In today’s political environment, a smart politician quickly learns that using the right language is more important than doing the right thing. In most cases, the electorate won’t know the difference, because the real business of government is done through that most boring, least-understood, least reported-on mechanism—the budget. If we really want to know what is going on, we have to follow the money.
Category Archives: Racial Equality
Rules in Black and White
It was a warm and sunny spring day, and the park was filled with families and children playing. At the eastern perimeter of the park, on a low fence constructed of railroad ties, three young African-American boys sat talking quietly. An IPD patrol car pulled up directly in front of them; the officers got out of the car and demanded…
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Rules in Black and White #2
One of the most basic responsibilities of local government is the supervision of traffic. We depend upon municipal officials to engineer our streets and highways, erect and maintain traffic signals, and to promulgate rules that foster safety on the streets…
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Saddened But Not Surprised
Within a recent, two-day period, Indianapolis media reported on two separate, ugly incidents. In Greenwood, racist flyers were distributed on cars parked at the Greenwood Park Mall; in Carmel, anti-Semitic tracts were thrown on driveways in selected neighborhoods.
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Guilty of DWB
There are some accusations that evoke a response of "Oh, that can’t be true." The ICLU gets regular complaints from African-Americans that they are subjected to traffic stops for no reason, and it is tempting for a white lawyer to dismiss those…
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