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
Religious Liberty Is Important, but It’s Not Enough
The past two weeks brought welcome rulings from the Supreme Court on religious liberty. We should celebrate these victories, because religious liberty is an authentic natural and human right. But it’s not enough. And even the best of religious liberty wins can’t adequately contend in a proxy war over substantive issues. We must do more politically to… -
news
4 Things to Know About the Mob Violence in Portland
Residents of the Portland area have “become accustomed to chaos,” says William Deatherage, 22, a recent college graduate who has lived in a suburb of the Oregon city since he was 5 years old. “It’s safe during the day, but with all the litter and graffiti and statues torn down, I don’t even like to… -
news
Vandalizing American History: A List of 113 Toppled, Defaced, or Removed Statues
The list of American statues and other monuments that have been toppled, decapitated, defaced, or removed since the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis grew longer almost daily through June and July. The pace of such incidents then slowed, but continued to occur into October. A mob cheered as it pulled down a… -
news
McCarthy Unveils Bill to Protect Statues and Deny Funds to Cities and States That Don’t
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced Thursday the introduction of a bill intended to protect statues and monuments from damage and destruction by protesters and vandals. The California Republican’s legislation would withhold some federal funds from state and local governments whose officials fail to act to protect the monuments from the vandalism. “Public monuments are… -
opinion
Halle Berry’s Transgender Role ‘Canceled’ by LGBTQ Intolerance
Hollywood star Halle Berry recently revealed another crack in the armor of the transgender movement, however unwittingly. In a July 4 Instagram Live chat with hairstylist Christin Brown, the Academy Award-winning actress said she would cut her hair for her next film project—as a transgender character. After receiving criticism on social media, simply for explaining… -
opinion
Save This Emancipation Monument, Save American Ideals
The debate now surrounding the Emancipation Monument that stands in Lincoln Park in Washington, D.C., is a critical discussion in which I believe all Americans of goodwill and those who want racial harmony should engage. The memorial shows a standing President Abraham Lincoln with the Emancipation Proclamation in his right hand and Archer Alexander, the… -
opinion
Nick Cannon’s Anti-Semitism Symptomatic of a Deeper Problem
The recent surge in anti-Semitic outbursts from entertainment figures—most recently Nick Cannon—is troubling to people of goodwill. As a Hollywood actor and entertainer who has starred in more than two dozen films and scores of television shows, Cannon is a high-profile cultural influencer. On a podcast released June 30, he chose to use his wide-reaching… -
opinion
Our Government’s Unwise Stamp of Approval on Black Lives Matter
I have always believed that bureaucrats working on behalf of the American people should be visibly neutral politically. We shouldn’t know what their political ideologies are or what political parties they belong to or the causes they support. This is not a partisan issue but an issue of public trust and the importance of neutrality… -
opinion
The NFL Is on the Brink
The National Football League celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. This should be a time of self-congratulation for the brutal sport, which has no similar counterpart outside the United States. The NFL’s megaprofits dwarf those of other professional sports in the U.S. The Super Bowl, not the World Series, is America’s national sports event. The… -
news
North Carolina Town Creates Reparations Commission for Black Residents
The City Council of Asheville, North Carolina, on Tuesday unanimously approved a commission to develop proposals for reparations to black community members and issued a formal apology for the city’s role in black inequality. The resolution, signed by Mayor Esther Manheimer, directs the city to create a “Community Reparations Commission” made up of advocacy groups,… -
news
Tweets of Washington Journalists Betray ‘Groupthink,’ Study Finds
Washington journalists’ tweets and interactions on Twitter show that those delivering news on government and politics to most Americans live in “more insular microbubbles than previously thought,” according to a new study. These journalists display a “vulnerability to groupthink and blind spots,” the study says. The study, by journalism professors Nikki Usher and Yee Man… -
news
LA Times Article Calls for Replacing ‘Star-Spangled Banner’
An article published in the Los Angeles Times Tuesday said that “The Star-Spangled Banner” should be replaced by Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me.” LA Times contributor Jody Rosen cited “viral posts on social media” that said the anthem is racist, then argued it is aesthetically a bad song in the article. Rosen concluded saying the message… -
opinion
The Great Culture Purge of 2020
This week, gadfly New York Times columnist Bari Weiss resigned her position at the so-called newspaper of record. She did so after years of fielding slings and arrows from her own colleagues and editors, who treated her as an ultra-conservative enemy—this despite the fact that her perspective on the world is an eclectic mix of… -
opinion
It’s Time to Elevate America’s Trade Relationship With Mongolia
A Senate Finance subcommittee recently held a timely hearing entitled “Censorship as a Non-Tariff Barrier to Trade.” One of the witnesses, whose name may sound familiar, pointed out the potential in the U.S.-Mongolia relationship in countering the harmful effects of censorship on trade in the Indo-Pacific region. Speaking to the subcommittee on international trade, customs,… -
opinion
States Seeking Bailouts Are Making Payouts to Planned Parenthood
As Congress gears up to debate another round of COVID-19 economic relief, Democrats are expected to renew their calls for a federal bailout of struggling states. This is a fundamentally unfair request, as many state budgetary troubles are the result of poor fiscal choices rather than the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only that, but a look… -
opinion
How Is the Left of the ’60s Different From the Left of Today?
How do the radical movements of today—Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and others—compare with their counterparts of the 1960s, such as the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground? What would the leftists of the ’60s say about the rioting that followed the death of George Floyd, the toppling of disfavored statues, and efforts today to “defund… -
news
Black Leaders Rally to Save DC’s Lincoln Park Statue
Prominent African American leaders and others are rallying around a statue in Washington, D.C., depicting President Abraham Lincoln freeing a slave. “We do not believe that America is so systematically racist that we should divide ourselves now and start having discussions with domestic terrorists about which statues stand and which statues fall,” Star Parker, president… -
opinion
New York Times Editor Quits Over Newspaper’s Internal ‘Orthodoxy’
The New York Times hired Bari Weiss as an opinion writer and editor to help readers gain a wider perspective after President Donald Trump’s surprise election in 2016. Now, Weiss has resigned. In a lengthy letter Tuesday to the Times’ publisher, posted on her personal website, she says she was bullied and run out of… -
opinion
Could Roger Stone Have a Conversion Experience Like Charles Colson?
President Donald Trump’s decision to commute the prison sentence of his longtime friend and political adviser Roger Stone just days before Stone was to begin a 40-month prison sentence—he and the president say he was falsely accused–reminded me of another man who was as loyal to his president and who did go to prison. Charles… -
opinion
Why Some Revolutions Fail
Soon after the start of the French Revolution on July 14, 1789, the English statesman Edmund Burke saw storm clouds on the horizon. Under the banner of “liberty, equality, and fraternity,” the French revolutionaries not only attacked the dreaded Bastille prison in Paris. They assaulted the most important historic institutions in France: the monarchy, the…