Indiana at 200 (14): The Swiss Created Our First Commercial Winery
by Andrea Neal In 1796, John James Dufour left his native Switzerland to seek a new life and opportunity in the United States. Less than a decade later, he opened the country’s first successful winemaking business — in southeastern Indiana. It was still the Indiana Territory at that time, but the settlement would soon become Read the full article…
Bohanon: Obamacare’s Youth Market: A Policy Misfit?
by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. Central to the success of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare, are 20- to 30-year-olds buying government-approved health-insurance policies. The administration, its friends and allies are running a full-court public-relations drive touting the advantages of health insurance to these young folks. Advertising may facilitate some to sign up, but economists Read the full article…
Strapped Local Government? Try Setting Priorities
Did you hear the howls of pain throughout Indiana from local officials on announcement that the Pence administration would phase out their golden goose, the business personal-property tax? The governor thinks it will level the playing field, attract investment and create jobs. The anguish is genuine. The amount of revenue to be lost — about Read the full article…
Op-Ed: Indiana Can Rein in Federal Regulators
“If the actions of government officials lead citizens to conclude that those officials are no longer meaningfully bound by the law, then citizens will rightly conclude that neither are they.” — Michael F. Cannon of the Cato Institute testifying before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Dec. 3, 2013, on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Read the full article…
An Evil Eye and an Unequal Hand: The Lurking Threat to Liberty in Land-Use Regulation
(For the use of the membership only; copyright © 2013 by Tom Charles Huston, all rights reserved, reprinted by permission) by TOM HUSTON As a young lawyer, my first encounter with the Byzantine system of governmental land-use regulation resulted from the desire of a client to expand its manufacturing plant. The plant was located in Read the full article…
Indiana at 200 (13): Lewis and Clark Joined Forces Here
by Andrea Neal In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis to lead an exploration of the Louisiana Territory in search of a Northwest Passage. Lewis invited William Clark to join him. It would become one of the most famous partnerships in history, and it started in Indiana. “When they shook hands, the Lewis and Read the full article…
