Leppert Commentary: Liberals’ ‘abundance agenda’ takes time to absorb, but it’s worth it
By Michael Leppert The Indiana Citizen April 2, 2025 A friend sent me a link to an episode of “Pod Save America” on Sunday with the short message, “This is worth your time.” The podcast is a favorite among the left, hosted by a small group of former Obama advisers who des “...”
Leppert Commentary: John Green’s ‘Everything is Tuberculosis’ is a tragic story of injustice
By Michael Leppert The Indiana Citizen March 26, 2025 Henry Reider is a young man from Sierra Leone who recently and miraculously survived tuberculosis. Using the words “recently” and “miraculously” to describe his recovery from a disease that has had a preventive vaccine “...”
Leppert Commentary: With America at war with itself, Democrats should revisit the art of it
By Michael Leppert The Indiana Citizen March 19, 2025 Sun Tzu, the former Chinese general, military strategist and philosopher, is known for his treatise, “The Art of War.” It’s remarkable how valuable the writings, believed to have been written in the 5th century BC, conti “...”
Leppert Commentary: Jason Isbell and Amanda Zurawski both declare ‘it’s time to be brave’
By Michael Leppert The Indiana Citizen March 12, 2025 I teach storytelling, though the official titles of the classes are things like presentations, writing or speech for business. But on the first day of school in all of my classes, I put a slide on the screen with this quote fr “...”
Leppert Commentary: Ending the public service ethic is an abhorrent part of the new GOP
By Michael Leppert The Indiana Citizen March 5, 2025 I left public service in 2002. The experiences of the thirteen years I spent as an employee of the State of Indiana help define me. On paper, my career path wouldn’t make immediate sense to most people today. But it makes per “...”
Leppert Commentary: Read all about it: Imagine Indiana becoming less cool than it already is
By Michael Leppert The Indiana Citizen February 26, 2025 There are so many stars and influencers surrounding us these days, it’s difficult for the uncool to keep up. I don’t know exactly when I crossed over into that territory, but I’m guessing it was shortly after my first “...”
Leppert Commentary: It’s been less of a transition and more of a turf war
By Michael Leppert The Indiana Citizen February 19, 2025 An abundance of adjectives can be used to describe the first 30 days of the second Trump administration. “Chaotic” would be my first choice. But Thesaurus.com provides a list of synonyms to consider in my search for the “...”
Leppert Commentary: Beckwith and Trump are crossing new lines in their quest for clicks and cultural validity
By Michael Leppert The Indiana Citizen February 12, 2025 I have been thinking about Winston Churchill since Donald Trump announced his planned seizure of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center last Friday. In 1938, Churchill said, “The Prime Minister (Neville Chamberlain) “...”
LEPPERT COMMENTARY: Haggling over the price is not going to make us any healthier
By Michael Leppert The Indiana Citizen February 5, 2025 It’s an old joke, and though I made a reasonable effort to track down the original source, I failed. However, I did find that early versions of it, dating back to at least 1930, centered on indecent proposals for sex. “...”
Leppert Commentary: Braun puts others in their place, just by othering them
By Michael Leppert The Indiana Citizen January 29, 2025 The word Indiana is literally defined as “the land of the Indians.” When Congress divided the Northwest Territory in 1800, it named the western section the Indiana Territory, and when it became a state in 1816, Indiana b “...”