Swarens: Good news, Indiana — we don't suck. Here's why.

I come with good news today, Indiana. It could be worse. Much worse.

You could, for instance, be in the market to buy a home in Silicon Valley. USA Today last week featured a story about a house that recently hit the market in San Jose, Calif. It was heavily damaged in a fire two years ago and remains a boarded up eyesore. Even in its better days, it was a small, modest abode. Today, it's the ultimate fixer upper. But it comes at a list price of $800,000. Despite that, the real estate agent who's handling the sale said several offers have been made, and her colleagues in the area say the property is a bargain in a neighborhood where homes routinely sell for $1.5 million.

Back home in Indiana, meanwhile, $750,000 will buy a 6,000 square foot gem on one acre of waterfront property at Geist. That helps put our miserable spring weather into perspective.

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Or you could be a teacher in Dade County, Fla. The Miami Herald recently reported on the county's plans to build apartments on school campuses because teachers can't otherwise afford to live in the city. It will give homework an entirely new meaning.

Or you could be a skilled laborer in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times highlighted the story of a welder who commutes 1,000 miles a week from his home in a distant suburb to his job in the city. He moved so far out because he wanted a safe neighborhood for his family and a yard for his kids at a price he could afford. To achieve that he now spends at least three hours a day driving in a city that's said to have the worst traffic congestion in the world. Think about that the next time you complain about Indy's rush half-hour.

One more example before we get to a larger point. Chicago Tribune writer Kristen McQueary opened her column on Tuesday with a lame joke: "Why do trees in Illinois lean east? Because Indiana sucks."

Well, it turns out that Indiana doesn't suck. At least not as badly as Illinois.

McQueary goes on to detail the general incompetence, pettiness and corruption so often displayed by Illinois' elected leaders. Indiana, she notes in contrast, pays its bills and balances its budget. 

Yes, I blasted Indiana's legislators last month for stumbling their way into an unnecessary and wasteful special session. But it turns out that incompetence is relative.

McQueary concluded the column by contrasting the tenure of former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels with that of Rod Blagojevich, his counterpart at the time in Illinois. Daniels led with vision, courage and a firm understanding of what it means to be fiscally responsible. Blagojevich didn't.

Upon leaving office, Daniels went off to lead Purdue. Blago went to prison.

Here then is the point: In Indiana, we're often guilty of parochialism in reverse. We tend not to think more highly than we ought to of our relative strengths and virtues. Just the opposite. We often lack the confidence that comes with understanding that just about every other place in the world is as screwed up as we are, if not worse.

So when Amazon picks Indy as one of 20 finalists for its second headquarters, we immediately recite all the reasons why Jeff Bezos would rather endorse Donald Trump than come here. Austin is better. Boston is better. Chicago is better (well, OK, no one in Indy actually says Chicago is better).

But we tend not to take ourselves seriously enough. We don't believe we can really compete with the best, even though we can and should.

Remember when the world came to Indy for the Super Bowl and issued a collective: Wow! Our pride peaked for a moment, but even then we wrote it off as one-time good luck ("Wasn't the weather great that week?").

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness noted recently that Indy hasn't gone big or bold since the Super Bowl was here. That was 2012. It's past time we pushed, as a region, for something that stretches us and shows the nation and the world what we can do.

Listen, i wrote this column in my head Tuesday morning as I trudged a mile or two into the face of a cold wind along a busy four-lane road without sidewalks. I was on the way to pick up my car from a mechanic after a pothole flattened a tire and bent a wheel the night before. It's the third time my wife and I have had a vehicle damaged by potholes on Indy's deplorable streets this year.

I am painfully aware of our problems. And have the bills to prove it.

But life here overall can be pretty darn good. And it can be better than the alternatives for tech workers, teachers and welders who grow weary of all the sacrifices they must make to live and work in the so-called promised lands.

Do you want to pay more for a burned-out wreck of a house in San Jose than you will for a waterfront mansion in Indianapolis? Go for it. But our state and local leaders ought to aggressively promote the message to the best of the world's talent that there can be and is a better way to live if you come to Indy.

We don't suck, Indiana. We really are able to compete with the best for the best. But we still need to believe that we can.

Contact Swarens at tim.swarens@indystar.com; friend him on Facebook at Tim Swarens; follow him on Twitter @tswarens.