Half Past the Month: The Game Is Up
TWO POLITICAL STUDIES hit the news this week, seeming to point us in different directions. One, from Princeton University, suggested that average Americans are powerless over the political process. The other, from CNN International, found that only 13 percent of us trust the government to do what is right always or most of the time. You Read the full article…
Keating: Reduced Hours or Layoffs?
By Maryann O. Keating Ph.D. At dinner, the four-year-old reported that her nursery school classmate, Billy, had a bad day and acted mean. When asked what the teacher did, the four-year-old replied wide-eyed, “She took away Billy’s job.” Most of us can empathize with Billy’s symbolic loss of group identity. However, adult unemployment generally is beyond Read the full article…
The Outstater: Consolidation Unraveled
THE ETERNAL IMPULSES that argue for consolidated government, regional zoning, county executives, etc., have awakened in our corner of Indiana. Someone forgot, apparently, to drive the stakes through their hearts during the last rising. So we citizens finds ourselves divided by an argument that won’t be resolved in the light of day; that is, rhetorically in Read the full article…
Indiana at 200 (30): Fleeting Canal Era Had Lasting Impact
by Andrea Neal In 1825, the Erie Canal was completed with great fanfare. Cannon fire, parades, balls and speeches celebrated the speed and skill with which New Yorkers built “the longest canal in the world,” as one eyewitness erroneously called it. (The Grand Canal of China is longer). Two years later, Indiana was busy planning Read the full article…
Ippel: When Your Doctor Was Your Doctor
By Bruce Ippel, M.D. Go to school. Get a license. Practice medicine — I’m one of the few who remember when this was actually possible. Just me and the patient in the exam room. I give my best care, and the patient pays a fee. If the patient likes me and I like him, we Read the full article…
Polarization Part IV
By Stephen M. King, Ph.D. “Political polarization,” “divided government” and “Washington gridlock” have been on the rise for the last 15 years. Public calls for compromise and de-emphasis on centralized government stand out in public opinion polls; yet, nothing changes, and the old order of governance marches. What is wrong? What can be done to Read the full article…
