For immediate release. by Mark Franke I will come clean up front: I am not a Donald Trump supporter. I will also come clean by publicly stating I voted for him in the 2016 and 2020 general elections but in neither primary. What choice did I have when considering the alternatives? The current state of affairs with Joe Biden and his administration validates my choice. And no defense is required for refusing to vote for…

by Dennis Ganahl, Ph.D. Advertisers understand incrementalism better than anyone. They leverage a brand’s growth with the understanding that change comes in increments sometimes imperceptibly. Who was the genius copywriter who created the directions on a shampoo bottle, “wash, rinse and repeat”? I’m guessing sales doubled. In the 1950s, Brylcreem created the slogan, “A little dab’ll do ya.” Copywriters knew if they could entice a man to use a dab of their hair dressing every…

By Jason Arp and Craig Ladwig A friend, a longtime political observer here, quipped that if Fort Wayne city councilmen were going to pretend to be investment bankers, we should elect smarter city councilmen. That has proved woefully prescient as workers and businesses nationwide are abandoning downtown offices for more flexible, safer and more efficient remote work. Fort Wayne’s downtown real estate is particularly at risk of collapse just at a time when the political class is blindly…

by John Gaski, Ph.D.  Did you notice that the term “gaslighting” was just selected word of the year because of its overuse? But why would that usage increase have happened? Maybe because the practice itself has become more common as a political weapon. In practical parlance, “gaslighting” means trying to persuade others not to believe their “lying eyes,” or not to believe what they already had known as established fact. Recent examples of such disinformation…

A Campaign to Nowhere IF YOU ARE FOLLOWING the mayoral campaigns in Indianapolis these past few weeks you know how grim is the future of our capital city. As has been written before here, both the Democrat and Republican are speaking out for gun control, the code words for “I’m going to focus on inanimate objects and ignore crime if it has a racial component.” Their incessant and pandering television ads are an embarrassment to…

by Mark Franke A recent conversation with my editor over future writing assignments inevitably led to Donald Trump. I don’t like writing about him, or about Joe Biden for that matter. That whole situation seems to me to be a surreal collision of “Citizen Kane” and “The Wizard of Oz.” My editor, with his feet more firmly grounded in good literature, called it “Shakespearean.” That caused a light to go on, just like in the…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. When Hoosiers gather to discuss local government expenditures, polarization kills conversation. Comments like, “We absolutely need more bike trails,” and “It’s the potholes, stupid,” do not help. Why not start with principled limits on government, a recognition of scarce tax revenue and a locality’s particular concerns? Consider four groups that successfully direct local funds to preferred projects: Interest groups seeking to direct local funds to their preferred projects function legitimately,…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. With turmoil rising in 1780s France and a revolution in the near future, the royalty and the wealthy plus the clerical hierarchy — in other words, the 3 percent of the population who held power — drafted edicts to limit the spread of ideas. They censored the press. In another time, Hitler had his Kristallnacht. In current day China and today’s Russia, governmental censorship on the free flow of ideas diminishes any…

by Mark Franke Immigration may be a difficult problem but that does not preclude a solution — that is, assuming there is the political will to affect such a solution. The political morass is beyond my comprehension or ability to navigate. That frees me to think unencumbered for possible solutions. Fortunately, I hang out with a group of friends who like to focus on what can be done rather than what can’t. Several weeks ago…