‘Alabama 27, Indiana 24‘ THE LATE BOB BARTLEY, editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial pages, understood the intrinsic value of journalism. He imagined a campfire of prehistoric hunters where one in the circle had a better memory for game trails than the others. That member of the party earned special privileges (a Mammoth rib perhaps) irrespective of his tactical contribution to the hunt. That prescience, that value, has disappeared for reasons to be addressed in a moment.…

Sharks Are Only Human After All I ADMIT to spending too much time trying to make sense of the world. Why, for instance, do we provide aid and shelter to foreign nationals who appear to hate us? Nonetheless, it is important to keep tabs on the more egregious examples of softheadedness. Here is the latest in my collection: A California biologist has come forward to explain to the unaware that a shark killing a woman swimmer was…

Restoring the Family Farm IF YOU HEADED OUT into the Indiana countryside over the holidays you witnessed the dearth of family farms. As we noted in “Indiana Mandate: A Return to Founding Principles,” George Washington and James Madison, farmers both, would be shocked to learn that farm and ranch families comprise less than 2 percent of the American population today, That could change here as the administration of Gov. Mike Braun and Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith turn its…

2026: A ‘Declaration’ Year by Mark Franke This year I will not make any New Year’s resolutions. It’s not that I don’t have a need for personal improvement in many areas of my life. I do. Instead, my focus is at the macro level. What should American society resolve to improve in 2026? What is the most important societal problem to address? Finally, how can I contribute toward making things better? The answer to our…

The Mystery of Property, 2026 “Everything has already been said, but since no one listens, it is necessary to say it again.” — Andre Gide NEW YEAR’S IS the appropriate time to review lost lessons — resolutions unkept, certainly, but also those truths related by an earlier generation, a father or grandfather maybe, that were never fully incorporated into your operating manual. I have one: It is respect for private property. In my childhood, it meant keeping off other people’s…

by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Following in the footsteps of President Donald Trump, I have a modest policy proposal that is extravagant in style and would hurt the economy — a petition to eliminate competition from Santa Claus through tariffs and other trade barriers. From a Trumpian perspective, Santa’s enterprise is clearly an unfair and harmful intrusion by a low-cost, high-quality foreign producer.  Other policy analysts have reasonably focused on the Scrooge-like implications of tariffs for…

by Mark Franke One of the reasons I look forward to our monthly Socratic discussion group is the opportunity to learn something new. Regardless of what knowledge I have of the designated topic going in, two hours of rigorous discussion later and I leave knowing much more. Last month the topic was agricultural subsidies and how taxpayer money could be better spent for the common good and, this is important too, for the benefit of…

by Mark Franke The Indiana General Assembly’s special session appears to be over, having voted down a mid-decade congressional reapportionment proposal. The legislature is required to reapportion after each decennial census but not more often, although nothing prevents more frequent efforts other than their fiscal and political costs. Despite the heavy-handed involvement of Donald Trump in Indiana’s recent reapportionment process, he didn’t create this mess. It has been going on for most of our republic’s…

by James O’Donnell, M.B.A.This year has seen major American cities, like New York City and Seattle, elect socialist mayors. Elsewhere, positions a bit lower on the totem pole have also found successful socialist candidates, including winning city or area council seats in Atlanta, Georgia; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Detroit, Michigan; Greenbelt, Maryland; Ithaca, New York; Jersey City, New Jersey; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Poughkeepsie, New York; and Carrboro, North Carolina.  And there are many more socialists running in…

Rolling Boondoggles AS THE USUAL BOOSTERS line up to cut more ribbons for the almost $400-million Indy Blue Line (bus transit) in Indianapolis, our adjunct scholar Randall O’Toole is finishing work on his latest report. O’Toole, a reliable and well-informed downer on public transportation issues, concludes “the more we spend, the fewer people use transit.”  Here is his quote in the blog “Unleash Prosperity”: “Transit has not relieved congestion. It hasn’t reduced greenhouse gas emissions. It hasn’t helped many…