MUNCIE – Thanksgiving weekend is a fine occasion to take stock of our world and to consider honestly how our economy fares globally, nationally and locally. The economy isn’t everything, of course. Freedom, family and health matter more. However, strong economic growth is the best remedy for many vexing challenges. In almost every way the …

CARMEL – Throughout my political career, I have always applied four tests to any candidate who was vying for either my support or my vote. I’ve made mistakes on a few, but in general these tests have worked well.   The first, and most important, is a candidate’s likability factor. You can call it charisma …

SOUTH BEND – Democrats need to stop blaming a Republican gerrymander for loss of the congressional election in Indiana’s 2nd CD. Even if Democrats had drawn the new districts after the 2020 Census, there is no way the district that includes St. Joseph County could have been dawn to provide Democratic flavor for the 2022 …

INDIANAPOLIS – In the television age of Hoosier politics there have been seismic reports that brought along middling change. The Indiana School Reorganization Act of 1959 reduced the number of school districts from 966 to 402, yet even today there are 53 school corporations with fewer than 1,000 students. In 2007 came the Kernan-Shepard Indiana …

ANDERSON – You have to give Mike Schmuhl credit. Where some saw a devastating election defeat, Schmuhl, the chair of the Indiana Democratic Party, saw reason for hope.“Despite a difficult political environment,” he said in a news release, “Hoosier Democrats held their own against an onslaught of national dark money.”Schmuhl suggested the party was poised …

BLOOMINGTON – If you followed this year’s elections, at some point the question probably occurred to you: Why do people do this? The endless campaign events, the constant scrutiny… and increasingly, the very real and alarming threat of political violence. What drives someone to put up with it all?I suspect that if you asked a …

MUNCIE – A reader recently suggested I write about the speed with which government policy can affect the economy. I’ve only lightly touched on this topic before, but it is both timely and interesting, and rich with theory and empirics.The best place to begin is with a timeless warning about the role of public policy …

INDIANAPOLIS  – Officially there are 838,000 Hoosiers (13% of the population) below the federal poverty level. But that’s not close to the full story. It’s the poverty of opportunity and the poverty of thought in our state that also deserves attention.Poor quality of education, matched with poor expectations, results in a poverty of opportunity. The …

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana remains, essentially, a one-party state after Tuesday’s mid-term election. Republicans are poised to increase their state Senate and House super majorities; elected Diego Morales as secretary of state by a 14% plurality despite numerous allegations of vote fraud and sexual harassment, and came within several points of picking off the 1st Congressional …