Category: Indiana Writers Group

by Norman Van Cott, Ph.D. How many jobs would the Keystone Pipeline project create? Supporters argue that the Keystone XL pipeline would create tens of thousands of new jobs. But critics claim those numbers are wildly inflated. Both sides assume a higher number would make the project better for the economy. Both sides have it…

by Andrea Neal The author, a columnist and adjunct scholar of the foundation, teaches history at St. Richard’s Episcopal School in Indianapolis. Neal, having most recently served on the state Board of Education, is a former editorial page editor of the Indianapolis Star. Before that, she covered the Supreme Court of the United States for…

by Andrea Neal In 1916, Indiana celebrated its 100th birthday with pageants, parades and a presidential visit and gave the best gift imaginable to future generations of Hoosiers: a statewide parks system. The planning began in 1915 when lawmakers created the Indiana Historical Commission – today the Historical Bureau – to oversee centennial events and…

What is your ‘fair share’ of what someone else has worked for?” — Thomas Sowell PROPONENTS WILL TRY MIGHTILY to say it in a nicer way. Most annexation, though, is theft. It may be a theft for the greater good. It may be a theft in the interests of “our” city. It may be a…

by Jason Arp My constituents are scratching their heads. They don’t remember annexation being a topic of discussion during last year’s municipal elections. There was discussion of riverfront development. There were whispers about an arena. But not a word about annexation. It’s difficult, then, for a councilman to gauge citywide sentiment on the issue. Many…

“The rules are the rules.” — House Speaker Paul Ryan by Craig Ladwig It should make you nervous to hear politicians cite the “rules” of politics. You start wondering what they are up to. For we all know that in politics there are no rules. Gen. Carl von Clausewitz famously observed that war is the…

by Andrea Neal For nearly a century, Indiana has been known as the “Mother of Vice Presidents.” From 1868 to 1916, ten vice presidential nominees hailed from Indiana. In 1916, Indiana could not miss: Thomas R. Marshall of Columbia City was running for re-election as Woodrow Wilson’s vice president on the Democratic Party ticket. Charles…

SOME ARE OUTRAGED that our neighborhoods,our police departments and our schools are not precisely racially, socially and economically mixed. Some are not. Some are outraged that their transgender friends feel uncomfortable entering the  bathroom of their choice. Some are not. Some are outraged that the New England Patriots will not get the draft picks that…

by Tom Charles Huston Teddy White, reporting on the 1968 Democratic primary, noted that Indiana’s political party organizations belonged “in a Yellowstone National Park of primeval political fauna.” Over the past 48 years, Hoosier Democrats have made concessions to modernity, but the Indiana Republican party has chosen to move in the opposite direction. Its method…

by Patrick Oetting (April 6) — Historically, the less fortunate in the United States have depended on their neighbors, local churches and civic institutions for the extra care needed to make ends meet. This approach embodies the notion of “subsidiarity,” which the Cambridge English Dictionary defines as, “the principle that decisions should always be taken…