Indianapolis Could Be So in Play

By Greg Wright

MBA, CFE, CFP®, CLU, ChFC

Certified Fraud Examiner

Certified Financial Planner™

Conservative Peggy Noonan, penned an excellent article in today’s Wall Street Journal, “American Is So in Play.”   She is a writer and was an assistant to President Reagan. 

Her thesis is that Trump’s popularity is because of the deep  “estrangement between the elites and the non-elites in America.”  This distrust is shared not only by Republicans, Noonan went on.  Non-illegal Hispanics also distrust the elites of both parties.  Toward the end of her article, she said that “deep down the elites themselves also think the game is rigged.” 

Does Peggy Noonan echo also what it’s like to live in Indianapolis?

Maybe your neighborhood is different; but, this is exactly the way many of my neighbors think. 

My neighborhood is in City-Council District 8 and is mostly Black and Hispanic.  Historically it has been solidly Democratic.  When Councilman Monroe Gray last stood for election, he got two-thirds of the vote without trying very hard.  Most of the votes were straight ticket. 

Our neighborhood members are scattered within an area bordered by Fox Hill, Michigan Road, Grandview and 51^st St.  Many of us use the NextDoor social network to share information to get the word out about a break-in, find out who is the best electrician, complain about pot holes, and keep an eye out for a lost dog.

One thing that concerns all of us is the violence and especially home invasions that happen any time day and night.  We all know that there are far too few police to protect us.  Some complain about the millions of tax dollars that are diverted to the owners of professional sports teams when we need more cops and better roads. 

Some do not want to drive at night or in the rain because of the pot holes that can wreck a wheel or kick your car out of alignment.  Again and again, they complain about  taxpayer money going to support professional sports and not to keep the roads repaired.  When we drive outside Marion County, we see a big difference in pot holes and feel more safe than when at home.  Few go to professional sporting events. 

To many of my neighbors, both the Democratic and Republican mayoral candidates appear to be same-o same-o.  We heard the same promises from Ballard when he ran against what’s his name.  Same-o  same-o. 

Noonan said that Americans “don’t like what they see – corruption, shallowness and selfishness in the systems all around them.”  Some see it in Indianapolis as well.

Every politician promises transparency and to do the “right thing.”  But, someone recently wrote that these professional politicians were “as transparent as a brick.”  You don’t have to go much farther than the Blue Indy scandal to understand that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans nor the ones that profess to be independent are interested in fixing pot holes and hiring cops.  They push money to their already rich pals.  It appears to many that they take their instruction from the political bosses in both parties. 

Noonan closes with, “The elites have no faith in the people, which is new.” 

Then comes a non-politician, “like a rock thrown through a show-room window.”   I know you think that it sounds weird; but, many of my neighbors think that it is a shame that Indianapolis doesn’t have political outsiders running against the elites in both parties.

Maybe, should that rock be thrown, Indy could be “so in play.”