(Editors: Please note that this week’s dispatch includes two articles by economist Maryann Keating: The first on the conflicted relationship between societal aspirations and individual responsibility; and the second on the question of public willingness to support education at current spending levels.) For release noon Tuesday Sept. 20 and thereafter (625 words) Our obsession with leadership misses the point. When an increase in accepting responsibility is really needed, leaders, who believe themselves gifted with particular…

For release noon Oct. 13 and thereafter (675 words) It was 20 years ago this week that easy money prevailed over traditional Hoosier mores. On Oct. 13, 1989 – one year after voters repealed the state’s constitutional ban on lotteries – the first scratch-off ticket was sold. Since that time, we have embraced the gambling culture. Indiana today has it all: pari-mutuel racing, casinos, racinos, off-track betting, pull-tabs, charity bingo. Of the 48 states with…

For release noon Tuesday Oct. 6 thereafter (718 words) Several years ago at Butler University, feminist activists visited classrooms and handed out “Pay Day” candy bars to the students. The feminists were calling attention to the fact that women, collectively, earn less money than men. In addition to the candy bar, feminists gave us a diatribe about the situation. Today, women still earn about 78 cents for every dollar a man earns and feminist activists…

For immediate release (622 words)The news that Indiana missed last month’s revenue estimate by a whopping $165 million brings to mind the pejorative, “close enough for government work.” When or if the nation emerges from the current malfeasance, we will want to rethink our reverence for state government. Particularly, we will want to choose which state model we would emulate, Michigan or Texas. If we want our grandchildren to have jobs, we’ll pick Texas. And…

Indiana Writers Group Taking a Day OffFrom Buying Booze For release noon Sept. 29 and thereafter (667 words)by Andrea NealCall me old-fashioned, but I think it’s a good thing that Hoosiers can’t buy alcohol at supermarkets or liquor stores on Sunday. Do we really need another day to stock up on intoxicating beverages? The self-interested special interests (i.e. the big-box chains that want to nudge up their Sunday sales figures) have hijacked this debate. They’ve…

Health Care ReformAnd the New EugenicsFor immediate release (659 words) by Dr. Eric Schansberg I’ve written frequently on eugenics, the study of the hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled, selective breeding. The word derives from its Latin components (eu meaning well or good and genics meaning born or birth). In other words, eugenics seeks the products of “good birth” or being “well born” — “better” human beings or a “better” human race —…

For release Sept. 23 and thereafter (591 words) As Indiana’s urban mayors prepared to meet in scenic French Lick, and as governors and congressmen returned from exotic locales, an ex-councilman in Terre Haute was doing some serious thinking about how his state could survive this economy. “It’s time — long past time actually — to recognize that the right and better course of action is for taxpayers to keep a great deal more of their…

Editors: Constitution Day is this Thursday, Sept. 17. The author, who has run for statewide and district offices as a both a Libertarian and as a Republican, is an expert on the Constitution and an advocate or restoring its role in restraining the powers of government in Indiana and the nation. Like most people, I deny much of what’s happening today. As long as we don’t personally run afoul of the rapidly increasing militarization, authoritarianism…

For release noon Sept. 15 and thereafter (675 words)Legislators aren’t exactly embracing Todd Rokita’s proposal to remove politics from the process of drawing legislative maps, and it’s sadly obvious why: It threatens their re-election chances. Why give up the tool that lets them maintain partisan majorities and safe seats for themselves and their cohorts? It’s the right thing to do; that’s why. In 2010, the Census will give us updated population numbers upon which congressional…

For release noon Sept. 8 and thereafter (661 words)With a presidential address to Congress capping a rough-and-tumble summer, we’ve learned at least three things about health care. Most people are concerned about the health care system; reasonably happy with their own health care; and quite worried about a massive increase in government’s involvement in the system.   In political economy, it’s standard to note that people don’t pay much attention to politics — they’re busy…