Think About It with Michael Leppert

In the 1987 film, "Wall Street," Gordon Gecko famously said, "If you're not inside, you are outside, okay." I was impressionable as a young undergraduate when I saw it in the theater that year. Since then, I have firmly believed decisions were only made by the people present in the exclusive room where the next important thing was going to happen.

I still do. Whether the organization is in the world of government or business, entertainment, or athletics, it's my view that the best leaders are insiders.

So, why do so many political campaigns spend so much energy attempting to create the image that their candidate is an "outsider?" The perceived value of it is a mystery.

First of all, let's be clear. None of the top candidates for Indiana governor are outsiders. The mere suggestion by any of them is nothing but a ruse. Complicating the weirdness further, being from the outside of government, politics or both, has no value for this specific job, either.

The Office of the Governor in Indiana is structurally weak. Constitutionally, the simple majority to override a veto has made it such throughout history. In 2024 though, the entrenched super-majorities in the legislature have made it even weaker. Not since Mitch Daniels left office twelve years ago has the office been occupied by the unequivocal leader of the party.

None of those running this year will change that. There is no movement growing behind any of them. One of them will prevail in the primary and appear on the ballot this fall, but whoever is inaugurated in January will still be taking orders from the gerrymandered power base on the third floor of the Statehouse. The lack of any energy behind any big idea practically seals that deal.

There really is only one policy proposal that has risen above the harmonious nothingness of this primary battle, and that is Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch's pitch to eliminate the state's income tax. But because the details on how to accomplish it are undeveloped, this innovative idea feels a lot like the campaign promise of a sixth-grade class president candidate promising to end homework. Ironically, this pie-in-the-sky offering comes from the candidate least likely to be called an outsider. Go figure.

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Whenever I find myself baffled by a trend or even a specific decision in the traditional media world, I look to Jay Rosen for his perspective. Rosen is a former editor at the Chicago Tribune and a professor of journalism at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

He's risen in prominence recently as a result of his "it's not the odds, it's the stakes" advice he has given the media on how to cover the 2024 elections. What he means by this is the coverage should be grounded in what the November choices mean, not the daily drama of polls, gotcha moments and the scoreboard.

Consumers of media content should follow his advice too. Too often, consumers forget that we are partners in the market. Never has that been more important.

Late last week, NBC News hired recently ousted Republican National Committee Chairperson, Ronna McDaniel, as a political contributor. The move has caused an avalanche of reaction.

McDaniel has been an election denier since the "Big Lie" was spawned in 2020. She participated and led efforts, particularly in her home state of Michigan, to overturn the results. She still refuses to admit Joe Biden won an election that ultimately wasn't all that close.

Democrats always cringe when a former, high-ranking Republican lands a gig at a prominent news desk. This one is different though. In honor of Professor Rosen and the spirit of telling it like it is, the most obvious problem with NBC's decision is this simple: McDaniel is a liar.

The "newsroom" at the network isn't pleased about this at all. NBC's own Chuck Todd blasted the hire on "Meet the Press" Sunday morning. He was joined by the Boston Globe's Kimberly Atkins Stohr, who said McDaniel's "credibility was shot" over the years, and that "she habitually lied."

OK. Democrats and journalists are mad. Surely Republicans are happy, right?

Not immediately, they weren't.

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Sigh. It's been a little while since the last time the former president went on a rant like the one on Saturday in Dayton, Ohio. It was awful enough to make headlines and to send his sycophants into damage control over what their idol actually meant.

Context is the argument this time, something which Donald Trump has spent his life disconnected from. To help reconnect his actions to a coherent perspective, I would like to make a comparison to help the MAGA cult see their way through it.

Larry Flynt was a pioneer, I guess, in the world of pornography during the 1970's and 1980's, as the publisher of Hustler Magazine. What was Flynt's differentiator? That he was willing to go further, more provocatively, more dangerously than Playboy and Penthouse were willing to go at the time. Then in November of 1972, he got his big break when he acquired sunbathing photos of former first lady, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and he was willing to publish them.

His smut magazine sales went from a few thousand to over 2 million. I imagine it was a bloodbath at the Playboy Mansion that quarter. Hugh Hefner couldn't have liked finishing second.

"Bloodbath" is a provocative word, one that should be reserved for only the most extreme circumstances. Dictionary.com defines it first as, "a ruthless slaughter of a great number of people; massacre," and second as, "a period of disastrous loss or reversal." I like visually powerful words too, but I know what they mean.

In Saturday's rant, while showing Ohio Republicans that neither he, nor they, know how tariffs work, Trump proposed a 100% tariff on Chinese auto imports. The crowd cheered. I never thought I would see a gathering of Republicans delight in approval of a historic, enormous tax increase on themselves. Now I have.

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It can be tough to be a minority of any kind. We talk about that toughness in cultural terms regularly in America. Whether it is a minority religion, gender or race, being outnumbered is rarely meaningless or easy.

Senate Democrats in Indiana would love to be in that standard minority. Their minority isn't standard though, it's "super." Being in a simple minority would feel like a luxury, like upgrading to first class on a flight, or into a high-roller suite in the penthouse of a resort on the Vegas strip. Life in the super-minority is viewed as a thankless, and often times, even a valueless endeavor. The caucus is often described as one that doesn't matter at all.

Those descriptions are incorrect. And there are receipts to prove it.

Sen. Andrea Hunley is my senator. I vividly remember her first campaign for the seat in 2022. Why? Because when I was listening to her speak to a small group of people that spring, I was overcome with the thought, "she's too good for that place and being there is going to drive her nuts." I stand by the first point but was dead wrong about the second.

On March 5th, I accidentally caught Hunley in action. While speaking on the Senate floor on House Bill 1093, a bill to relax child labor laws, she delivered a speech worthy of a title. I would title it with the question she asked from the start. She said, "Who stands to benefit? I know for certain it's not our kids…When I first ran for office, I ran because of children. I ran because of my work with them." She was a teacher and principal for twenty years, most recently at the Center for Inquiry in my neighborhood.

The majority ignored her questions and concerns and passed the bill on a party line vote. This was the kind of thing I was predicting for her two years ago. She was destined to be on the right side of policies only to be outvoted by a majority that runs like a zombie experiencing a shortage of brains to eat. But Hunley marches on, undeterred by her lopsided surroundings.

Senator Shelli Yoder was elected two years earlier in 2020. She represents Bloomington and is an award-winning educator at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, where I also teach. She primarily teaches freshmen, and I now teach sophomores, some who have been taught by her, so I can personally vouch for her excellence in the classroom.

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When paying close attention to the things politicians actually say, there are moments when their true character unmistakably shines through. The memorable comments and quips are often material for statues and memorials. Successful politicians fight the urge to be blunt because of the historical danger bluntness brings. Thankfully, eventually most lose that challenging inner battle.

Last Thursday, Sen. Mike Braun lost that battle. In an interview with Fox News anchor, Maria Bartiromo, she asked the Indiana gubernatorial candidate for his thoughts on how Sen. Mitch McConnell should handle his leadership transition. Braun said he thought McConnell needed to endorse the Trump campaign with this motivational advice: "Don't fight it, you gotta go along with it."

Sort of gives a person goose bumps, doesn't it?

I'm reminded of other great oratorical moments from our leaders. Words that moved people, inspired us, or provided great clarity in times of uncertainty or strife.

"The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself," from President Franklin Roosevelt comes to mind. Those were big words at a big moment.

"It's not what your country can do for you, it's what you can do for your country," struck a nerve when President John F. Kennedy said it.

When I walk by the statue of President Benjamin Harrison in downtown Indianapolis, I am always drawn to his quote etched into the base: "Great lives do not go out; they go on." That may have inspired the Celine Dion song, "My Heart Will Go On."

More goose bumps.

Being a follower never inspires. Don't get me wrong, followers are vital to humanity. Where would we be without them? Let's face it, all of us spend most of our time following. But all of us aren't running for governor. All of us aren't in the U.S. Senate. Those are jobs reserved for leaders.

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I am in the business of words. Few people choose a career path that leads to regular debates about whether the use of words like "moreover" or "furthermore" read like the connection of one scolding to another. Even fewer of us enjoy those debates as much as I do.

Senate Bill 202, legislation now on the floor of the Indiana House of Representatives, is an attempt to make public universities more welcoming to those with conservative views. That's a difficult task for obvious reasons. First, the strained solution that Senator Spencer Deery, a Republican from Tippecanoe County, has developed in this bill presumes there is a problem. I disagree on that foundational point. Second, he believes the legislature can solve this perceived problem. And that is pure comedy.

The bill relies on Deery's desire for "intellectual diversity" at Indiana's public universities. Not familiar with that term? I wasn't either. When I first read it, I thought it meant "the differences between smart people and stupid people." After a weekend exercise in amateur lexicology, I have failed in disproving my original interpretation.

In my exercise, I first dissected the term and evaluated what the words mean separately to determine what they must mean together. According to Dictionary.com, "intellectual" means, in part: "the faculty of thinking and acquiring knowledge." "Diversity" means, "difference; unlikeness; variety." Put them together and the term must then mean, "the differences in the faculty of thinking and acquiring knowledge," right?

My original interpretation survives.

We should put that exercise aside though. That's not what the Indiana General Assembly means when they use the term in 2024. What they mean is "ideological diversity," but for some strange reason, they won't say what they mean. Why not?

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I was inspired to read David Brooks' latest book, "How to Know a Person, The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen," when it came out last fall. I was drawn to it because of a comment a former student made to me around the same time.

She said, "I was surprised to find out that your speech class gave me confidence in conversations that used to make me uncomfortable." Teachers love hearing things like that—a student got some value out of a class that wasn't even assigned! Admittedly, I teach conversationally, a luxury of smaller class sizes. I warn all of my students on the first day: "I'm going to get to know you better than your other professors do, and you're going to get to know me too."

In "How to Know a Person," the book's lofty goals can be achieved through a commitment to having better conversations. Not easier, or more entertaining conversations, but better. And yes, I often found myself nodding as I read it.

John Dickerson wrote for CBS News, "The book's thesis is that while human relations are hard, the skills can be taught, and if people can improve their one-on-one interactions – in listening, in conversation, and in what Brooks calls the 'close at hand' – it might have a compounding effect on society."

I often read Brooks' columns, not because I agree with him, though I sometimes do. It's because I have always liked the way he writes, and this book is no exception.

Chapter 7, "The Right Questions," describes a series of methods to improve our connections with each other. He writes that about 30% of us are natural questioners, leaving 70% who are not. And while the latter group can be charming people, "they spend their conversational time presenting themselves." He adds, "Sometimes I will be walking out of a party and realize that whole time no one asked me a single question." To me, that's a bad party. As I have studied communication and worked to teach it better, I've concluded this disconnection problem is solvable.

Which brings me to some sort-of-conversations provoked by my column last week. I never know which installments will get around or strike a chord, but this one did, inspiring some feedback.

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The "Jesus, He Gets Us" folks made a splash during the Super Bowl on Sunday with their commercial about how "Jesus didn't teach hate, he washed feet." I don't get what their intended return is for that kind of investment, but as far as commercials go, I liked that one as much as any of them this year. The "love your neighbor" messages never get old. To me, anyway.

In the last week, the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for president has said many troubling things. But what makes them most problematic is that there is no one left in the GOP to object anymore. For Donald Trump to keep his angry and loyal following whipped up into their frenzied mania, he must keep escalating his rhetoric, or they will lose interest. It's a predictable process.

First, he threatened to mobilize military forces to round up millions of undocumented migrants for deportation. According to Axios, not since Eisenhower has such a thing been pursued, and thankfully, that was a far different time.

Next, he mocked his Republican opponent, Nikki Haley, for her husband being absent from the campaign trail. Never mind that Trump and his wife, Melania, have only been seen together at her mother's funeral during the last several months. Maj. Michael Haley is on a yearlong deployment with the South Carolina National Guard in Africa. There was a time when that kind of un-American mockery would turn off Republican voters.

Finally, nothing would have sickened Reagan Republicans more than taunting members of NATO. With what? With the threat of inviting Russia to "do whatever the hell they want" to any non-dues-paying members of what Trump apparently believes is a Mar-A-Lago-style country club.

In today's Republican party, an angry voter base is everything. But most people tire of being mad and need refueled on a regular basis. Feeding the desire for grievance is of paramount importance.

Buddhism's Second Noble Truth states that the cause of suffering is craving. MAGA world's insatiable desire for the next angriest idea is that craving.

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"What a long, strange trip it's been," said that historic and influential musician, Jerry Garcia. It's astonishing to me that I never fell victim to the evil spell the Grateful Dead cast on so many people over the last fifty years. I have a number of Dead Head friends myself. Lawyers, bankers, you know, the usual folks.

Maybe, just maybe when Neil Young was making hits with songs like "Ohio," when he sang, "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming…" all of the young voters within earshot would temporarily become deaf. But that's not how I remember Young's moment on top when my older siblings were still at home.

This 2020's version of the uncool among us trying to demonize an idol of the cool kids' club was inevitable. Seriously, though, it's hard to demonize Taylor Swift. Historians will probably come up with other examples, but I can't ever recall objectors to the outsize influence of a popular music star over our youth losing the battle so embarrassingly. The "conservative" bunch are mad at someone more pure, more well-behaved, and simply more good than any of them. And by anyone's measure, including their own.

I realize how dumb that sounds, and trust me, I feel dumber just writing it out. But the above descriptive is where a good chunk of America is when asked that profoundly transformative question: "What do you think about Taylor and Travis?"

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"Never let a good crisis go to waste," is an adage that is widely attributed to Winston Churchill as the one who said it first. Crediting him with quotes like this is easy to do and difficult to disprove. It sounds like something he would say, right?

We know Rahm Emmanuel said it on November 19, 2008, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, as then President-elect Barak Obama's chief of staff. I have the video! His point was a crisis can often create "an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."

America's southern border is in crisis. The intensity of it is as hot as it has ever been, though by my measure, there has never been a time in my life when it wasn't a crisis. Also, by my measure, few Americans have even an elementary understanding of it, a sort of willful ignorance that allows recent politics to make sense.

On Thursday, all but one Republican governor in America issued a joint statement in support of Texas Governor Greg Abbott in his battle with the federal government for authority he doesn't have. Governor Eric Holcomb joined the group, stating, "Because the Biden Administration has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states, Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation."

Of course! Why shouldn't Texas be able to defend itself when the federal government won't? There's language in the U.S. Constitution that specifically allows that, after all.

The answer: That's not what the dispute is about.

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