Essays
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‘Jeopardy!’ Without Alex Trebek?
Read more: ‘Jeopardy!’ Without Alex Trebek?by Leo Morris I’m taking a break from brooding over the latest COVID-19 surge and cursing the chaos of the presidential race so I can properly mourn the passing of longtime “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek. And, of course, obsess over who will be chosen to replace him. “Please, please, please,” I texted my sister (and she replied to concur), “don’t let it be Ken Jennings.” I wouldn’t say my sister and I are fanatics of…
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Morris: Big Government, Type 1
Read more: Morris: Big Government, Type 1by Leo Morris After Joe Biden was projected the winner of the presidential election, I read many variations of this sentiment, written by Frank Rich in New York Magazine: “The good news that comes with the potential Biden presidency is that there will be an honest and decent man in the White House, buttressed by a professional and at least nominally bipartisan triage team, who will try to undo the damage. “. . . Most of…
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Biden Has his ‘Mandate,’ We Have Ours
Read more: Biden Has his ‘Mandate,’ We Have OursTO BE CLEAR, the concern here is with Hoosier Republican representation, and the most conservative of it at that. Modern Democrats can be assumed to be venal, and Joe Biden, who has proclaimed himself president, is as good an example as you will find. But in Indiana, the land of the ever-so-conservatively postured Dan Coats and Eric Holcomb, there is no shortage of Republicans who claim to be “fighting” for our liberty and against the Bidens of the world. Indeed,…
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Sounding the Alarm
Read more: Sounding the AlarmWITH THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS in the hands of lawyers and partisan election officials we have the time to ponder the relative silence of the Hoosier congressional delegation, our direct and only line to Washington. In that regard, consider this, a statement on the week’s events from Claremont’s the American Mind: “If Republicans let this happen without pushing to ensure all applicable laws were and are now being followed they can forget about winning contested states and therefore…
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The Outstater
Read more: The Outstater“The system of private property is the most important guarantee of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not.” – Friedrich A. Hayek, 1944 THE BOARDED-UP storefronts on election day in downtown Indianapolis are a picture of what happens when private property is denigrated; for it is not just that the wealthy suffer a loss but that the rest of us are reduced as well. Some Hoosiers will recognize that…
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Morris: Rankings — Indiana Most Hated?
Read more: Morris: Rankings — Indiana Most Hated?by Leo Morris As I write this, it is mere days from the presidential election, so my anxiety level is near an all-time high. I know you must be feeling it, too, but by the time many of you read this, the choice will have been made, so your dread will have started to fade a little or begun ratcheting up even more, depending on who will have become the president elect. So, we’re in…
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Paradise Lost: A History of the Next 200 Years
Read more: Paradise Lost: A History of the Next 200 YearsThe following historical document from the year 2220 came into the reporter’s possession via a fortuitous tear in the fabric of the time-space continuum. — Dr. John Gaski (November 2220) — The socialist takeover of the United States in 2020-21 actually began half a century earlier when the left took over higher education, followed soon by capture of secondary and even primary schools. This allowed the liberal-Democrat-socialists to indoctrinate America’s youth for two whole generations. …
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The Outstater
Read more: The OutstaterAS I SIT PARALYZED with fear over a national election of Armageddon proportion, it is no comfort to realize that even my vote for mayor was for naught. City Hall has gone stupid. I don’t use the word lightly. Stupid is when a councilman mentions offhand it would be a fine thing if the city attracted more investment and suddenly there is a tax-driven downtown boondoggle whose silent partners will eventually buy it at a bankruptcy auction for one-third its…
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Franke: Democracy as a Chimera
Read more: Franke: Democracy as a Chimeraby Mark Franke Does my vote matter? Yes and no. How’s that for equivocation? One can certainly argue that almost no election has ever been decided by a single vote. Therefore, my vote won’t change anything so why bother? The risk of COVID exposure can be used as the excuse for staying home this year and absentee ballots are too much effort to request and return. What, though, if I have been talking to my friends and…
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Morris: Nov. 3 Scenarios
Read more: Morris: Nov. 3 Scenariosby Leo Morris I know what you’re up to, all you early voters. But I have to say I don’t think it’s going to work out the way you hope. You just want this all to be over – the drama, the anxiety, the bitterness, the anger, the shouting of slogans and accusations of taking the country in the wrong direction. You thought you could go ahead and vote and put it all out of…