Chicago Politics, Indiana Style WHAT KIND OF CITY would you have if venal operators could be rewarded with municipal contracts relative to their political contributions — aside of course from the obvious moral degradation? Let me help answer that. You would have a city that functions to serve arbitrary goals, ones that conform not to citizen priorities but to the scheming of individual campaign contributors. That means construction of oversized parking garages, half-empty convention centers, superfluous river walks, grandiose mass transit,…

by Leo Morris The Kokomo Tribune has published a fascinating story about teachers-in-training at Indiana State University and their nearly universal disapproval of proposed state legislation that would limit how race and other topics are treated in the classroom. Some of their comments are quite revealing. “If we attempt to teach history without controversy, then we will not be able to teach at all,” said one prospective teacher who wanted to impart the sins of Andrew…

Cronyism: The Republican Malady HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED what’s wrong with the Indiana Republican Party? No, I don’t mean blithely welcoming large groups of random Afghans that we learn may have included security threats now in hiding. And no, I don’t mean sending the head of the state police to the Statehouse to override the Second Amendment. My complaint concerns economics, what you would think would be a GOP strong point. It is epitomized in a bill this…

by Mark Franke “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” (Matthew 5:11 ESV) He did warn us. Christians have been persecuted throughout history but always elsewhere. So why here? And why now? This is America, a nation founded on unalienable rights being granted by a Creator most everyone in 1776 assumed was the Christian God. Growing up in the 1950s,…

by Leo Morris I have a new phrase to add to your vocabulary and self-help guide: the Quilhot bid. It comes from Russ Quilhot, who hosted the weekly afternoon card games a group of us old codgers participated in. I played bridge with him Wednesday before last. On Thursday he died. It was one of those abrupt and unwelcome events that encourage us to put everything else in perspective. I am tempted to say he…

The Lost Art of Defenestration SOME OF US are getting a handle on how the Legislature works: Somewhere in the continuous rounds of lunches and dinner parties, the leadership is told by the most activated lobbyists that a certain set of issues is to be given priority this session. All else must jockey for a place on crowded committee calendars. OK, that’s the way political rooms have worked since the reign of the Tudors. What is…

by Mark Franke One enjoyment I get out of life is to engage someone in a conversation over a topic I know absolutely nothing about. If my interlocutor can make his point in grammatically correct and non-exclamatory sentences, I will listen and question him up to and past the point my wife gets embarrassed. A case in point. My wife is from Terre Haute and most of her family still resides there. It wouldn’t be…

Fred Glynn, a longtime member of the foundation and participant in our seminars, announces he has filed in the GOP primary election to represent the new 32nd Indiana House District. Glynn says his campaign will focus on government spending, education and support for law enforcement.  The candidate has been married to his wife Beth for 18 years. They are the parents of a teenage daughter and are members of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church. A loan officer,…

by Leo Morris A white teacher in Chicago was fired recently for using the N-word in class. She wasn’t trying to be offensive. She was explaining to her world history class why the former name of the Washington Commanders football team was so offensive and compared it to the N-word, making the mistake of saying the actual word. The teacher of 41 years explained that she was just trying to make things clear for her…

Dr. Eric Schansberg, a founding scholar for this foundation, announces that he has filed in the GOP primary election for U.S. Representative for the 9th District. The primary, to fill an open seat, will be May 3. Schansberg says his campaign will focus on federal government spending, the national debt, inflation, federalism at both the local and national level, and constitutional principles, especially as they apply to the First and Second Amendment.  The candidate earned a Ph.D. in economics…