The Indiana Republican Party is moribund, done in by the hubris of a supermajority and its flaccid governor, Eric Holcomb. That was clear at the state convention this spring in Evansville. Until recently, nobody read the platform texts approved at these gatherings . They were little more than boilerplate on family, patriotism, free markets and such — all words, no action. You are warned, though, to read the ones they’re writing these days. The crony…

by Mark Franke I took a class on business policy during my undergraduate days, back when Richard Nixon was still in his first term. My professor emphasized this key to business success: Serve the public. The point was that your business must always think about your customers’ needs and wants, and to use that as your starting point in making product or service decisions. He was right, of course, but things aren’t quite so simple…

by Leo Morris As a curmudgeon of long standing, I come from the “get off my lawn” school of private property. It’s direct, it’s simple, it provides no chance of misunderstanding. And just in case I’m not on hand to shout people off the premises, there is a nifty little sign that gets the job done: No trespassing. Seeing such a notice, even the most dimwitted of interlopers is sure to get the message that…

“South Bend is one of the most dangerous cities in the United States. There were 1,012 violent crimes in South Bend for every 100,000 residents in 2016, more than double both the state and national violent crime rates of 405 incidents and 386 incidents per 100,000 people, respectively. As is often the case in high-crime areas, property values in South Bend are depressed.” — Matt Cashore explaining South Bend’s 40th place in USA TODAY’s “50…

“In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing to buy, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: ‘If you don’t work you die.’”  — Rudyard Kipling “The Gods of the Copybook Headings” IN OUR EFFORTS to string together a continuous run of leisure, success and happiness, life gets in the way. A conservative might…

by Leo Morris From news accounts, former state Sen. Luke Kenley sounds like a crazy old coot yelling at the kids to stay off his Internet. “I’m going to celebrate today,” Kenley is quoted as saying. “I’m probably the only one that is. I’m sure all the millennials who shop online are not going to be celebrating.” Last year, Kenley won his 15-year battle to force online retailers — most all of them, not just…

by Fred McCarthy There are four separate stories in the current issue of the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) with some relation to the city’s use of tax dollars. We’ll cover them by headline in the order they appeared: “IndyGo Rethinks Electric Bus Buy” — We’ve been told in years of media hype about the planning that has gone into transit generally and the Red Line specifically. Now, quite suddenly, a lengthy story tells us that…

by Leo Morris With the candidates all set and the pieces all in place for the fall general election, it appears that gay marriage is the only issue people seem to think is worth talking about in Indiana. So, wanting to do my civic duty and be an informed voter, perhaps it is something I need to understand better. Obviously, I must start with the Republican Party’s running feud about the matter, since that is…

by Mark Franke The Wall Street Journal recently ran a front-page article about a dentist in Utah who was in debt over his graduate school student loans to the extent of $1,060,945. Yes, $1,060,945, and he is just one of 101 who owe more than a million dollars. This man had attended the school of dentistry at the University of Southern California, a private institution among the priciest of U.S. universities. One year of dental studies…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. For all of the discussion about race, it is rarely informed by novel ideas, knowledge about historical research or careful analysis. I recently read three books that have much to offer those who are trying to understand race in America — past, present and future. “Slavery by Another Name” — In his 2008 book, Douglas Blackmon describes “trade” between governments and industry, farms and coal mines — from the end of…