Category: Indiana Writers Group

  • Backgrounder: Who Is Working?

     by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. For those between jobs, nothing puts a damper on Holiday cheer like Aunt Nellie’s inevitable question, “Now where did you say you were working?” Although the U.S. unemployment rate of 4.1 percent approaches full employment, the actual number of people with jobs is two million below its prerecession peak (Edward…

  • Morris: A Test of Good Municipal Government

    by Leo Morris What makes a city great? That was one of the main topics explored at a two-day seminar in Wabash I recently attended put on by the conservative think tank Indiana Policy Review. Many things add to a community’s quality of life, the attendees concluded, one of the principal being that government takes…

  • The Outstater: Questions Unasked

    This morning’s newspaper ran almost 20 paragraphs on our city council’s decision to give a downtown section special tax consideration. The story included testimonial after testimonial to the brilliance of this action, including a picture of smiling beneficiaries in a congratulatory pose. The degree of acclamation was such that the reader was surprised when in…

  • Morris: It’s More Serious than Gerrymandering

    by Leo Morris “Indiana must rid itself of the electoral cancer of gerrymandering so it can have more competitive legislative districts.” That’s one of those political truisms – like “Not enough people vote, so we must make the process easier” – so unquestioned that hardly anyone ever looks at the other side. And voting rights…

  • Leo Morris Wins State’s Top Journalism Award

    Leo Morris, columnist for The Indiana Policy Review, was named Best Editorial Writer yesterday by the Hoosier State Press Association for work done as the editorial page editor of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. “There were many good entries in this category,” the judge wrote. “(Morris) led the pack with a good package that spoke to transparency and fairness, and…

  • The Outstater: ‘Student Learning’? What a Great Idea

    READING THE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE, the first reaction was a warm fuzzy feeling of agreement, an odd sensation these days. “Education Policy Priorities Listed,” the headline read. It quoted the Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction as saying that her top priority this year would be “student learning.” But wait, what else would it be? What have…

  • Huston: Hating Trump Is not a Public Policy Position

    Yuval Levin is a serious guy who has written widely and intelligently on subjects of interest to conservatives. He is also a Never Trumper who plumbs the depths of his imagination to come up with new reasons why Donald Trump is a disaster for the country and an affront to right-thinking conservatives. Writing in the…

  • The Numbers on Assault: An Argument for the New Chivalry

    by Dick McGowan, Ph.D. Years ago, I argued for a double standard for men and women with regard to domestic violence. I’d become familiar with a 25-year study by Gelles and Strauss, presented in “Violence in American Families,” which showed that “women assault their partners at about the same rate as men assault their partners. This…

  • Credit Mobilier Redux

    by Jason Arp to the American Principles Project, Nov. 29 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. Thank you all for having me. I can’t tell you what a thrill it is to be here today. I blather on about free enterprise and the importance of private property rights all the time back in Fort Wayne.…

  • Morris: Our ‘Homeless’ Politicians

    by Leo Morris We apparently have a housing shortage in Indiana that is about to become a crisis. The representatives and senators we elect to serve our interests in Washington seem to be on the verge of homelessness. Consider the sad case of Luke Messer, now serving as a representative and desperately seeking a senatorship.…