When Government Goes Bad As a student and teacher of political economy and public policy, I am frequently asked to explain the behavior of government agents. Whether the actors are local, in Indianapolis or in Washington; whether the policy realm is economic or social; whether the focus is foreign or domestic — citizens are routinely frustrated by policy and politics. The list is nearly endless: cronyism and TIF districts at the local level; frustration with “conservatives” at…

“It is your responsibility to do something, whether you think it’s your responsibility or not.” — A protester shouting into his megaphone as students this week toppled the “Silent Sam” statue at the University of North Carolina IN AN ICONIC FILM of my youth, “The Graduate,” Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is given a single word of advice from a parental friend — “plastics.” Today, I’m the one giving career advice, a difficult thing for a…

by Leo Morris As a good conservative, I naturally start each day vowing to do everything I can to help destroy the planet. I have never, ever recycled a single thing, since recycling is of course a Communist plot designed to divert our attention so our neglected landfills can be captured. I proudly display my “Nuke the whales!” bumper sticker. I bag up my leaves and other yard waste and transport it out and burn…

by Craig Ladwig The president didn’t actually say that American journalism was the enemy of the people but he should have. What he said was that “fake news,” not a free press, is the enemy. Nonetheless, 300 newspapers signed onto a campaign to protest the president’s comments and declare the importance of their particular definition of press freedom. Their coordinated editorials ran Aug. 16. You can read this as a dissenting view. “Trump’s references to…

by Leo Morris The defacement of Jewish temple property in Carmel with Nazi symbols seems to have created a tipping point in favor of finally enacting a hate crimes law in Indiana. Business leaders, editorial pages and politicians up to and including the governor are urging swift action in the next session of the General Assembly. So I’m not going to call for defeat of the legislation, as I did several months ago. It would…

by Andrea Neal Making sense of Mike Pence. That was the task I faced over the past year in writing “Pence – The Path to Power,” the first comprehensive biography of the Hoosier vice president. He is a man of both predictability and paradox. Since first running for Congress in 1988, he has never wavered in his public policy views favoring limited government, free markets and social conservatism. He is predictably loyal to family and…

(For the use of the membership only, not for publication, distribution or quotation.) THE TWO FOUNDING INTELLECTUAL MODELS for this foundation happen to be “persons of color,” as it is now phrased, Dr. Thomas Sowell and Dinesh D’Souza. The latter we have brought to Indiana many times for seminars, talks and research projects. The former we would have happily done so had we been able to afford his fee. What is important there are the…

by Leo Morris Reading up on my journalistic hero Ernie Pyle, I came across this startling paragraph near the end of a mostly laudatory article about him in American Heritage magazine: “Ernie Pyle had some off days in his wartime columns. Sometimes he laid on the Hoosier folksiness a bit too heavily. Sometimes the GI’s came off just a little too good to be true, not only rugged and brave but also unfailingly good-humored in…

by Mark Franke I am a child of the 1950’s; I freely and proudly admit that. My entire outlook on life was formed by my upbringing during that decade in the home, the church and the school. One concept we learned about our nation was its potential for everyone to make himself better through hard work, education and moral living. The goal parents set for their children was simple: achieve a better standard of living…

by Leo Morris All I want to do today is tell you where I was born, but be patient. It will take a while. The following is mostly accurate, based on a real occurrence. While some parts of the conversation quoted might have taken place largely in my head, there is a greater truth involved, and I have been faithful to the essential spirit of the exchange. I believe that meets what passes for ethical…