Author: Craig Ladwig

The House of Bayh WITH BEAU BAYH crossing three state lines to begin his ancestral run for high office here, what better time to reconstitute Indiana as a sovereign kingdom?  The state already owes fealty to the Bayh family, this being the third generation of their civic reign. No, none has been particularly distinguished but achievement is not the justification of…

by JASON ARP Nearly 10  years ago, I published an article in The Indiana Policy Review(Backgrounder: Regional Cities Plans, Jan. 1, 2016) describing some of the issues related to the State of Indiana’s plan to institute a Regional Development Authority (RDA) to fund what were deemed to be multi-county economic development projects. The concerns expressed in that article focused…

The foundation’s white papers are intended to make scholarly research on Indiana issues more widely available to policy analysts and researchers. White Papers represent research in progress and are published to invite comment and discussion as preparation for their submission to academic journals and other professional publications. The authors are solely responsible for the content…

by MARK FRANKE Saudi Arabia is a complex nation, containing a whole bunch of conquered Bedouin tribes content to live off the largess of the ruling house of al-Saud. Most of the nation’s workforce, which is limited by a general lack of work ethic among the aforesaid recipients of governmental transfer payments, is employed by…

Count Me Uncivilized “A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps both.” — James Madison THE FIRST ANNUAL Project Civility Summit has adjourned to much hope and acclaim in our lovely, homogenous Carmel. In addition to the “leadership training” that such…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. My experience with the Wall Street Journal, chronicled in this column a year and a half ago, showed how little awareness the paper had regarding domestic violence. My recent experience with the newspaper shows how much improvement the WSJ and United States could make in order to promote equality among the individuals in our…

I.U. and the ‘Stupid Stuff’ “We can require public universities to return to strong and mandatory core curricula, which challenges students to think, brings them together around shared knowledge and ideas and prepares them for lives as productive and engaged citizens.” — Andrea Neal in “Indiana Mandate: A Return to Founding Principles.” GIVE SOME CREDIT to…

by Mark Franke In unsettled times people of faith turn to prayer. This phenomenon can be seen in history, such as the number of revival meetings in American Civil War army campsites. There are no atheists in foxholes, so the saying goes. Given the constant bad news about violence and killings, it is not surprising…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. “Gerrymandering” is always a possibility in a republic, but sometimes the topic moves to the front burner. We’re in one of those moments now. Last month, the Texas GOP stirred the pot with its efforts to “redistrict” and some Democrat leaders responded with angry rhetoric and promises to retaliate. (Indiana Republicans…

Rep. Carson’s ‘Racism’ Falls Flat WELL, IF ALL YOU HAVE is a hammer everything looks like a nail. And so goes U.S. Rep. Andre Carson’s recent depiction of Indiana Republicans as  “racist.” Last month he posted this on X: ”We must stand united against extremism that endangers our community and democracy — including against racist redistricting that threatens to…