It's Time For A New Myth

We Don't Need Heroes To Rescue Us, We Need Each Other

In our human ancestry, there are universal patterns that show up again and again in our stories, movies, myths, symbols and personal lives. These patterns cross cultures and span millennia, they reside within our collective psyches and we recognize them immediately. These ancient, universal patterns are called archetypes, and they hold power within us, individually and collectively. Archetypes are the themes that play out in our lives such as the lover, explorer, hero, the everyday person, jester, healer, teacher, trickster, ruler, and rebel. Archetypes can appear as personal traits or behaviors and can also exist as universal themes that appear repeatedly in literature, films, fairytales and cultural stories that cross time and geography.

These universal themes are used in marketing to draw us into a brand to capture our imagination and our wallets. They are also operative in our politics and influence how we see the candidates. Voters are drawn to candidates who carry a compelling mythic identity for them. Our votes are more often a function of our feelings about a candidate than our rational understanding of who they are or what they will actually do.

That’s the power of the myth, the power of the narrative. These narratives elicit emotions beyond our rational egos and tap into deeper universal energies that compel us and influence our behavior.

Image by Unsplash, Shane Rounce

Did You Know:

An almost mythic struggle between competing archetypes is playing out in the selection of the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State. As we explained in our H4D substack last week, there are two candidates vying for the nomination of SOS at the Indiana Democratic State Convention.

That’s because in Indiana there is an archaic, outdated, obsolete, and antidemocratic state law that says the conventions of the state parties can elect nominees for certain statewide positions instead of these candidates being elected in the primary. These statewide positions include:

• In presidential election years, parties elect the Lt. Governor and Attorney General.

• In midterm election years, parties elect the Secretary of State, Treasurer and Comptroller/Auditor.

The Indiana Democratic Party is desperately searching for someone to rescue them from their decades of irrelevance and powerlessness in Indiana politics. Beau Bayh grew up in Washington, D.C. In 2024, he moved to Westfield, Indiana after graduating from Harvard to study for his bar exam. In 2025 he declared his candidacy for SOS, supported by his father’s connections to corporate billionaires and D.C. insiders, some of whom have ties to Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein and the Republican party. The Democratic Party was delighted about his candidacy.

The media and the party see Beau as a hero, rescuing the party from its perilous plight; strong, competitive, handsome, courageous, wealthy with a familiar family name. Attributes of a hero archetype. The party longs for a successful democratic candidate at the top of the ticket who will help elect democrats down ballot and end the era of desolation for democrats in Indiana.

Blythe Potter was already a candidate when Beau Bayh announced his candidacy. She embodies the characteristics of the ‘every person’ archetype. Blythe grew up in Indiana. She is an Army veteran, owns a small business and is raising a family in Johnson County. She knows that Indiana ranks one of the lowest in voter turnout and there are businesses in Indiana who are not good community neighbors. As the chief elections officer and business registrar, she wants to make things better. Her campaign is not funded by billionaires or corporate lobbyists. She is not wealthy nor does she come from a political family dynasty.

As an every-person archetype, her powers are building connections and community, creating a sense of belonging, being approachable, honest, grounded, dependable, empathetic and unpretentious. Great qualifications for the administrative, operational and pragmatic agency of Secretary of State. It’s easy for a people who are looking for a hero to overlook the ‘regular gal’ right here in our own backyard.

Many within the Indiana Democratic Party and most of the media see Beau as a hero. He may or may not embody that archetype as a person. We don’t really know who Beau Bayh is. We only know how the party sees him and how the media portrays him.

Blythe Potter has been overlooked and vastly under estimated by the party elites, party leaders and the media. If given the opportunity to be the Democratic candidate, she can win the midterm election for Secretary of State and help the down ballot democrats win their seats as well. Once elected, she will be the highest ranking elected Democrat in the party, and will help resuscitate a re-imagining of the party into a people’s party that serves everyday Hoosiers in their everyday lives.

Why It Matters:

The political landscape is becoming a wasteland for Republicans. Trump is extremely unpopular, with an approval rating in the low 30%, Governor Braun has the distinct honor of being named the lowest rated first term Governor in the country, with an approval rating hovering at about 25%. The enthusiasm gap between Republican voters and Democrat voters is a ever widening chasm. The 2026 election will not be politics as usual.

The November midterms will be held at a time in our collective history where a vast majority of Hoosiers are suffering. Inflation, detention centers, geo-political disasters, rocketing gas prices, escalating wars, Jim Crow revival, measles outbreaks and threats of a Hantavirus pandemic, the list is endless. And people are tired of the two political parties being self-serving instead of serving the people.

Voters are not looking for a hero, a savior or a status quo politician. Voters are hungry for authentic candidates who understand the issues, who listen to voters not pundits, and who can talk about what matters without using sanitized talking points. Voters have been betrayed by candidates who are funded by billionaires and corporate lobbyists and they are waking up to that fact.

Blythe Potter is the perfect candidate for this moment. Let’s make sure she gets the opportunity.

There is a people powered movement taking place in our political landscape.

What You Can Do:

If we want to co-create a people powered movement and change the political landscape, we have to live into the new narrative. Let’s stop looking for heroes in politics and elect real people who understand the issues and want to make a difference in the lives of everyday Hoosiers. Let’s elect the kind of democrat who will serve the people. Candidates like Blythe Potter, Fady Qaddoura, Andrea Hunley, Jack Chance, Allissa Impink, Victoria Martz, Jesse Brown, Lindsay Gramlich and the scores of other authentic leaders who are emerging in our party.

Volunteer for these candidates, host fundraisers and contribute to their campaigns. Talk to friends, family, neighbors and colleagues about the importance of electing candidates who are committed to serving the needs of everyday Hoosiers and not those backed by corporations looking for unfair tax breaks and harmful deregulations. Don’t fall for the hero myth, it’s yesterday’s fairytale. There is a new narrative for 21st century politics. It’s about time!

All Power to the People,

Debbie and the H4D team

Note: Carol Pearson is a renowned author, professor, consultant, colleague and leading expert on archetypes. She wrote a blog describing the film Deadpool and Wolverine as it related to the political landscape in 2024 prior to the election. If we have captured your attention about the power of archetypes as it relates to politics, this is a must read.