Think About It with Michael Leppert

The great Chicago philosopher of the 1980's, Ferris Bueller, said: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

While reading the new book, "From Property to Partner: Women's Progress and Political Resistance," I found myself thinking about Bueller's famous quote. No, the book is not about skipping school, but the value it provides to the largest part of the current political moment America is experiencing is context. The challenges women face in 2023 America should not be viewed in isolation, but as a part of an important journey, we would all be better off understanding.

Sheila Suess Kennedy and Morton Marcus are prolific Hoosier writers. I generally read whatever they write. Their differing skill sets and perspectives is what makes this collaboration particularly interesting to me.

Kennedy is an attorney, Emerita Professor of Law and Public Policy at the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Indianapolis, and a former Executive Director of Indiana's ACLU. Her daily blog at www.sheilakennedy.net on policy, culture and politics is one of the city's most read.

Marcus is an economist and former director of the Indiana Business Research Center at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He currently co-hosts a popular podcast, "Who Gets What?", and writes a long-running column on economic issues concerning Indiana and the nation.

I'm a feminist. Sometimes that is uncomfortable or awkward for men to proclaim or even admit. But I have long held the belief that the collective prosperity of any community or culture depends on the liberation and equity of each demographic component in it. This book does an excellent job of explaining the differences between "liberation" and "equity" regarding women, but also providing the context America needs to understand what that means for everyone.

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If ever there was a day designated for giving and receiving good advice, it would seem Father's Day is the day. I'm not sentimental about much anymore, and even though I refer to myself as "dad" more often than I use my actual name, the holiday is among the things I also don't elevate over any other Sunday.

Indianapolis's own Kurt Vonnegut, an advice-giver of historic importance famously gave advice in a commencement speech at Lehigh University in 2004. He said when things are going well, we should make the commitment to notice it. The famous author's uncle used to say, "If this isn't nice, what is?"

I've had some fantastic Father's Days for my nearly three decades as an official honoree, celebrating all of them in Indy. I took my writing hero's advice to heart yesterday and made a point to notice it.

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I often wonder where idioms like "a bridge too far" originate. This phrase comes from the title of the 1974 book of the same name, by Cornelius Ryan. The book tells the story of Operation Market Garden, the Allies' plan of attack to conquer several bridges in the Netherlands in September of 1944. The goal was to establish a route over the Rhine River for an invasion into Germany.

The Allies never captured that last bridge at Arnhem, and the mission ultimately failed.

For Americans who possess apparently unrelenting fealty to former President Donald Trump, the bridges in front of them are also numerous. Trump's influence, his top position in Republican party politics, relies on a constituency that will seemingly follow him anywhere.

Trump famously said in January of 2016, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?"

In June of 2023, the zombies who support him would apparently applaud such a thing. What would the cadre of elected officials, who desperately want this crowd of voters to see them synonymously with the indicted former president, do? They might claim the NYPD is simply an arm of the evil Democrat Party, or even the sinister Biden campaign, and that arresting their dear leader for murder is merely a political stunt.

It sounds ridiculous, but it isn't. The federal indictment that was released last week, and the arraignment scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, challenges the seriousness of murder. What!? How could an editorial writer write something so offensive? Trump just "mishandled" some paper! All politicians do it!

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I often forget that Pride celebrations began and continue to be protests. How could I forget? There are two main reasons. First, the rights being fought for aren't specifically mine, and second, the celebrations are so wonderful, so happy, so fun, it is a protest like no other.

But it is still a protest. I am filled with gratitude for it every year and am lucky to have found a great volunteer opportunity so I can participate this year, but we are gathering, celebrating and protesting for equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community. Equal rights for my neighbors, my friends, my colleagues…you know, Americans.

The tables have dramatically turned in 2023 though! The right is madder than hell and they aren't going to take it anymore! Yawn.

Lately, boycotts against Bud Light and Target have made some noise. But when the right started boycotting a place for being too "woke" that I had been protesting for being the opposite, I had to start doing some research.

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Let's get straight to the point. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is a disgraceful public servant. The seven-member Indiana Medical Licensing Board is disgraceful too. There. Now that we have established those two sad truths, let me share with you the receipts.

Rokita used the administrative board last week as a tool to retroactively cover for his thoughtless, inaccurate and slanderous rant given on Fox News on July 13, 2022. I have no problem with Americans who simply oppose abortion. However, I have become exhausted with those who use their governmental authority for retribution against people who don't.

The saga came to an apparent conclusion at the board's marathon hearing on May 25th. I watched and listened to most of the 14-hour proceeding primarily because I was waiting for the big reveal, the aha! moment coming from the clearly outmatched lawyers representing the AG.

It never came.

The clear act, the violation of law that Dr. Caitlin Bernard committed was never established. This second-rate board repeatedly showed its ignorance of law and did not seem driven to establish the violation. By the time the proceeding had reached decision time, it was clear the board just wanted to give the AG's team something to justify the inordinate amount of time, effort and expense they had wasted trying to punish the doctor. So, they did.

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Alexander Hamilton, America's first Secretary of the Treasury said, "A national debt, if it is not excessive, to us will be a national blessing." The whole "if it is not excessive" part has always been important, but never more important than it is today.

The musical, "Hamilton," doesn't really do much on this other than a brief line from the song, "My Shot." Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote and portrayed young Alexander rapping: "But Jesus, between all the bleedin' and fightin' I've been readin' and writin'…we need to handle our financial situation…"

Assuming debt and handling it has always been part of our fabric. We began accumulating it before our constitution was ratified. Debts incurred during the Revolutionary War period totaled a little over $75 million. President Andrew Jackson paid off the original national debt in 1835 because he didn't trust the paper money we issued. It was the only time it happened. Then we went to war with Mexico in 1846, and the current debt began.

The Department of the Treasury is a great resource of the debt's history. That is if one is inclined to understand what our obligations actually are. Reading through it feels like a highlight reel of what makes America what it is today.

Our nation was founded on many things. Some of them are great sources of pride: independence, representative government, religious freedom, etc. Others are not, primarily, slavery and misogyny. Deficit spending, operating on debt, and all of the things that come with it has pros and cons, but carrying debt at all was a choice we made at the beginning.

Honoring our debts is as much about who we are as allowing the debt to exist is in the first place.

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"Where do I begin?" This is the quote of the week, an award I often dole out for a wide variety of reasons. Those reasons can be the source of great pride or shame. Profound meaning or comedic genius are both favorite categories of the esteemed accolade.

It is rarely awarded to someone for achieving an "own" of someone on whatever social platform. This award rises above trash talk. There is no trophy, plaque or monetary value, at least not yet. Though it is being discussed.

Todd Young, Indiana's senior U.S. senator, gave this week's quote in an answer to this question from CNN's Manu Raju: "What's the reason for you not supporting (Donald Trump's campaign)?" Whitney Downard reported about the exchange on May 11 for the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

After giving the quote of the week, Young did find his place to begin, primarily Trump's lack of support for Ukraine's defense against the unprovoked Russian invasion. But in general, Young pointed out Trump's losing record and how it was time for Republicans to support winners.

OK, that last part felt a little like Young "owning" Trump. But the original quote is still this week's winner.

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When the unions representing movie and television writers announced they would go on strike last week, my instinct was to join their side of the fight. Hey, I write, right?

I didn't even know what the dispute entailed, but I wanted to join my writing sisters and brothers to fight The Man. You know the one. He's the cigar-smoking mogul, squeezing valuable art out of starving artists, so he can afford the ascots he wears and limos he rides to and from his Beverly Hills mansion every day.

I'm sad to report that some small-time writer from Indiana can't just join the Writers Guild of America. Even though the guild has 11,000 members, joining it usually requires an invitation. It may sound like a big club, but it is exclusive. Most Americans don't know the names of WGA members, even its most accomplished ones. But we should.

TV and film writers have always occupied a strange place in the universe. What we see on the screen are their ideas, imaginations and jokes, but they aren't the stars. They aren't the investors either, so their lack of fame is matched only by their lack of income. That isn't new.

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We gather here today to commend you graduates, to praise you, to congratulate you. That's what commencement ceremonies are designed to accomplish. Right? It's not just an event where people wear funny caps and creepy gowns in front of family members who are pre-scolded for their inevitable outbursts of celebratory noise when their graduate's name is called.

I have bad news though; I need to give you one final test before you come to the stage to receive your diplomas.

The six basic questions of who, what, when, where, why and how have been put to you exhaustively in your journeys of learning. Humor me on this special day and allow me to ask them of you one final time.

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In his 2012 comedy special, "In This Economy?", Gary Gulman discusses the thrill of finding a twenty-dollar bill in an old coat when he was dead broke. He remembers the find being such a big deal, it caused him to change his weekend plans. He even added the guacamole to his bowl at Chipotle the next day.

The funny part was wondering out loud what it would take for Bill Gates to have a similar thrill. At the time, Gates was only worth a paltry $69 billion.

Thanks to the April revenue forecast, Indiana just found an extra $1.5 billion. That could buy an avalanche of guac, without a fiscal care in the world.

Of course, that would be silly. Especially for a state government that seems to find itself with extra money so often, so routinely, that the thrill is entirely gone. When the state's books were closed at the end of the fiscal year last summer, our total surplus was $6.1 billion. The number was celebrated, that's right, celebrated, as evidence of great Republican leadership.

Great economy? Thank the GOP. Fiscal restraint? Thank the GOP. A complete void of any creative and meaningful idea to use our fortuitous fortune? Without question, thank the GOP.

As the 2023 legislative session ends in the coming days, I want to try and inspire the Indiana General Assembly to think big. As a teacher, this exercise is becoming a general operating procedure at the end of every semester. My young college students often think big but spend too much energy trying to restrain their dreams. Part of my job, according to me, is to get them to stop doing that.

So, legislature, I will now turn my eyes on you.

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