in the pro-American march in Fishers, than gathered in that rented tent, hidden away in Greenfield.
For what it is worth, I meet that definition of “Heritage Hoosier” better than anyone in that tent. It’s just that I know why my ancestors fought a Revolution, Civil and two World Wars, why I fought and my children now fight our nations wars.
We fought for many things, but it sure as hell wasn’t to create a new aristocracy.
It is certain that all those Hoosiers in Fishers, waving Old Glory and reciting words from our Declaration of Independence and the Gospels just rankled the hell out of the self-claimed “Heritage Hoosiers.”
They suppose they are the special inheritors of freedom. I expect they’ll face a cruel judgement from children and grandchildren. The marchers at Fishers have no such worries.
But the real tell about the failure of this small gathering of hate, isn’t just the large, thoughtful counter-protest. It is who artfully dodged the “Save Heritage Indiana” wake.
Of course, the Governor skipped the event. The shenanigans of his lieutenant governor have substantively damaged his administration, and his policy agenda. No one has paid a bigger price for the GOP’s dalliance with bigotry than our current governor.
Moreover, it must be said Braun isn’t welcomed in the “Heritage Indiana” movement. His many personal achievements and public service doesn’t matter to them. He is Catholic. The assembled folks in that rented tent don’t even believe he is Christian, much less worthy of full citizenship.
They are fools, and he’s doubtless tired of them, a sentiment shared by roughly 6.9 million other Hoosiers.
The big story was that U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, declined to even record a supporting video for this event, despite prostrate begging by its organizers. A social media campaign against him even fractured their organization, causing one of its founders to quit. It’s been quite a spectacle of self-indulgent children.
Still, no one in modern politics is as unfettered by principle as Jim Banks. His legislative achievements are non-existent, his convictions chimerical, but his ability to assess the mood of the electorate is truly first rate. And, that is why he stayed away.
A year ago, Banks would’ve made an anti-American, mass deportation rally a key feature of his campaign to avoid actual legislative achievement. He’d have basked in the adoration of this crowd, and even pretended that the anti-American sentiment on display was a meritorious reflection of our founding.
Instead, he dodged the whole freak show. His ability to gauge the mood of voters is first rate.
And that is why the secretive gathering of anti-American bigots, was really nothing more than a funeral for the worst idea to flow across this land if abundance.
And even Jim Banks knows how unpopular it is.
Michael J. Hicks is professor of economics and the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University. He previously served on the faculty of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management and at research centers at Marshall University and the University of Tennessee. His research interest is in state and local public finance and the effect of public policy on the location, composition, and size of economic activity.
The views expressed here are solely those of the author, and do not represent those of funders, associations, any entity of Ball State University, or its governing body. Also, the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.
