ONE OF THE great things about our form of democracy, perhaps the greatest thing, is that when we find ourselves with inept rulers nobody mounts a revolution and organizes a firing squad. At worst, the rascal is nudged out of office into a six-digit pension. That thought occurred as Gov. Eric Holcomb’s pre-Covid decision to lead a trade mission to China in the middle of a trade war came into sharper focus. Now don’t misunderstand. We like free trade here,…

by Mark Franke It is much too easy to overthink things. If this were an Olympic sport, I would be competing on national TV every four years. Libertarianism is one such overthink for me. Over the past 50 years libertarianism and I have lived through an on again, off again relationship. It first seduced me as a college freshman and member of Young Americans for Freedom, then the home for all nuances of conservative-thinking college…

by Leo Morris One day last week, an 82-year-old woman named Wilma Ball was stabbed to death in her home at Lake James. According to a sheriff’s deputy, it was the first homicide in Steuben County since 2016. About the same time, a man was shot to death on the east side of Indianapolis. It was the 118th homicide so far this year in the city, already on track to beat last year’s record-setting year.…

WE DO NOT KNOW who advised then Vice-President Mike Pence to immediately certify the 2020 presidential election results. We can be sure that the decision was made on the spot and under the most intense political pressure imaginable. We somehow doubt that the deliberation was as simplistic as, “What would be the ‘American’ thing to do?” That, however, is the line that the Pence-for-president team has settled on. “The truth is, there is almost no idea more un-American than…

“The feeling that the government should ‘do something’ has seldom been based on a comparison of what actually happens when government does and when it does not ‘do something.’” — Thomas Sowell HERE’S A QUESTION for those of us living in the post-factual world: Is anyone checking to see if the laws — any of the laws — actually work? This indifference to reality is not new, of course, but it seems more pervasive. The mass media, so…

by Mark Franke A high school senior who attends the same church as I do qualified for the state golf championship as an individual. This is a big deal for him and for all of us who know him. A big enough deal, apparently, that Huntertown, the small Hoosier town where he lives, put on an old-fashioned parade to see him off to Carmel for the tournament. The township fire department mustered their trucks and…

by Mark Franke There is something about German father-son relationships that confuse and astound those of different heritages. That relationship appears irretrievably broken to most. Think of the historical examples of King George II and his rebellious son Frederick (George III’s father). Or of Ludwig van Beethoven, who could never please his musical father. Or of King Frederick the Great, regularly beaten and even imprisoned by his unreasonable father. Why do I bring these dysfunctional…

“We see, in too many instances, conflict resolution being meted out by the use of guns. And we are working with community organizations and neighborhood groups to try to stem the tide. And I am cautiously optimistic that the commitment we are making will pay dividends.” — Mayor Joe Hogsett THE LEADERSHIP of Indianapolis is paralyzed. The brows of the deputy mayors are beginning to display worried, unattractive lines. Nobody wants to face this summer’s surge in crime.  The statistics…

by Leo Morris When I was in my late 20s – at an age when I knew Utopia was just around the corner if only we could complete the task of perfecting the human race – I discovered Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” It was the perfect bible for those of us who had achieved casual self-enlightenment through “I’m OK, You’re OK” a few years earlier. (Reject your inner parent and inner…

The Indiana Policy Review is joining in a partnership with the Mercatus Center of George Mason University to provide Indiana city councils with expert testimony on public policy issues.  Josh Ferdelman of the center will coordinate requests from our membership and local office-holders for briefings with Mercatus scholars. The staff and adjuncts of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation can join in those briefings, which can be in person or by remote. Researchers for the Mercatus Center, founded in 1980 in Arlington,…