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
Israeli-Palestinian Peace Plan a Much-Needed Dose of Reality
It’s unlikely that President Donald Trump’s new Israeli-Palestinian peace plan will succeed. Yet, it’s the best of any recent offerings because it dispels poisonous fictions that have held back negotiations for decades. The reality is that there will never be a Palestinian “right of return” to Israel, since such a policy would destroy the Jewish… -
opinion
Why Capitalism Is a Blessing to Mankind
What is capitalism? To understand true capitalism you have to start with an understanding of capital. Capital is the secret sauce of capitalism. So, what is it? The New Oxford American Dictionary defines capital as: wealth in the form of money or other assets owned by a person or organization or available or contributed for… -
news
Our Coming Debt Crisis
Ten to 20 years from now, we will not be talking about impeachment, and believe it or not, we won’t still be talking about Donald Trump either. We will be talking about our debt crisis. For all the good that came from this era, the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations will all be remembered as… -
opinion
Why We Shouldn’t Tax Savings as the Left Proposes
The White House is seriously thinking about pushing for new tax cuts to bring added relief to middle class families. This strategy stands in stark contrast to the approach taken by Democratic presidential candidates, all of whom have, at one time or another, proposed hiking taxes on income, energy, and payrolls as well as adding… -
opinion
Maryland Legislators Move to Protect Kids’ Lemonade Stands
The Maryland House Environment and Transportation Committee on Tuesday heard testimony about a bill that would prevent local governments from outlawing children’s lemonade stands on private property. Yes, you read that right. It’s illegal in Maryland for children to run lemonade stands in their families’ yards unless they obtain all the licenses, permits, and inspections… -
opinion
The Cult of Western Shaming
An ancient habit of Western elites is a certain selectivity in condemnation. Sometimes Westerners apply critical standards to the West that they would never apply to other nations. My colleague at the Hoover Institution, historian Niall Ferguson, has pointed out that Swedish green-teen celebrity Greta Thunberg might be more effective in her advocacy for reducing… -
opinion
On ‘Waters of US’ Rule, EPA’s Science Advisory Board Conflates Policy Preferences for Science
The Environment Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board is supposed to provide scientific advice to the EPA administrator. The Science Advisory Board seems to have forgotten this simple requirement. Based on the board’s actions regarding the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ efforts to define “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act,… -
opinion
Why Pelosi’s Infrastructure Plan Is the Wrong Way Forward
House Democrats on Wednesday revealed their framework for infrastructure legislation this year, a package titled “Moving Forward.” The same day, the powerful House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on transportation-related revenues. This was not a coincidence. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced two weeks ago that there would be a flurry of infrastructure-related activity…. -
news
Patriots’ Ben Watson: ‘Men Have to Stand Beside Women We Impregnate’
New England Patriots tight end Ben Watson, joining pro-life activists at the March for Life, said that “men have to stand beside the women we impregnate.” Watson discussed his upcoming documentary “Divided Hearts of America” in an exclusive interview Friday with The Daily Caller News Foundation at the 47th annual pro-life rally and march in… -
opinion
2 Gay Students Are Suing a Seminary. Here’s Why It Matters.
A man and a woman, both in same-sex marriages, have sued Fuller Theological Seminary for discrimination after it expelled them over their same-sex marriages. Fuller, located in Pasadena, California, is the nation’s largest interdenominational seminary. The lawsuit represents a move that Christian organizations have anticipated in light of same-sex marriage. The lawsuit could become a… -
opinion
When ‘Never Again’ Means Nothing
This week, the world marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Allied forces during World War II. Politicians of all stripes dutifully tweeted, “#NeverAgain.” Meanwhile, many of those same politicians continued to forward the worst sort of anti-Semitism, blithely ignoring the fact that anti-Semitism isn’t a relic of the past but a… -
opinion
The Cost of Sacrificing Public, Private Health Insurance for ‘Medicare for All’
A majority of House Democrats are co-sponsoring legislation (HR 1384) to outlaw virtually all Americans’ public and private health insurance and replace their coverage with a new government plan. In the Senate, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” bill (S 1129) would accomplish the same objective. Americans must fully grasp the necessary trade-offs—the sacrifices—they would… -
opinion
Presidents Have the Authority—and Every Right—to Remove Ambassadors
Multiple news outlets last week reported on a 2018 video recording in which two men with Ukrainian connections, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, apparently inform President Donald Trump that the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, was undermining his policy and asserting that he soon would be impeached. In response, Trump reportedly ordered: “Get rid… -
opinion
Democracy Is Another Form of Tyranny
During President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, we’ll hear a lot of talk about our rules for governing. One frequent claim is that our nation is a democracy. If we’ve become a democracy, it would represent a deep betrayal of our Founders, who saw democracy as another form of tyranny. In fact, the word democracy appears… -
opinion
What You Need to Know About the Legal Battle Over Equal Rights Amendment
Tom Jipping, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, joins the podcast to explain the Equal Rights Amendment. He also discusses why Virginia technically can’t be the 38th state to ratify it—even though the Legislature claimed Monday to have done so. Listen on the podcast, or read a lightly edited transcript of the interview,… -
opinion
Leftist Values Are Causing Young Americans to Be Miserable
I began part one of “Why Are So Many Young People Unhappy?” with data showing the apparently unprecedentedly high rate of unhappiness among young people in America (and elsewhere, but I am focusing on America). The rates of suicide, self-injury, depression, mass shootings, and loneliness (at all ages) are higher than ever recorded. It seems… -
news
Why These 8 Americans Attended the March for Life
Tens of thousands of men, women, and children from across the nation gathered in Washington to declare their belief in the sanctity of life and protest abortion as the taking of life. The 47th annual March for Life, like its predecessors, protested the Supreme Court’s landmark 7-2 ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973, which legalized… -
opinion
How My Fight for Student-Led Prayer Took Me to the White House
How does a young man find himself standing behind the president of the United States in the Oval Office of the White House? I invited a friend to pray with me. Actually, I invited several friends during my freshman year at Pine Creek High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We had a free period in… -
news
Nancy Pelosi Says House Democrats Will Vote to Block Trump’s Travel Ban
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that House Democrats will soon introduce legislation that aims to block President Donald Trump’s ban on several countries. Pelosi revealed in a press release on Monday that Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee will introduce and vote on the so-called NO BAN Act, which would limit the White House’s authority… -
opinion
Baby Tinslee Lewis and the Difficult End-of-Life Care Debate
Tinslee Lewis, a very sick year-old baby, is at the intersection of a bitter Texas debate over current law and ethical responsibilities in end-of-life care. Texas hospital officials want to withdraw Tinslee’s life-support—after having given her mother 10 days to find alternate care for the baby, which is what Texas law requires. Trinity Lewis, the…