I have always thought legislators should be obliged to take the equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm. Most of the major and minor evils of history have been a byproduct of overambitious political leaders intent on “doing something.”
An old friend was in the Statehouse the other day for the first time in a long time. He’s a guy who worked in the media, then in state government, and now in public relations. He knows his way around the building.
A casual glimpse of recent developments in Indiana politics might suggest Hoosiers are in the throes of an identity crisis. As a traditional dead-red state, Indiana produced few surprises. Republicans, for the most part, rule the roost, even with the occasional presence of Democratic governors or slight majority of Dems in the state’s House of Representatives.
“The editorial was typical of The Journal Gazette’s ultra-liberal, atheistic, secular, humanistic rhetoric,” a letter-writer complains. “You need to quit channeling Fox News,” writes another.
If one of the overt Democratic lines of attack against Republicans is that Republicans are conducting a war on women, one of the low-simmering, implicit lines of attack from Republicans is that Democrats are conducting a war on men, or at least traditional views of masculinity.
Some supporters of President Obama may be worried about how he and the Democrats are going to fare politically, as the problems of Obamacare continue to escalate.
Whether in the State of the Union address, recent commentaries about college tuition outpacing financial aid, or news about Purdue University’s possibly extending its tuition freeze, one thing is certain. The status quo is not acceptable when it comes to cost and access to a college education.
Recent debates in the General Assembly about inspecting apartments for safety and sanitation purposes has highlighted the need for more energetic collaboration between state government and the people who lead cities and towns.
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a conservative special-interest group. It opened with four paragraphs about a Statehouse issue along with a list of House members the group wanted its supporters to call and email. But that’s not what caught my eye.
Perhaps the most intriguing question in what is shaping up to be a remarkable political year is the following: Will Greg Ballard seek a third term as mayor in 2015?
There is a lot of talk these days about income inequality—the growing gap between the incomes of the rich and poor. Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, acknowledged in a recent speech to our Economic Club that the ”recovery” is working only for the rich: The poor are seeing no benefit from it, and income inequality is growing.
Sometimes it seems our political leaders know only four-letter words like jobs. They often precede this with another four letter word: good.
I wrote a piece recently that suggested truth is not eternal but transient. It moves, changes, flexes.
So much for being governor of all the people of Indiana. Earlier this month, not long after the House of Representatives voted to strip the controversial second sentence out of House Joint Resolution 3—the proposed state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage—Gov. Mike Pence told WISH-TV Channel 8 that he supported the HJR 3 in its original form.
The recent decision by the Plainfield-based Islamic Society of North America to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act has created concern among some Muslim Hoosiers.
Since the General Assembly convened in January, it seems that nearly everyone I’ve talked to has an opinion on House Joint Resolution 3, the divisive constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a woman and a man.
I first met Mary Berry in the fall of 1960, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
As the General Assembly works through the 2014 session, a familiar issue has risen to the forefront of discussion and debate. It’s the idea of providing funding for children to attend pre-kindergarten programs.
I commend the governor for recognizing the state’s long overdue need to expand access to quality early-childhood education. In my years as a teacher, I found the difference between students arriving with a preschool education and those without to be profound.
Allowing legislators to draw their own districts is like the NBA allowing the home team to hire its own officials; it would be an obvious conflict of interest that would discredit the process and lead to unfair play. That’s why redistricting reform tops Common Cause Indiana’s legislative agenda and why I’m pleased that the House took action early this session by passing House Bill 1032.<
