Has the World Cup got you down? The United States isn’t the big guy on the block there. And if you are a football fan (mostly conservatives), you are being dragged into unflattering debates with irritatingly informed soccer fans (mostly liberals). And although of global import, it all seems depressingly petty considering the real problems facing Indiana and the nation. As a student of both sports (my one son played soccer and the other football),…

By Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. The Pence administration is calling for a review of the Indiana tax code. The top goals are to simplify the code and to promote economic development. But another worthy goal, one that would boost the Indiana economy, is missing. First, if the government is going to take our money, then it should do so as gently as possible. The U.S. income tax code is notoriously burdensome in terms of the billions…

By Stephen M. King, Ph.D. The much-awaited Supreme Court decision in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby came down this week. The Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the 1993 Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA) does cover “closely held” corporations, even if those corporations are for profit. At the center of the controversy was Hobby Lobby’s contention that the for-profit, closely held corporation, owned by the Green family, should not, based on exercise of religious…

Editors: This is the third and last in a series on political polarization. For immediate release (674 words). By Stephen M. King, Ph.D. Do the recent Supreme Court decisions in Citizens’ United and McCutcheon, both regarding campaign-finance reform, contribute to political polarization? Or do they enhance the opportunity for greater political speech and thus encourage greater civic engagement? Citizens United was, and still is, a highly controversial decision put forth by the Court in June…

by Andrea Neal A drive across Indiana on the National Road is a trip back in time. This was the route taken in the 19th century by pioneers hauling household goods west in Conestoga wagons, by stagecoaches carrying mail and by farmers moving crops to markets. Today it’s paved and known as Highway 40. Though it looks nothing like the primitive roadway it replaced, relics are everywhere. In Centerville, two original mile markers still stand.…

Editors: This is the second in a three-part series on political polarization.  By Stephen M. King, Ph.D. “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself.”— John Adams When asked what the Founders created in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin replied: “A Republic, madam, if you can keep it.” MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN in the last few years regarding the contemptuousness and division of the American political system. Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein in “It’s…

Editors:  This is the first in a three-part series. By Stephen M. King, Ph.D. There is no doubt about it: Political polarization is the norm in D.C. and the states. A recent Pew Research Study, “Political Polarization in the American Public,” finds that political and ideological lines of division are not limited to the political elites but are embedded in the American public itself. More and more are identifying with the extreme Left or the…

HOORAY to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette for reprinting June 22 its classic editorial decrying what a long line of its editors has found to be the offensive use of “Redskins” in sports names. This famously progressive newspaper, though, will want to go further. At question is the name of the newspaper’s hometown, proudly if thoughtlessly incorporated into its own masthead. Fort Wayne, of course, is named to honor Gen. “Mad Anthony” Wayne. You should know…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. The key to enjoying any sport is to fully embrace the addiction. To a non-golfer watching grown men walk down a fairway to club a small ball toward a green is perverse torture. The true golfer, however, embraces the tension before the hit, observes the swing with care, relishes the ball’s flight to green and joins the crowd in the oohs and aahs that follow. Looks like madness to an outsider—and…

DO WE PUT TOO MUCH FAITH  in constitutions? What if securing liberty is harder work than setting words to paper? Our foundation tried to answer that question 20 years ago this month. It filed a lawsuit against the Indiana Legislature, which had hidden a pay raise in a package of bills. The Indiana Constitution, of course, specifically and exactly prohibits such trickery. Article IV, Section 19: “An act, except an act for the codification, revision or…