Indy Crime and Overcoming the ‘Envy Barrier’ ALTHOUGH WE OUTSTATE would rather ignore it, someone has to explain what has gone wrong with Indianapolis. This is in reference, of course, to the city’s uncharacteristic inability to address a serious crime problem. Indianapolis made international headlines in this regard recently. Three members of the Dutch Commando Corps, in town on free time after a nearby training session, were shot outside their hotel, one fatally, by local thugs, police…

Getting a ‘Foothold’ AS PART OF ITS “Foothold” project, our foundation this week sponsored a webinar with Dr. Dennis Ganahl, an independent political consultant. He reminded us that at the most local level the Republican Party isn’t much practical help to local conservatives. Indeed, there it tends to bleed away the best intentions, energy, money and time. One of his pieces of advice that drew a chuckle was to halve the amount of time that a volunteer…

by Tanner Bouchie On August 30, Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against Indiana’s Medical Licensing Board in the Monroe Circuit Court. The lawsuit argued, in part, that Indiana’s Constitution protects the practice of abortion under a theory of privacy. I wonder whether the plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU’s Ken Falk, have ever read the Constitution. Article 1, Section 1 states, in part: “WE DECLARE, That all people are created equal; that they are endowed by their…

by Mark Franke Fort Wayne, my hometown, has a telephone service that residents can use to ask questions, request city services or report situations which require attention from city departments. I’ve never used this service but I have a friend who contacts the 311 folks daily. Of course he is a retiree with plenty of free time on his hands. The city isn’t the only recipient of his well-intended advice; I am sure he calls…

H.L. Mencken’s Revenge THIS IS my mea culpa, and perhaps it is yours too. When I began editing The Indiana Policy Review, when I first sat in the high-backed chair, I thought I would use our scholars’ knowledge and wisdom to help public officials and political leaders think through Indiana’s challenges. They could better see unintended consequences and avoid policy traps and snares. They would have on their desks credentialed resources that they otherwise could not access…

by Leo Morris Two pictures of Indiana. The first picture, from the past. Sylvanus Freelove Bowser was born in 1854 just north of Fort Wayne and, except for a short stay in Kansas, lived in that city for his whole life. According to a 1963 issue of Old Fort News, Bowser was one of 13 children and had barely a year of formal schooling, his manual labor being needed to help support the family. He…

By Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. In March 2020, the U.S. government faced a serious public-health issue, Covid 19. It responded by running large government deficits, adding to the public debt. Two and a half years later, the United States is experiencing long Covid 19 economic effects. Adam Smith addresses unanticipated government expenses like these in “Of Public Debts,” the final chapter in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations, published…

No ‘Fascists” Allows IN THE 1980s, a friend spent four years in Joe Biden’s presence — Biden as a puffed up U.S. Senator and my friend as a lowly aide on the staff of the Foreign Relations Committee. I asked him what he thought of the president’s speech last night. He was as impressed with Biden now as he was then — “the son of a used-car salesman way over his head,” was his characterization. What does he think of…

by Richard McGowan Colleges and universities often appear to work on knowledge elimination. For instance, Critical Race Theory is usually taught with no mention of the ubiquitous presence of slavery through time and across cultures. Students would have a better grasp of history if they knew that Muslims had a thriving slave trade in Africa over 1,500 years ago or that indigenous populations in America practiced slavery. Were that sort of knowledge made more readily…

It is required in my so-called profession to have a stack of papers on your desk of items you found interesting at one time but never justified 600 words. Here’s mine to date. — tcl ✔️ The tweet of the week: “Corn Pop tried to warn us all.” ✔️  From the Mises Institute: “What causes poverty? Nothing, it’s the original state, the default. The question is what causes prosperity.” ✔️  The Associated Press gleefully reports that the leadership at the…