by Mark Franke It seems one can’t pick up a newspaper or journal without seeing a major piece on artificial intelligence. 9Until perhaps a year or so ago, I hadn’t even heard the term except in science fiction and now it gets more Google hits than Taylor Swift’s antics at a Kansas City Chiefs football game — the Taylor Swift phenomenon being something else I hadn’t heard of until recently. I don’t really live in…

An Eternal Education Conundrum I BELONG TO A STUDY GROUP that takes up a public policy issue each month. Over the months, one thing has become painfully clear: Viable and sometimes obvious solutions are more plentiful than the will to apply them. Indeed, in many cases it would be just a matter of noticing what’s going on. And if that sounds too pat, here is an example — school funding. Hundreds of legislators have gone through the…

Inside Journalism: What to Know IT WAS A COMMENDABLE practice in the Old Journalism that you did not write on the internal workings of the news room — no “inside baseball,” they said. Readers didn’t have time for it; all they wanted was reasonably accurate reports of the city’s goings-on, prescient whenever possible. That is all out the window. Gannett’s Indianapolis Star, for example, has taken to publishing baseball-card style bios of its reporters lauding their journalistic skills.…

Equity? Here’s a Position for You ALMOST 50 YEARS of an incoherent national dialogue on race has left me with some perverse views. If we are going to have separate black and and white national anthems, for instance, my position is that one of them ought to be Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 13. Recently, I have struggled with the prevailing logic that a founding document declaring all men (persons) equal is somehow…

by Jim O’Donnell Some of our Lord’s harshest statements were about wealth and the rich: Marx adapted that last one: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” With such strong statements by Jesus against wealth, it might seem like a contradiction that He could be a free-market capitalist. But capitalism is only a few hundred years old. Its major contribution to economics is the idea that markets should be allowed…

by Mark Franke Presentism is one of the pervasive evils in our brave new world. It is the new orthodoxy to examine history under a filtering lens that subjects all events and people to our modern conceits. And it is not surprising that everything in the past falls short at some point. Perfection, you see, is the minimal standard for these modern-day Torquemadas . . . a perfectionist standard decreed by some woke politburo meeting somewhere…

Growing Indiana Small Towns THE NEXT U.S. Census is expected to show a historic migration of middle-class families away from the large urban areas and into adjacent small towns. The foundation has asked Dr. Eric Schansberg, an adjunct scholar and nationally known economist, to address the inherent opportunities of Indiana small towns, especially those with a unique vision and identity. If this is something that interests you, we need your financial support. We hope to use Roanoke,…

A Return to Founding Principles You can now order “Indiana Mandate: A Return to Founding Principles” at the member price of $19.54 with free delivery for a limited time.  Amazon.com/books. With both a presidential election and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaching, the Indiana Policy Review, through the lens of the Declaration, examines 75 of the most critical issues facing Indiana. (Don’t forget gift copies for July 4th.) ‘A Time to Heal’         …

by John F. Gaski, Ph.D. Satire Alert: Channeling and appropriating the reverse-projective style of William Safire: 1) in tribute to the late New York Times columnist; 2) for possible reader nostalgia; and 3) because the situation calls for it. Pundits and pols speculate that we Democrats might find a way to remove Joe Biden from presidential candidacy this coming year. They don’t know how right they are but, as usual, we are several steps ahead…

by Mark Franke When should one’s conscience have the final say in a dilemma? Or must it answer to a higher authority? And if such a higher authority exists, what is it? Last week I was part of a discussion with a roomful of students enrolled in a seminar focused on the relationship between church and state during the Reformation. These were all graduate students in their fourth year of pre-ministerial study. The focus of…