by Mark Franke In the movie “Hoosiers” one of the students, Ollie, is giving a report in class that is a listing of things thought to be progress. He doesn’t seem convinced of the value of progress, although I venture that he thought more highly of indoor plumbing than of school consolidation. Fortunately for Ollie and his classmates, the fictional Hickory High School would escape consolidation long enough to win the state basketball championship. What…

Why Not Just Kiss IU Goodbye? “Our university must create a space for meaningful dialogue, while ensuring that our campus is safe and welcoming to all, and that peaceful protest, as many experienced today, symbolizes our steadfastness to the free expression of ideas,” Whitten wrote ineffectually days before this week’s campus melee. FOR THOSE OF YOU who still care whether Indiana University remains in Indiana, here is a boilerplate press release for IU President Pam Whitten: …

Let’s Hear it for Aristocracy I’M GOING TO TRY to make a case for aristocracy. Wish me luck. I will back into it by applying Thomas Sowell’s famous test, “Compared with what?” American democracy has taken a nasty turn toward identity-driven politics. At the same time, it is increasingly captured by grasping private interests, mainly corporate ones, but also by bureaucratic powers and public-sector unions.  The French philosopher Ernest Renan was surely right that elections can be…

by Mark Franke One of my less than admirable traits is to attempt to categorize and organize everything into its simplest terms. All too often, simple devolves to simplistic as I keep trying to pound an unwilling square peg into an unreceptive round hole. Philosophy is one such recipient of my zealousness for reduction. During the semester or two when I considered myself a philosophy major, the left side of my brain resolved to assign all…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. The Indiana Legislature got it right. The governor did not. The issue of trans-girls and trans-women competing against natural, i.e., biological, girls and women remains unsettled. For some people and organizations, such as the ACLU, which brought suit in Indiana recently, the prefix “trans” before the words “girls” means little or nothing. On the other hand, the FDA treats trans-fat as different in kind from polyunsaturated fat, the former is unhealthy and the latter is not. Following the…

The Pareto of Campaign Promises I AM MAKING A LIST of campaign promises leading up to this primary election. No, this is not meant to be a cynical exercise to bash the political class. I am sincerely trying to understand, with all these promises flying around, why nothing ever happens.  I may have discovered it — or them, several principles of political life that will help you sort out this season’s candidates. An adjunct of our foundation,…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. With April 15 at hand, it’s a good time to review income taxes. On the surface, the federal government has kept income taxes the same since President Donald Trump and Congress decreased marginal tax rates a bit (and simplified the tax code a lot) in 2017. Unfortunately, federal payroll (FICA) taxes on income are unchanged. At 15.3 percent of every dollar earned by those in the lower through upper-middle income classes, these taxes are…

by Richard McGowan, Ph.D. For people with an interest in history, traveling to another country is like being in an adult playground, so much that is new and different, so much to learn. Such was the case with my recent experience in Portugal. For one thing, I had little understanding of the outsized role Portugal played in the “Age of Discovery,” roughly the years 1400 to 1800. People and museum signs proudly state that Portuguese explorers…

A Politics of Bad Intentions THERE ARE THOSE worried about the next mayor of our city. They have good reason. We are at a crossroads. Our longtime mayor, a Democrat, died leaving a full four-year term. His party will caucus later this month to select a replacement. The Republicans, given ininspired leadership and demographic shifts, have gone moribund and are not expected to return to power — ever. The sad thing is that our mayor, rest in peace, the affable owner of a neighborhood…

by Mark Franke The signs of spring are everywhere but something just doesn’t seem right.It’s partly due to our typical northern Indiana weather. As a lifelong resident I should beaccustomed to temperatures in the 60s one day and the 30s the next. It happens every year at this time but my tolerance level must be in decline. The golf courses have opened. I know that because I live on a golf course and I can…