For the use of the membership only (549 words) SOME OF US used to complain that our politicians rarely returned to Indiana after leaving office. There will be fewer such complaints now that former Rep. Mark Souder has so firmly replanted himself here. Suffering only from obsessive political personality disorder, Souder returns undaunted by scandal, fully pensioned and comfortably ensconced in academia. And although forced to forgo his Washington staff and trappings, he seems generously…

by Andrea Neal Like other pioneers, free African-Americans came to Indiana in search of land and liberty and, for the most part, found both. Beginning in the 1820s and continuing until the eve of the Civil War, they migrated in family groups to Indiana and established farming societies that valued hard work, education and faith. More than a dozen such communities were formed before 1860. Greenville Settlement, founded in 1822 in Randolph County, is believed to…

By Tyler Watts, Ph.D. Caesar had Brutus, Manning has Patriot fans and state Sen. David Long has Sheila Kennedy. Ms. Kennedy, a law and public-policy professor at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, made comments over the weekend pooh-poohing Senator Long’s goal of restoring fiscal sanity to the federal government through a state-led constitutional amendment process. Before we look at her argument, here is the background: Congress, as spelled out in Article V of the U.S.…

For the use of the membership only (119 words) MATTHEW TULLEY, the Indianapolis Star columnist, leans on a tautology in his June 9 blast in what he imagines is the direction of Indiana conservatives. In “Richard Mourdock Blows it Once Again,” he lectures the former GOP Senate nominee that there is nothing, nothing comparable to Hitler’s atrocities, certainly nothing on the American political left. Well yes, and historical analogies in political discourse are a famously…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. A basic assumption of economics is the Axiom of Revealed Preference. This is fundamental to economic analysis and distinguishes it from other branches of the social sciences. In a nutshell, the axiom says: “What someone does tells us more about what they value than what they say.” Interesting, it is similar to what I learned in Sunday School in Oklahoma — talk is cheap; actions are what matter. For a mundane…

For the use of the membership only (362 words) THIS GENERATION is going to have to study war some more, alas. Even admirals today don’t seem to know how it works outside their politically corrected service academies. Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, commented the other day that . . . wait, they assign admirals as flacks now? Isn’t that expensive? Anyway, Rear Admiral Kirby doesn’t think the American military leaves anyone behind. “When…

For the use of the membership only (214 words) Indiana politicians settle so comfortably into the role of placeholders. When events reveal a policy void, they rush to fill the space where leadership otherwise might be. This week, one of them noted that the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) doesn’t work. “If we are to correct the VA’s flaws, we must change its culture,” he explained in a news release. No explanation was needed. Veterans…

by Andrea Neal When the first classes were held in 1824, Indiana University had one professor, 10 male students and no building to call its own. The only subjects offered were Latin and Greek. Today, more than 3,000 professors teach 47,000 students on a campus graced by limestone buildings and woodland paths. Undergraduates choose from more than 150 majors. And that’s just at Bloomington. IU has campuses throughout the state and an operating budget of…

(For the use of the membership only)  A POINTED EXCHANGE during a recent council meeting in my hometown served to demarcate the two sides of what will be a statewide, city-by-city debate over municipal collective-bargaining. And it did so without emotionalism, ideology or self-serving posture. The flow of the argument forced the council to see the issue through the eyes of the only people who really matter — the city’s most productive employees. It started when…

To ensure an advance copy of the summer journal, please update your membership under the “Join Us” button above. June 15, 2014 ‘A Constitutional Moment’ “The prospect for success of an Article V convention is based on a growing awareness of inherent dysfunction in the traditional apparatuses of government. In other words, the people know we are suffering from a fundamental problem — a political cancer, rather than a simple chest cold — and that a…