Some say the decline of Indiana politics began with air-conditioned meeting rooms and multi-issue legislation. You should doubt that; history is rarely so subtle. Rulers, especially, find it comforting to think that way. It implies there is time for a gentle correction of course. They tell us we need only be patient for one or two more election cycles until certain small, reasonable and effortless turns can be executed — a gradual, perpetual fine-tuning of…

For release Nov. 30 and thereafter (613 words) For decades, Indiana’s school-choice programs have helped send Hoosier students to the colleges of their choice and provided school books and bus transportation for children in private schools. Never before have programs like these been challenged on constitutional grounds. Until now. In an attempt to maintain their monopoly on K-12 educational funds, the Indiana State Teachers’ Association and National Education Association are supporting a lawsuit against Indiana’s…

For release Nov. 30 and thereafter (650 words) As a reporter covering the Indiana Statehouse 30 years ago, I followed a hard and fast style rule imposed by my employer: Don’t ever use the term infrastructure. Instead use words that actually mean something to readers like “highways,” “bridges” or “overpasses.” When it comes to assessing Mitch Daniels’ legacy, that rule has to be broken. With a full year left of his governorship, there’s not much…

by Ryan Cummins I had lunch downtown recently. The experience always gets me to evaluating my local government’s efforts in “economic development.” Like nearly every Indiana city, we back up our nostalgia for the downtown area with millions of dollars taken from taxpayers all over the city, county, state and nation. The truth is our downtown is a pleasant place. But given the staggering amounts of our money poured into it in the name of…

“Lord, make me chaste, but not yet.” — St. Augustine I know a guy who’s 130 pounds overweight, slowly dying from atherosclerosis and diabetes. He’s been living a slouchy lifestyle for the past 10 years: fast food every night, hasn’t seen the inside of a gym since high school, smokes a pack a day. His doctors have been adamant: He must lose weight, start eating healthy and otherwise get fit if you want to live…

Editors: This week’s column is set for immediate release to accommodate holiday publishing schedules (527 words) Earlier this year I received an email from a charitable organization. It began in bold typeface with this: “Hunger and Poverty continue to plague America . . .” The missive then referred to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report indicating that “nearly 49 million Americans including 16.2 million children are struggling to get enough to eat.” A close…

For release Nov. 16 and thereafter (675 words) The 2012 legislature will be fraught with risk for Democrats and Republicans alike.  At some point, lawmakers will have to vote on right-to-work legislation, and those votes will carry political consequences. Those who support it will be targeted by the unions in ads, rallies and election propaganda. Those who oppose it will be blamed by the business sector for protecting organized labor at the expense of new…

Many years ago, when the Indiana Republican Party was something, when it had a voter-turnout apparatus on which even the bland candidate could depend, I was let in on the secret. Over lunch, a legendary outstate county chairman told me he never raised the Big Issue* if he could help it, that serious idea capable of exciting otherwise laconic factions. When a Big Issue is raised, he patiently explained to the young idealistic editor, voter…

For immediate release (595 words). by RYAN CUMMINS I’ve been involved in selling fresh Christmas trees for as long as I can remember. Our family vacations often consisted of walking grower’s fields with my dad, tagging the trees that he wanted for the upcoming season. So my interest was piqued when word got out that a federal bureaucracy, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), working in cahoots with some Christmas tree growers, tried to…