When Good Intentions Go Bad WE ARE GLAD to learn that Indiana University occasionally offers study-abroad courses in South Africa. What a wonderful chance for students to learn what happens when you discard the tenets of Western Civilization solely because they were developed by white people. To begin, because college students are interested in fairness above all, the World Bank keeps something called a Gini coefficient. It is a 0.00-to-1.00 measurement of wealth inequality with black-run…

The Statehouse: Our House of Mirrors SPRING IS IN THE AIR  and now is the time everyone — the Indy media, the legislative leadership, everyone — scrambles to pretend they know how the session will end.  They don’t have any idea, of course, for we once sent people to Indianapolis to represent us as our friends and neighbors. You knew what they/we thought about things. Now they go as mouthpieces for this special interest or that. Indeed,…

by Maryann O. Keating, Ph.D. Consider the desperate job searches of a youth with limited skills in need of job training, a professional between jobs, or a worker constrained by location and personal responsibilities. Opportunities for flexible finite employment contracts enable individuals to freely negotiate wages, benefits and conditions of employment.        In 1981, legal historian Tibor Machan argued that national goals were undermining workers’ natural rights. His objection was not to safety regulations or laws banning force…

by Mark Franke By 2035 the number of senior citizens in America will exceed the number of children. I learned that fact at the annual meeting of a faith-based retirement community for which I am a voting delegate. While this may seem like a positive growth forecast for this ministry, it presents its challenges as well. What kind of living accommodations and health-care facilities will this aging population need in 10 years hence? Lutheran Life Villages,…

Tariffs Discombobulated THE FORMER CHAIRWOMAN of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce has written her list of “threats to democracy,” of chief interest here being her opposition to tariffs. Marilyn Moran-Townsend in a widely circulated letter calls on all Hoosiers — “progressive Democrats working with conservative Republicans, evangelicals working with Muslims and Jews, business leaders working with union leaders” — to join her. This fits the view of America as a magical democracy where to save the nation one need only summon “the power of the people, participating…

by Marilyn Moran-Townsend On April 30, 1789, in the first presidential inaugural address, George Washington said: ‘”The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government are … staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” When our first president spoke of the “Republican model of Government,” he wasn’t talking about a political party but rather what it means to be a democracy. Three…

When Fair Isn’t Fair Enough MULTIPLE WNBA PLAYERS, including several on our Indiana Fever, are at least passively in sympathy with star forward Angel Reese in her conviction to “sit out” if demands for higher pay are not met. Well, why not? They play the same game on the same sized court. The hoop is set at exactly the same 10 feet. They run up and down the court only a few times less per game dibbling…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. In January, Donald Trump became the second U.S. president to serve non-consecutive terms in office. Grover Cleveland was the first, serving as our nation’s 22nd and 24th president in 1885-1889 and 1893-1897.  There are notable similarities and differences between the two. Cleveland was born into poverty; Trump into wealth. Cleveland could be a hard drinker; Trump is a teetotaler. Both had provocative social lives and had a quick ascent into politics. Cleveland won…

THE DECISION LAST WEEK by the trustees of Ball State University (BSU) to divert millions of education dollars to one of those public-private ventures is doubly sad.  First, it is discouraging to see one of our public institutions fall into a bad deal. Yes, I understand that it is more fun to be a “developer” looking over blueprints and lunching with bankers than trying to manage a campus-full of pesky, intractable and largely uncooperative students. Still, passable administrators…

by Tim Timmons The good governor of our great state campaigned on a number of issues, but the one that caught my ear – and a number of other Hoosier homeowners – was property tax relief. We don’t need to go over the history. You know it far too well. Property taxes have gone up and up and up. Republican Mike Braun talked a lot about it on the campaign trail. Democrat Jennifer McCormick didn’t.…