by Mark Franke In the 1993 movie “Gettysburg,” Confederate generals are gathered around a campfire discussing the justification for their secession from the Union. They submit that the government comes only from the consent of the people and therefore the people have the right to withdraw that consent when government becomes tyrannical.  Sound familiar? The Declaration of Independence used the same language to justify the colonies’ separation from Great Britain. The Virginia act of secession,…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. Is cryptocurrency becoming a substitute for the U.S. dollar? Curiosity about cryptocurrency is understandable, even for those unlikely to become crypto billionaires. Without a bit of actual cash, we wonder how children ever learn to multiply and divide without the loss of copper pennies, no longer being minted. On a more serious note, we ask, “Are our retirement accounts like crypto, merely digital entries somewhere on a balance sheet without…

As the Midterm elections approach, we have hit a new low in American journalism. For generations, the classic definition of “news” in newsrooms across the country was when a man bites a dog rather than the common reverse. I had thought that was a mere aphorism until it finally happened in my lifetime — and modern journalism blew it. Bradford Kanan, age unknown, was arrested yesterday in Volusia County, Fla., for biting a dog, among other charges.…

My city’s Urban League this week released its “State of the City,” much lauded by the local media, and, mercifully, the only one in a decade. There is the usual listing of black-white disparities and the continued concern that the white community is not doing enough to help. But there is something new, a hint that blacks are claiming responsibility for their individual situations, good or bad. In all, especially considering the diatribes and guilt trips that…

“All you need to know about me is that I am from Abilene.” — Dwight Eisenhower I don’t know a lot about leadership but I know something about fly-fishing. The connection will be explained in a moment, and it relates to Indiana’s Secretary of State campaign. An iconic photograph of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower purports to show him encouraging the first stick of paratroopers to be dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day. I see it in this…

Let us give corporate media the benefit of the doubt. There may be a valid reason not to broadcast or publish some police mugshots. So it is important that you read this week’s Capital Chronicle essay on the issue. Before you do, know that the First Amendment grants the media privileges, legal and monetary, unavailable to other businesses. This constitutional favor reflects the view that uninhibited public discourse is instrumental to self-government. It exists because the Founders — and anyone…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. In offering forward guidance, U.S. Federal Reserve (FED) officials had hoped to assure households and businesses that borrowing costs would remain stable in the near future. Meanwhile, the global economy was affected by supply shocks making any predictions misleading. Kevin Warsh, appointed Fed Chair in 2026, is a critic of forward guidance.  Warsh’s writings in 2022 and a recent speech give clues to his reluctance to promising something he cannot and…

An entertaining aspect of a top-of-the ballot campaign in Indiana is the arrival of East Coast political consultants trying to read the Hoosier mind. You can watch it now in real time on the Beau Bayh commercials. They inflate teen-age traffic tickets to reckless endangerment and shove addled, has-been legislators forward as valid representation of the electoral mood.  The consultants no doubt sell this as political hardball, something they think Midwesterners are too dim to discern. Well, we discern enough…

by Dan Eichenberger M.D. At the birth of the American republic, the Founders staked everything on a revolutionary conviction: human rights do not originate with kings, courts or governments. They are “endowed by their Creator” with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Government exists to secure rights, not to redefine or dispense them. As John Adams observed, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.” The Founders designed a government of strictly enumerated powers…

As we near a midterm elections in which the pollsters tell us there is a good chance that Democrats will regain control of both houses of Congress, we might spend a moment to reflect on what more serious, sane representation might look like. This is being written, please know, as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, grew this year by 7 percent, defense by 5 percent, interest on the debt by 11 percent — all exceeding $1.1 trillion.…