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RASMUSSEN: Politics now minus-sum game where everyone loses
“A simple recipe for violence: promise a lot, deliver a little. Lead people to believe they will be much better off, but let there be no dramatic improvement.” The brilliant political scientist Aaron Wildavsky wrote these words in 1968 while America was engulfed in race riots and anti-war protests. Sadly, his words from long ago eerily describe the politics of 21st-century America.
GARRISON: Planned Parenthood’s latest subsidized exploit
So I am preparing for the show one recent morning when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a story at Breitbart.com about a new PR campaign being launched by Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. The subject? Bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism for “active teens.”
KETZENBERGER: It isn’t about the destination; it’s about the quest
When I was a kid with a tank full of cheap gas and nothing but time on my hands, I’d drive all over the countryside trying to get lost.
MADISON: Hoosiers, the American Dream, and ‘jest a bein’ rich’
Indiana was for a century and a half the heartland of the American Dream. Pioneers bought land cheaply, built log cabins, grew corn, and soon acquired iron stoves and store-bought clothing.
DOWD: Already worn to exhaustion by Hillary’s campaign
Oy. By the time the Bushes and Clintons are finished, they are going to make the Tudors and the Plantagenets look like pikers. Barack Obama will turn out to be the interim guy who provided a tepid respite while Hillary and Jeb geared up to go at it.
MASSON: New slogan destined for ‘Wander Indiana’ infamy
The Indiana Office of Tourism Development has announced that “Honest to Goodness Indiana” is the new slogan with which it will attempt to promote the state to tourists. IBJ reported that slogan was the product of a panel of 30 individuals within the travel, tourism and hospitality industries, government leaders, and representatives from both the public and private sectors as well as a development process including input from nearly 8,000 consumers.
LANOSGA: Run government like a business? Which business?
Which is better: business or government? Before you answer, consider two cases.
PARR: Taxes, budget surpluses and dueling ideologies
For some time now, there has been a concerted effort—primarily by Republicans—to tackle tax reform. Essentially, the plan is to lower rates for all Americans and close loopholes, doing so in a revenue-neutral manner.
BOEHM: Airport is shortsighted location for justice center
Like almost everyone familiar with the Marion County courts, I applaud Mayor Ballard’s proposal to address the long-recognized need for a judicial center. The proposal would leave the civil courts in the City-County Building but consolidate the criminal courts and their associated agencies in one complex.
WESTERHAUS-RENFROW: Crime undermines Indy’s many advancements
In his recent State of the City address, Mayor Ballard expanded on a familiar theme of making Indianapolis a more livable city, one that can build on its unique amenities to attract middle- and upper-income residents back into Marion County and even the old city limits.
SPALDING: Take the transit money while the fed’s hand is open
Every time I see an IndyGo story, I brace myself for the good, the bad and the oh-so ugly.
TAFT: Indianapolis vacant housing at critical crossroads
Neighborhood and local government leaders in Indianapolis increasingly face a dilemma: Let tax-foreclosed houses sit vacant or enable their acquisition by large, scattered-site rental investors.
SOUDER: Moral issues are dead in Indiana politics—for now
This debate is not new. A famous president of Purdue University once said that whoever raised the abortion debate was the loser. Political debate over issues such as gay marriage, abortion, marijuana, prayer in schools, hiring rights of religious organizations, and posting of the Ten Commandments has long been a part of the American political process.
ODLE: Liberty, freedom should be legislative priorities
It’s hard to ignore the amount of energy we have put on a constitutional amendment to define marriage.
BOHANON: Hooray for Indiana’s do-nothing Legislature!
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.”
SHELLA: Alternatives to Statehouse press corps fall short
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.
JONES: Hoosiers still processing change with wary eye
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.
FRANCISCO: The answer to the question is yes, to both extremes
“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.