‘Chicago Is Indiana’s Fault’ iT CAN BE HOPED that Mayor Brandon Johnson, who this week blamed Indiana for Chicago crime, will be thrown from office the next election cycle. I have my doubts, though, realizing that his message of envy and resentment is a powerful one with a large constituency. Envy, please know, is a constant in human nature. It fuels the drive to a base denominator where everyone is equally miserable. Communism and Islamism…

The Party that Doesn’t Pray MARK AUG. 27, 2025, as the day the Democrat Party, or at least its prominent spokesmen, dismissed the prayers of children shot to death in their pews. That is the partisan interpretation. A more charitable one would be that Democrats believe that such an act, shooting children at prayer, deserves action (gun control) and not just religious sympathy. Both miss the point. The children were praying not to protect themselves from bullets fired through stained-glass…

Crime Is a Root Cause MY CITY is addressing public policy in the starkest terms. Youth violence and encampments of derelicts are problems without easy answers. Yet, answers, however imperfect, can be sought, social order can be attempted. Nobody likes to send a young man to jail or to order a troubled mind for treatment. In every case there are dozens of reasons, beginning with dysfunctional homes and economic hardships, that beg mercy and compassion. Government…

A $100,000 Audience with the Guv “That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.” — Thomas Jefferson FINANCING POLITICS should be a simple matter, or so we argue in “Indiana Mandate: A Return to Founding Principles”: Just ensure that anyone funding a political effort use his own name and money or face certain prosecution. Some distance from that ideal is a “policy summit” next week to raise what the Capital…

by Nathanael Snow, Ph.D. Over the White River on the east side of Muncie a bridge spans connecting the Kitselman Trail to the Cardinal Greenway. The Canada geese below responded with some interest to the first bits of stale bread I tossed down. As I manifested as the source of manna by throwing more morsels to the combative flock, other birds joined the fray. The more crumbs the greater the combat. When the crusts were gone…

Cracking Down on Crime “Your race card has been denied, do you have another form of argument?” — anonymous. WE CAN HOPE that our city is learning something from the crime crackdown in Washington, D.C. It turns out that if you arrest people for breaking the law, other people, regardless of their background or upbringing, decide to abide by the law, which is a good thing.  The D.C. Police Union reports that in just one week…

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. by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. Shuffling through  health insurance paperwork, do you sometimes wonder if your neighbor is equally confused? Does the saga of the One Big Beautiful…

by Nathanael Snow, Ph.D. Indiana, like most other states, redraws its Congressional voting districts every 10 years when a new Census comes out. Shifts in population within and among states require that new lines are drawn to balance the number of citizens represented in each district. This helps to preserve the connection of citizens to their representatives, who are responsible for making decisions about how to spend the Federal government’s budget. Participants from every part of…

Andre Carson Part III GERRYMANDERING is not an issue for serious minds. It rests on the absurd notion that legislators should choose voters rather than voters choose legislators. Nevertheless, the meeting here Thursday between Gov. Michael Braun and Vice-President J.D. Vance to discuss redistricting requires that it be addressed anew. The late Jim Knoop, a friend of this foundation and a GOP consultant, was snooping around in an attic of the Statehouse many years ago and…

Andre Carson, Part II  I don’t have any reasonsI’ve left them all behindI’m in a New York state of mind — Billy Joel NEW YORK CITY is poised to elect an Islamist mayor and at least the prospect of Sharia Law, “no go” zones, globalization of the infidel, anti-semitism and so forth, not to mention a historically ignorant race-Marxism. It makes you grateful to live in stodgy old Indiana, doesn’t it? Wait, what? Indiana’s capital is already represented by a…