Category: Indiana Writers Group

  • King: Cassandra and the ‘Mature Minor’ Doctrine

    by Stephen M. King, Ph.D. Your 17-year-old daughter, diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, calmly but determinedly refuses chemotherapy. Her refusal is not based on religious beliefs; she simply does not want to ingest poison in her body, suffering the side effects and incurring further damage to her internal organs as a result of the treatment. What…

  • The Great Divergence: Cop or Police Officer?

    “Poor government leadership was the top problem in 2014.” — The Gallup Poll, Jan. 2, 2015 WHAT IF IT’S NOT about race? What if the police are only incidentally involved? What if something else is at stake, something more important? First, the police are not “cops.” That is a derision, and an 18th-century French one at…

  • Bohanon: A Swedish Reform for a Hoosier Scholarship

    by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. Some of my favorite college students have been 21st Century Scholars. The popular state-financed college access program for low-income households enrolls students in junior high school. If the student maintains a decent high school grade-point average, stays out of trouble and participates in college-prep activities, he or she becomes eligible for…

  • Ippel: Buying Your Car, Buying Your Healthcare

    by Bruce Ippel, M.D. Having a car is very important for most Americans, but cars are technical and dangerous and expensive. What amazes me is how much more safe and comfortable and efficient cars have become in the last 30 years. Modern healthcare is also technical, dangerous and expensive. Medical and surgical care also has…

  • Indiana at 200 (41): T.C. Steele, Hoosier Artist

    by Andrea Neal He was educated in Europe and trained to emulate the brushstrokes of the great masters, yet Theodore Clement Steele’s greatest gift was in depicting and interpreting the Indiana countryside. T.C. Steele — Indiana’s most famous painter — was born in Gosport in 1847, raised in Waveland and died at his “House of…

  • Coelho and McClure: The Minimum Wage

    by Philip R.P. Coelho, Ph.D., and James E. McClure, Ph.D. Suppose a doctor told a two-pack-a-day smoker not to worry about his tobacco addiction because smoking another half-pack per day would shorten his life expectancy by only six weeks. What would you think of that physician? The physician may have been telling the literal truth; the…

  • Schansberg: In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government — Still

    by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Over the last 30 years, Charles Murray has been one of the most influential thinkers on domestic policy matters. Murray was trained as a sociologist, but has a terrific understanding of economics and political economy. His work is multi-disciplinary, readable, relevant and often provocative. This year marks a key anniversary for…

  • Half Past the Month: Adam Smith Meets Jane Austin Meets Benito Mussolini

    “I may have lost my heart, but not my self-control.” — Jane Austen in Emma “Self-command is not only itself a great virtue, but from it all the other virtues seem to derive their principal lustre.” — Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments CERTAIN MEMBERS of this foundation gather every year to survey…

  • Horning: The Solution Is in Your Mirror

    by Andy Horning We all know that our government is corrupt. What we apparently don’t appreciate is that: Our constitutions are on our side. We have all the laws we need to quash such corruption and live in peace, prosperity, justice and freedom. We the People have all the power and accountability in the application…

  • Schansberg: ‘Rational’ Ignorance Costly to Our Economic Health

    by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. The use of government for economic “development” and economic “stimulus” is quite popular. Unfortunately, its popularity greatly exceeds what it deserves, given both theory and data. The theoretical reasons are easy to understand. In terms of economics, it is difficult for government to create net economic activity by moving money from…