by Andrea Neal If not for George Rogers Clark, we Hoosiers might be snacking on scones with jam and clotted cream and speak with cockney accents. An exaggeration perhaps, but as Kelley Morgan points out, “George Rogers Clark was almost singlehandedly responsible for the U.S. gaining the Old Northwest Territory.” Morgan is interpretive manager at Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville, where a representation of Clark’s retirement home overlooks the falls with stunning…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. Government programs designed to help the poor are usually means-tested. This implies that recipients only get the benefits if their income earnings are sufficiently low. Most see this as a good thing because it ensures that persons who do not need the benefits don’t get them. It seems daft to tax middle-class and wealthy citizens to provide benefits to middle-class and wealthy citizens; programs for poor folks should benefit poor folks.…

For the use of the membership only (325 words) The polls agree that the Affordable Care Act, which took effect Oct. 1, is unpopular. More unpopular in Indiana, though, is that officialdom is perfectly comfortable exempting itself from the full cost of the law. A member of the foundation relates a conversation witnessed at a recent public meeting in Aboite Township involving one of Indiana’s U.S. senators. A woman in the audience asked the senator…

by Andrea Neal Roman Catholics claim bragging rights to Indiana’s oldest church. Jesuit missionaries visited the French fort at Vincennes within months of its establishment in 1732. A resident priest, Sebastian Meurin, arrived in 1748. People have been worshiping at St. Francis Xavier Church ever since. “If the French built a fort, there was a chapel,” says the Rev. John Schipp, parish priest at the Old Cathedral for the past 19 years. “They not only…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. The impulse to redistribute income did not begin with the Obama administration. In the 1970s, when income was seemingly more equally distributed, progressives called for increased government income redistribution. There are two ways for government to redistribute income from the rich to the poor. The first is through universal benefit programs. The second is through means-tested benefit programs, which will be addressed in future columns as well as why government should…

by Andrea Neal Bison made Indiana’s first highway. It started at the Falls of the Ohio near modern-day Clarksville where the beasts came together to cross the Ohio River at its shallowest point. It ended near Vincennes where they scattered to graze on Illinois prairie grass. If you look closely, you can still see signs of the Buffalo Trace. “You kind of have to know what you’re looking for,” says Teena Ligman, public-affairs specialist for…

In the 1990s at the morning coffee shop, I would run into a former mayor of my city, now retired. He was from the beginning a successful businessman and gifted politician, albeit a Democratic one. This is to thank him for his wisdom and prescience. One morning, the mayor let down his guard to make two observations — bons mots, perhaps, thrown to a young conservative friend. Whatever, both have stayed with me. Indeed, the…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. Recent talks by Barack Obama highlight his personal mission to make higher education more affordable. Affluence at home and around the world increases the demand for education. This increase partially explains the doubling of average tuition and fees at four-year U.S. universities during the past 20 years. Rising educational costs threaten prosperity, according to David Weisel of the Wall Street Journal. The solution to rising costs, however, must be addressed…

“The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, OR, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by Conventions in three fourths thereof,…

by Andrea Neal Storied in literature and song, the Wabash is Indiana’s most important river. It is the official river of the state of Indiana, so designated by law in 1996. It is the subject of the state song “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away,” written by Paul Dresser in 1897. It is referred to in the state poem as “the dreamy Wabash River.” Its significance goes beyond aesthetics. The Wabash played a…