Political Commentary & Opinion
Analysis, commentary, and opinion essays on politics and policy from The Daily Signal’s contributors and experts.
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opinion
Netflix Backs Chappelle, but Still Spurns Conservatives
Many conservatives praised Netflix for “standing up to cancel culture” by defending its decision to carry Dave Chappelle’s comedy special “The Closer.” Critics in the LGBTQ community accuse him of misogyny and of bashing transgender people. Among comments that attracted controversy, Chappelle said, “Gender is a fact. Every human being in this room, every human… -
opinion
Risk Is Necessary for a Healthy Civilization
Human beings aren’t great at assessing risk. In 1979, psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky posited a new branch of behavioral economics, which they titled prospect theory. One of their key findings was that human beings are naturally loss-averse—we generally are willing to forego the probability of gains in order to minimize the chance of… -
opinion
Don’t Let Democrats Turn US Into Europe
More destructive than any specific policy item modern Democrats are pushing this year are the ideas they use to justify their agenda. The $3.5 trillion bill that President Joe Biden and Democrats are now attempting to cram through Congress via reconciliation is meant to create a European-style cradle-to-grave welfare state here in the United States…. -
opinion
Educating Students About Victims of Communism
Many Americans today assume that the threat of communism subsided with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but “we continue to see communist and socialist regimes pop up and spread not only in Latin America—for example, in Venezuela and Nicaragua—but around the world,” says Ambassador Andrew Bremberg, president and CEO of the Victims of… -
opinion
US Must Defend Taiwan’s Independence
Foreign policy is most effective when it strikes a balance between idealism and realism that gains the support of a majority of the American people. When foreign policy becomes either too idealistic or too “realistic,” public support wanes. Consider Afghanistan. Today it stands as an embarrassing failure of U.S. policy. The more idealistic elements of… -
news
3 Takeaways From AG Garland’s House Panel Testimony on Virginia School Rape Case, Conflict of Interest
Attorney General Merrick Garland denied any knowledge Thursday of a highly publicized Northern Virginia school rape case and suggested that he called for federal investigations of parents without independently confirming a purported spike in threats made to school boards and teachers. During the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Republican lawmakers grilled the attorney general… -
opinion
US Partnership With Romania Is Strong, but Could Be More Practical
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited “stalwart NATO ally” Romania on Oct. 20 to discuss a range of key bilateral issues. Austin noted that the two nations have built a relationship that’s based on “mutual trust, respect, and the political will to advance our common defense objectives.” Indeed, Romania, dubbed as a “role-model NATO ally” by a senior defense… -
opinion
Twitter Mob Comes for Dave Chappelle. It’s Time to Realize It Isn’t as Powerful as It Thinks.
Perennially persecuted comedy legend Dave Chappelle is under fire yet again. The controversy began after his latest special “The Closer” aired on Netflix. Chappelle, with his usual brand of acerbic humor, made a series of jokes that ran afoul of transgender ideology. Chappelle is no stranger to controversy. His 2019 special “Sticks & Stones” faced… -
opinion
New Study Confirms What Women Seek in Good Provider
Nearly three years ago, Fox News host Tucker Carlson made the following statement: “Study after study has shown that when men make less than women, women generally don’t want to marry them. Maybe they should want to marry them, but they don’t.” Carlson was vilified for those comments, but a recent study proves that in some significant… -
opinion
Rogue Prosecutor Steve Descano Cuts Sweetheart Deal With Child Molester
This commentary is part of a series on the rogue prosecutors around the country who have been backed by liberal billionaires such as George Soros and Cari Tuna and the threat those prosecutors pose to victims and others alike. Previous entries in the series have focused on prosecutors in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, San Francisco, and… -
opinion
Democrats Are Trying to Sneak Gender Dogma Into Bill on Family Violence
The Democratic majority in the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act this summer, but it stalled in the Senate. Undeterred, progressives have been trying to insert their gender dogma wherever else they can, including the $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend bill and HR 2119, which is the barely noticed Family Violence and Prevention Services Improvement Act…. -
opinion
7 Ways Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Tax-and-Spend Bill Would Take Over Your Health Care
Slimming down the cost of the Democrats’ massive $3.5 trillion social-welfare spending bill is a compromise that misses the point. Opposition to the tax-and-spending bill is not just about cost, it’s about a policy agenda that shifts more power and control to the federal government and away from patients and families. The so-called Build… -
opinion
In Remembrance of Colin Powell
America lost a great man this week. Colin Powell, the first African American to become both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the secretary of state, died at the age of 84. A man of character by all accounts and a leader in every sense of the word, Powell was born… -
opinion
Why Are Left-Wing Lawmakers OK With $3.5 Trillion Tax-and-Spend Bill Boosting Health Insurers’ Profits?
Moderate and left-wing congressional Democrats continue to wrangle over the details of their partisan $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend bill, but there’s one thing they agree on: As much as 17% of the new spending will go to profitable health insurance companies. The 133 House and Senate Democrats who have co-sponsored “Medicare for All,” which would abolish… -
opinion
Thomas Jefferson Latest Target in War on History. New York City Council Votes to Remove His Statue From City Hall.
The war on history has come for Thomas Jefferson. On Monday, the New York City Council unanimously voted to remove a Jefferson statue from New York City Hall, though it hasn’t yet decided where to put it. The statue has been there for nearly a century and was originally created to celebrate religious liberty. The… -
opinion
Fired for Biblical Marriage Views, Former Fire Chief Explains How Faith Carried Him Through Persecution
Kelvin Cochran served as a firefighter for over three decades. He was named “Fire Chief of the Year” in 2012, and former President Barack Obama appointed him the U.S. fire administrator, the highest fire service post in the nation. But Cochran faced a different kind of fire in 2015 when he was terminated as Atlanta’s… -
news
‘Are You Transgender?’: Virginia School Survey Asks Students About Gender, Sex, Intimate Family Details
A Fairfax County Public Schools system survey will ask children as young as 13 years old to anonymously answer questions about their sex lives, drug and alcohol consumption, and intimate details of their family life. The school system administers the survey to students in the eighth, 10th, and 12th grades each fall, and a separate… -
opinion
US Isn’t Alone in Support of Taiwan
There has been an extraordinary amount of talk in policy circles recently about Taiwan and the U.S. commitment to Taiwan’s security—and for good reason. The Chinese are ratcheting up pressure on Taiwan to a degree unseen in at least 25—and perhaps 60—years. The good news is that the U.S. is not alone. It has friends… -
opinion
10 Absurdly Wasteful Items Tucked Into Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Tax-and-Spend Monstrosity
House Democrats a few weeks ago released the full text of their big-government socialism $3.5 trillion tax-and-spend package. Many important elements were already clear. It would recklessly boost federal spending at a time of already high inflation, impose ruinous tax hikes when the post-pandemic economic recovery is still vulnerable, and impose an anti-work welfare state…. -
opinion
Biden White House Will Pay for Playing Inflation Games
White House chief of staff Ron Klain recently endorsed the idea that inflation and supply-chain struggles Americans are facing are “high-class problems.” I’m in no position to comment on whether the inflation spike we’re experiencing is “transitory” or not—though, metaphysically speaking, isn’t everything? Maybe it will be a short-term problem sparked by supply shocks and…