by Leo Morris Those of us with libertarian instincts who want less from government – less spending, less growth, less meddling with the private sector – are frustrated at every level. We’ve all but given up on Washington, and even state capitals seem more interested in directing their citizens than in serving them. That leaves the local level, where residents most directly feel the effects of government actions, and where officials have the best chance…

THE PARTICIPANTS in our seminar earlier this month were challenged to name one Indiana city council with a majority of members committed to smaller government. They could not. Indeed, they couldn’t remember one — ever. It was attestation that we’re losing the battle and the war. It’s time to change the strategy For starters, we have to stop — doing what we’re doing, that is. Our chief excuse, despite extraordinary effort and money, has been…

THE FOUNDATION NEEDS YOUR HELP continuing the weekly column of veteran newsman Leo Morris. If you mark your $50 annual membership fee “Unleash Leo” we will add another three months to the subscription. Leo’s voice is essential to the Indiana public discussion. A Vietnam veteran and a son of the coal mines, Leo describes himself as a libertarian-conservative hybrid and a grouch “by experience rather than inclination.” With four decades in Indiana newsrooms, he knows how Indiana works — and doesn’t. His column continues to be aimed…

by Leo Morris I quietly celebrated another year above ground earlier this month and realized I had reached the fourth stage of birthday celebrations. The first stage comes when we are young and yearn to be older. We want to escape childhood and reach the magic age of 13, gateway to the teenage years. We are buoyant as we edge ever closer to 16 and being able to get a driver’s license. And 21 is…

by Mark Franke As he was leaving the Constitutional Convention for the last time, a citizen asked Benjamin Franklin what the delegates had given her and her fellows. “A republic, if you can keep it.” To be precise, what Franklin and his colleagues had given us was a document that serves as the philosophical and practical foundation for a system of government. This republic, which we as Franklin’s posterity are charged with keeping, can only…

THOSE WHO WERE AROUND during the administration of Republican Gov. Robert Orr know the assumption behind statewide grade-by-grade, district-by-district testing. It was thought that the then-powerful teachers unions were protecting inadequate or at least mediocre teachers. That was quickly found false. Indiana schools are blessedly free of bad teachers relative to other states, and that is so regardless either of union machinations or a governor’s posed oversight. Teaching here is still a calling, please know,…

by Leo Morris It’s stretched beyond two weeks since the abrupt departure of the Colts quarterback, and so far, we seem to have been spared the awful kind of puns usually favored by newspaper headline writers and TV news readers: “Colts are out of Luck.” “Team can’t count on good Luck.” And, what would have been my favorite, “If it weren’t for bad Luck, we’d have no Luck at all.” We have, however, been treated…

THE MAN AT THE NEXT DESK says nobody wants to read about our city’s problems anymore. He is almost surely right, but there remains the possibility that some other Indiana city is experiencing an arrogant administration unchecked by a fawning newspaper. On that slim chance, the following observations are offered. It began with an editorial this week dismissing the mayor’s unwillingness to discuss a $3.2-million spending plan as an issue of no concern. A mere…

by Leo Morris “We’re All Going to Die!” Imagine seeing a headline like that. Naturally you can’t ignore such a story. So, palms sweating and perhaps heart fluttering, you begin to read, dreading news of a ghastly plague sweeping the globe or a brewing nuclear war or even an unstoppable meteor the size of Texas hurtling toward Earth. But it turns out to be just another one of those tedious essays about the meaning of…

by Leo Morris Does it embarrass you to know that the Ku Klux Klan was once such a dominant force in Indiana? Want to ignore that whole sorry episode from our past and never mention it again? Or should we teach it in our schools as a way to remind the oppressors’ descendants of the sins they must live down and remind today’s victim groups that their grievances are still valid? That might seem like…