I started writing my column in the spring of 2014, and oh how things have changed since then!

Barack Obama was president, and Mike Pence was the governor of Indiana. There were already Republican supermajorities in both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly, and those legislative maps have since been updated and fortified to protect that offensive imbalance for the foreseeable future here.

Of course, that assumes Hoosier voters will keep voting red, no matter what that ultimately means. The Republican brand of 2014 would be unrecognizable to a new Republican in 2025. Ronald Reagan is no longer a hero. Richard Nixon is no longer an embarrassment. And Antonin Scalia is unknown to most modern GOP voters.

"12 Years a Slave" and "Dallas Buyers Club" cleaned up at the Oscars that year, both of which were stories of historic heroism in response to horrible periods of American history. Those hit movies make me wonder what the great stories about this moment will be, decades or even centuries from now.

Early next year, I will publish my second novel, "The Edge of Motherland." The setting is early 2020 in Indianapolis, and the story details an unusual friendship that begins just as the pandemic is locking down the city and the country. The actual historic events, and their impact on people during the first half of that year were remarkable all by themselves, and the book documents plenty of them. But the reason for writing it is to document how the moment felt, and how those feelings inspired a reevaluation of what "home" means.

It's not a book about politics or government.

Eleven years ago, I was a contract lobbyist, primarily working for clients who needed assistance communicating and advocating to state government. I had been consulting in the private sector for a dozen years following a career of similar length as a state employee and agency executive. Government, and the politics that steered it, was what I spent my professional life studying and working to impact. My résumé would indicate I was an expert in a niche market that was financially rewarding.

But I was losing interest in it. Writing this column helped keep it interesting for me back then and for many years since. I have now published more than 600 columns, and almost 500 of them have been specifically about politics and government. When I look back at the body of work, most would agree, some more than others, that on these topics, I've written enough.

So, I am going to stop writing about politics in my weekly columns.

Before I go though, I want to leave a few parting thoughts.

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Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.

It was a lovely September morning in Indianapolis in 2018. We had been living in our new townhouse downtown for about a year, relocating from a house just two blocks up the street. I was still a consultant back then and this was still my offseason. So, I had casually risen and slow-walked my way through my morning routine, making my way to the shower around 10:30 am. When I got out, the crime rate in my house had skyrocketed.

A burglar was downstairs stealing my laptop, backpack and wallet.

Last week, the FBI released its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) summary for 2024. It's an annual report commonly used to understand the "crime rate." The good news in this report, as has been the trend for the last three decades, is that crime in America continues to slow.

However, much of America doesn't seem to know it or doesn't want to admit it.

Feeling like crime is on the rise justifies doing dramatic things like mobilizing the military in cities like Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. when there is no actual justification. It's not really about actual crime. It's the crime drama that is in play here.

It would be convenient to give credit to some politician, political party, or civic group for the sharp declines in violent and property crimes since the early 90s. But the reduction is too big and has been trending for too many political cycles to support such a claim. Besides, in 2025, much of the public would rather pretend that crime, in general, is rampant, a scourge that must be given the highest priority to eradicate. Yes, it is my belief that much of America would actually prefer to believe that crime is a growing problem, not a shrinking one.

Pew Research published an update to its extensive study on the issue last year. The most shocking part of the study is how disconnected the public's perception is from the reality of actual crime rates. For example, between 1993 and 2022, violent crime has decreased by 49%. By half! But when asked, the perception that crime is up "in the last year" has continued to rise from 47% in 2000, to 77% in 2023.

As crime rates have shrunk, the perception of its growth has risen. And almost as sharply. Why is that? One contributing factor is how crime is reported.

To me, "1984" was originally a rock album, the last studio collection of songs by the original members of Van Halen. It was July 7, 1984, when the 16-year-old version of me earned his way to a spot right in front of Eddie Van Halen's place on the stage at Roberts Stadium in Evansville for the biggest tour of the year. Back then, we fought for those spots on the arena floor.

The album was named after George Orwell's classic book, even though there is no artistic connection between the book's "Ministry of Truth" and songs like "Hot for Teacher." Back then though, even after learning more about the book and growing out of Van Halen, both seemed like nothing more than inconsequential examples of make-believe.

That was a different time.

Last Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly jobs report—as has been typically done on the first Friday of every month. The first bit of bad news in this report was the 73,000 jobs added in July, significantly lower than the forecasted 109,000. But that initial bad news got worse.

What is commonly done in the monthly jobs report are revisions to prior monthly reports after data is more accurate and complete. The BLS revised the May and June reports downward by 250,000 jobs, the largest revision outside of the COVID era, since 1979.

As reported by the BBC, "It is not unusual for the BLS to amend jobs figures as more data comes to light, however. During Joe Biden's presidency, statistics for 12 months over 2023-4 were retroactively revised downward by 818,000 jobs." Importantly, the article also stated, "Though this month's changes were much larger than usual, analysts said the updates were consistent with other data showing slowdown."

It's not great news. When I saw the numbers, I wasn't surprised at all. I also wasn't giddy about how they might make President Donald Trump's obviously questionable economic strategies look as perilous as I think they will be. I remember saying out loud to the report, "Well, yea."

Trump apparently thought the report should say something different and was also apparently so enraged by this bad news that later that day, he fired BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer. She was appointed as the commissioner in January of 2024 and was confirmed by the Senate on an 86-8 vote. Then-Senator and current Vice President J.D. Vance voted yes. Then-Senator and current Secretary of State Marco Rubio voted yes. Her impeccable qualifications were reported extensively by Fortune on Sunday.

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Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.

On Monday night, I sat in my recliner writing my third novel. I'm about halfway done with it, and my editor is expecting that first half by the end of the week so she can do a midpoint "assessment" of the story. She worked on my last book, and I know how she operates. The first question she will contemplate is whether or not the story is grabbing the audience quickly.

That's on my mind this week, though I'm 40,000 words into this soon-to-be classic already.

As I was pecking away on my laptop, my wife was on the couch reading. She hadn't made a sound in a while, and without my notorious pounding on the keys, the living room would have been silent. Until she unexpectedly burst into tears.

"I didn't see that coming!" she announced while asking me to get her some tissues.

Bursting into tears, or laughing out loud, or even descending into an extended stretch of quiet contemplation are what people often seek when they read. It's the joy of thinking. That's what reading for pleasure is.

People are reading less than they once did. I write "they" because I'm reading more than I ever have. And my wife grew up a reader and it's clear she will always be one.

The recent news of our education challenges in Indiana is telling a different story.

First, Casey Smith reported for the Indiana Capital Chronicle last week, "Indiana's college-going rate drops again, dipping to 51.7%." This descent scares me for my home state. Not just because I am a college teacher and my craft appears to be losing popularity, but because I believe that the prosperity of all people depends on their ongoing commitment to learning. Any learning. All learning.

The culture wars instigated by Indiana's political leaders on the state's public and private institutions of higher education will only deepen this specific decline.

As a teacher and writer, I wonder what Hoosiers really want for themselves. Behaviorally speaking, apparently destroying "wokeness" and "owning the libs" are more important than learning. There's no question those things are cheaper. But only in the moment. Prioritizing those repulsive behaviors will end up being wildly expensive.

Smith reported, "Indiana's college-going rate has dropped more than any other state tracked by the National Center for Education Statistics over the past 15 years. Previously, Indiana reached a college-going rate of 65%."

What do our leaders believe the outcome of this collapse will be five years from now? How about ten?

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Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.

Last week, GOP U.S. Rep. Maria Salazar of Florida, filed "The Dignity Act of 2025," a bipartisan immigration reform package that would provide legal status for certain undocumented immigrants. She filed similar legislation in 2023, but the political climate has changed wildly since way back then. Unsurprisingly, the economic demand for migrant labor has not.

Donald Trump is now in the White House and the mass deportation initiative he promised is being implemented at breakneck speed. The masked raids by a growing masked army known as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, are happening in unpredictable places all over the country. The impact of the sweeps, however, is as predictable as the sunrise.

What else has changed in politics? U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Indiana, recaptured Indiana's 3rd Congressional District seat after Republican Jim Banks vacated the seat to run for the U.S. Senate. Stutzman is one of 10 GOP House members to sign onto the Dignity Act 2025, and that is no small gesture.

In normal times, of which these are certainly not, Stutzman's co-sponsorship of legislation designed to protect the agricultural economy that dominates his district would make perfect sense. And make no mistake about it, the legislation is a far cry from what immigration hard liners could legitimately pan as an amnesty policy.

As reported by the Indianapolis Star, the bill "would provide legal status to undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years, so long as they pass a criminal background check, pay a $7,000 fine across seven years and begin paying taxes. The bill would allow people with this status to stay indefinitely, though they would be ineligible for federal benefits."

Documenting living in the U.S. for five years by an undocumented immigrant would seem to be the first challenge.

The second challenge is the "fine." Is it really a fine? It seems more like an installment program for the purchasing of legal status. I can hear the sales pitch now: "For the low, low price of $1000 a year, you can live out your days as a farm worker in peace and prosperity." ICE will be able to sort all of that out during their masked kidnappings, I'm sure.

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Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.

Last week, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced there will be no release of the "Jeffrey Epstein files."

It's hard to predict when people will have finally had enough. The tolerance level of undesirable traits and behaviors from other humans will vary from person to person of course. And in today's world of unexplainable group think, a rational understanding of group tolerance is often fleeting.

This is not a column that will provide some new theories about what's in the elusive Epstein files. No, I will never have confidence that the entire truth of that monster's life will be known. I didn't before he died, and with each passing moment since his death, the whole truth has drifted further and further from us.

But we did know enough about him, and his disgusting existence, long ago, to know who not to trust with giving us the facts. Epstein had been friends with Donald Trump. They socialized together. They traveled together. They womanized together.

Anyone paying attention already knew all of this.

Trump and his minions were never going to be the truth tellers in this or any other saga. But particularly this one.

So, I never understood why Trump's supporters sought "transparency" regarding the U.S. Department of Justice's infamous "Epstein Files." Did they seek confirmation of what was already widely known? It can't be that. No, there was seemingly some menu of conspiracy theories floating around in their ecosystem that would cause the stench of Epstein and his sex trafficking operation to stick to others. It always seemed like an elaborate fantasy of MAGA world that if someone from the other side was as dirty and as guilty as Trump, it would make all of his badness tolerable somehow.

But again, what is it that causes that kind of devotion, that kind of naivete?

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Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.

Oh, to have existed in a period of time named the "Renaissance," a French word that means "rebirth." As explained by Brittanica, "it was primarily a time of the revival of Classical learning and wisdom after a long period of cultural decline and stagnation."

The recently enacted biennial budget crafted by the Indiana General Assembly is hostile toward learning in favor of stagnation. The Commission for Higher Education announced last week that six of the state's public universities are suspending or consolidating more than 400 academic degree programs to comply with the new budget.

"The cuts are intended to help students focus on more in-demand fields and to comply early with the new state budget, which now sets minimum enrollment and completion thresholds for all degree programs offered at public institutions," as reported by Casey Smith of the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

Absurdité. Sorry, that's another French word that means "nonsense."

Look at the list of programs on the chopping block. Some highlights include undergraduate foreign language programs at Indiana University; graduate programs in literature at Purdue; international business at Ball State; and graduate programs in history and political science at Indiana State.

These cuts aren't going to help students do anything. It is a decision to teach fewer things, to offer less to young Hoosiers, and importantly, it is a move toward "cultural decline and stagnation."

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Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.

Every semester, the students in my business writing class are divided up into teams and are assigned a real-life challenge from a company looking to elevate its performance in any number of ways. It's an opportunity to research the complexities of a market, to create an entrepreneurial solution and to effectively communicate all of it to the company looking to grow.

And it's an opportunity for me. I get to teach them the value of feedback. The worst ideas I've seen in my career come from organizations that spend too much time only talking to each other. The habit skews logic and rationality and creates blind spots allowing for fantastical outcomes that ultimately prevent actual success.

So, let's talk about this lesson plan in the context of "The One Big Beautiful Bill Act," or "OBBBA."

First, the name itself. What likely started as a spasm straight from the mouth of President Donald Trump has become the dumbest title of landmark legislation in history. It communicates nothing of what the legislation actually does, good or bad, and sounds unserious, sarcastic and irritating in its vagueness.

On Tuesday while researching the latest in the U.S. Senate, I spotted the first commercials for Trump's new men's cologne and women's perfume on social media. I, of course, thought it was a hoax at first, but confirmed it's reality. The scents, called "Fight, Fight, Fight" and "Victory 45-47" must feature a refreshing aroma; sweet, soothing and subtle with a sort of locker room-esque approachability.

After that brief rancid distraction, I went back to looking for the talking points from those who support Trump's legislation. I came across the promotion of "OBBBA," on the White House webpage. This document is truly stunning in its silliness. Please look at it. It honestly looks like an ad for the smelly cologne, or possibly an ad for a pride-swallowing memoir about the smelly cologne. But I'm a professional, so I scrolled past that embarrassing half page to get to the words part of this debate.

There are endorsements rolling by on a ticker under an oversized header, "Backed by American Industry." This list is actually pretty short: Verizon, Comcast, Dell, 3M, Delta and Uber. Hmm. Uber? The company that finally turned its first annual profit in 2023 is supporting OBBBA because of the bill's elimination of taxes on tips. But that elimination doesn't appear to apply to Uber drivers in its current form. This endeavor is so gimmicky, even those who support the idea in theory often overlook its limited impact. The Economic Policy Institute's February piece is a valuable source on the issue.

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Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.

I spent last weekend in New York, as I try to do once a year, for the primary purpose of seeing the latest hot show or two on Broadway. I'd love to say I am expert at picking the best shows, but the truth is, if a show has gotten my attention in the heartland, it's a safe bet. "Maybe Happy Ending" first caught my eye with its list of Tony nominations, so I bought the tickets. After my purchase, the show won six, including Best Musical.

While I was in the city, the political ads were relentless on TV and on many of the digital billboards in Times Square. Tuesday was the Democratic primary election for mayor of the city—a contest that lately has, if nothing else, been a source of entertainment for the rest of the country.

This time around, however, the contest is enraging. Former New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, has been leading in the polls to win. Victory will bring him a new job, and as some suggest, redemption.

Cuomo resigned from office in August of 2021, during his third term as governor. The state legislature was preparing to impeach him at the time. New York's attorney general had released the results of an investigation that found Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women. He had created a work environment "rife with fear and intimidation."

Where are these women now?

Our culture doesn't ask this question or consider the answer deeply enough. The public is being asked to forgive or forget how the politician's abhorrent behavior forever changed their victim's life trajectories. If we collectively put this question up front, where it belongs, we would be less susceptible to reenlisting for the ridiculous: That these perpetrators are worthy of their victims' trust or ours ever again.

Cuomo's career in public service should have ended permanently four years ago. His resignation was the end of his defense and likely provided some level of closure to those he harmed. I doubt the ending was happy for the victims, but that "Maybe Happy Ending" was better than the fantasy that the abhorrent behavior never occurred. Cuomo's attempt at "redemption" is an exercise in pretending.

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Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.

A quarter century ago, as a young bureaucrat, I had a disagreement with my bosses. Energy commodities markets were going through an historic price spike, and my agency set the final rates customers would pay. I wanted rates to mirror the market to send "price signals" to consumers and provoke a reduction in consumption. The bosses wanted to spread costs over a long period to mitigate "rate shock." They feared the infinitely possible responses that could come from an angry public.

The bosses won, as bosses usually do, and we kept rates flat, and the public remained calm.

Governing has changed since then.

Last Thursday, June 12th, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, was forcibly removed from a news conference being conducted by the U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. He was ultimately tackled and handcuffed before being released. Why? He wanted to ask Noem some questions, and there were no questions to ask her that she would have been able to easily answer, so her security detail overreacted early. Where? In Los Angeles, where Padilla is arguably far more important than Noem.

This wasn't a mistake on Noem's part or on her security detail's part. It was purposeful theater. While Padilla was being restrained unnecessarily, Noem was saying this according to NBC News: "We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country," referring to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats.

The Trump Administration is declaring war on state and local government in California. Or was Noem just trying to see what the reaction to that possibility would be?

On Friday, June 13th, Israel began firing missiles into Iran. As reported by Reuters, "The air war between Iran and Israel - which began on Friday when Israel attacked Iran with air strikes - has raised alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel's military assault on Gaza in October 2023."

Israel claims the bombing was necessary to preempt Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Yes, this issue had been addressed during the Obama Administration when the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed, specifically to prevent it. President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement during his first term and failed to craft a new nuclear deal with Iran to replace it.

Now we have a replacement: war. The U.S. has been working to avoid this conflict since the Reagan Administration.

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Michael Leppert is an author, educator and a communication consultant in Indianapolis. He writes about government, politics and culture at MichaelLeppert.com.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.