The Outstater: The Timidity of the Indiana GOP
by Craig Ladwig This being both football and election season, a gridiron analogy for the Indiana GOP seems apt. It has long been said that Republicans here play politics “between the 40-yard lines” — these days, “stopped dead at midfield” is more like it. Rare is the Indiana Republican willing to articulate the difference between Read the full article…
Cummins: The Catch Phrases of a Sham Government
By Ryan Cummins My experience on a city council, in business and as a taxpayer tells me to beware when the government action being proposed is “for public safety,” “for the children” or “for economic development.” When you hear those words, grab your wallet and hold close your liberty; there is a hidden agenda. Another Read the full article…
The Outstater: Why Government Fails
It is good every once in a while to push personalities and ideology out of the way and look at public policy in its purist form. It is bad for the blood pressure to always be imagining little Stalins, Trotskys and Obamas lurking in the back desks of the county planning department (although history tells Read the full article…
White paper: TIF – It’s not Working the Way We Were Told It Would
The foundation’s white papers are intended to make scholarly research on Indiana issues more widely available to policy analysts and researchers. White papers represent research in progress and are published to invite comment and discussion as preparation for their submission to academic journals and other professional publications. The authors are solely responsible for the content Read the full article…
Indiana at 200 (59): A City Built on Natural Gas
by Andrea Neal It was Indiana’s version of the Gold Rush. In the 1880s, the discovery of a massive natural-gas field in east central Indiana launched a gas boom of historic proportion. The news spread fast — as it did with California gold — and folks poured into Indiana in search of fortune. “There was Read the full article…
The Outstater: A Conflict of Visions Over Regional Cities
by Craig Ladwig Forgive skeptics of the tableau vivant unfolding for Regional Cities initiatives across the state. They seem dumbstruck. They don’t have the data to challenge the expansive vision and supporting PowerPoints of economic-development directors and their armies of experts. That does not mean, though, that they don’t have a vision of their own. Read the full article…
