“Don’t just do something, stand there.” — William F. Buckley The timid avoid the large, dramatic errors but are dragged down by the small, persistent ones. That is the story of the Statehouse leadership this year, even and especially with a Republican governor and majorities in both houses. The high legislative offices, wrapped in compromise and purblind to absolutes, dictated the terms of debate for this General Assembly — and a sorry debate it was.…

The free-market works too silently and over such long stretches of time that it is in invisible in most policy arguments. An exception, however, occurred in my section of town when the market acted this week to protect our children from criminal predators. Earlier we had lost a 9-year-old girl whose great tragedy it was to live in the midst of what was described as a “hotbed” of child molesters — about two dozen older…

For release March 7 and thereafter (655 words) The average teen spends 16.7 hours a week on the Internet, not counting time spent with email, according to a survey by Yahoo!and ad agency Carat Interactive. Kaiser Family Foundation says children ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a day using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device. That doesn’t count the two hours spent texting or talking on…

For release Feb. 29 and thereafter (654 words) To borrow a phrase from the late Potter Stewart, I may not be able to define the word Hoosier, but I know one when I see him. And Sen. Richard G. Lugar is the quintessential Hoosier. Lugar has spent most of his life in public service on behalf of the citizens of this state. On that point, not even his primary opponent can disagree. Yet the Indiana…

For immediate release (546 words) “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” Psalms 110:10 (KJV) Science and scientific authority are often interjected into political discourse. Two recent letters to the editor in my local newspaper are examples. One author claimed that “… the science is clear: Smoke-free laws have no negative impact on bars or restaurants …” On another topic a writer decried the recent bill allowing schools to teach so-called creationism…

For release Feb. 15 and thereafter (656 words) According to U.S News & World Report, it is one of the nation’s best large high schools. During the 2010-11 school year, 66 percent of its students passed both math and English assessments. In 2009-10, 30 percent of its graduates passed an Advanced Placement exam, double the state average and surpassing state Department of Education targets. Its SAT and ACT scores consistently outpace the state average. Its…

My daughter’s ballet master opens every season with a little speech. She tells the young women that her academy recognizes two types of dancers: those who love to be seen dancing and those who love to dance. She wants only the latter. Leadership, if not dancing, is a critical issue in an election year. If we parse what is being presented, though, it is more accurately understood as pretension. This is not cynical, it is…

For immediate release (622 words). Will we ever know the cost of “the Game” to the taxpaying citizens of Indianapolis? We ask the question because, even the day after, we are getting confusing reports in the media about the dollars involved. A couple of weeks ago we got a statement from the Capital Improvement Board (CIB), with some numbers at least estimated, that their part of the operation suffered a loss of something over $800,000.…

For immediate release (590 words). As a political strategists in battle-wearing Wisconsin watching union protesters threaten to block the Super Bowl spotlight in my homestate of Indiana, I could not help but think there had to have been a better way to make the Right-to-Work argument. A maxim of war is that you, not your opponent, defines the location of the battlefield, and the hype of a Super Bowl made a poor battlefield for the…