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
Hotels Look to Government to Help Quash Airbnb Competition
Travelers looking for unique accommodations at reasonable prices happily use Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms, such as Vrbo/HomeAway. And people like me who share our homes with visitors sure do like the additional income. There is one big problem, however. Hotels don’t like the competition. Instead of vying for customers by improving their facilities… -
opinion
The Dangers of Elite Groupthink
The Washington Post recently published a surprising indictment of MSNBC host, Stanford graduate, and Rhodes scholar Rachel Maddow. Post media critic Erik Wemple wrote that Maddow deliberately misled her audience by claiming the now-discredited Steele dossier was largely verifiable—even at a time when there was plenty of evidence that it was mostly bogus. At the… -
news
Sarah Palin Seeks New York Times Advertising Revenue as Libel Lawsuit Heads Toward Trial
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin filed a complaint in her libel lawsuit against The New York Times, after the paper published an editorial that falsely linked Palin to the 2011 shooting of former Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords. The filing, which proceeds a jury trial that will begin in June, seeks financial damages as well as any… -
opinion
Transgender Clinics Are Ruining Young Lives
Gender clinics blithely guide 18-year-olds through the radical steps of gender transition, but abandon them later when they regret it. After exploiting these troubled and vulnerable youths, the clinicians often want nothing more to do with them, and even deny the existence of regret among patients they assisted in transitioning. These clinics need to be… -
opinion
The Top 4 Issues America Will Face in 2020
As we head into the new year and the kickoff to the Roaring Twenties 2.0 (and they will roar), policymakers will be faced with some incredibly important decisions. Several issues will take center stage, ones with the potential to significantly shape our future, from immigration reform to college-loan debt. Certainly, one of the biggest will be… -
opinion
How Colleges Dupe Parents and Taxpayers
Colleges have been around for centuries. College students have also been around for centuries. Yet, college administrators assume that today’s students have needs that were unknown to their predecessors. Those needs include diversity and equity personnel, with massive budgets to accommodate. According to Minding the Campus, Penn State University’s Office of Vice Provost for Educational… -
opinion
With 2020 Vision, a Look Back at Life 100 Years Ago
It can be useful and instructive to observe the turning of a decade by looking back on what life was like in America a mere 100 years ago. On Jan. 2, 1920, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 108.76. Today, it is over 28,000 points. In 1920, the U.S. had become an economic power, which… -
opinion
The Left Ignores the ‘Wrong’ Kind of Anti-Semitism
In October 2018, during Sabbath morning services, a white supremacist attacked the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, murdering 11 people and wounding another six. In April 2019, in the middle of Passover, a white supremacist attacked the Chabad of Poway synagogue, murdering one person and seriously wounding another three. Both incidents started absolutely necessary… -
opinion
Remembering Former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Paul X. Kelley
Gen. Paul X. Kelley, the 28th commandant of the Marine Corps, serving from 1983 to 1987, died Dec. 29 at the age of 91. His was a life well-lived, for which he should be remembered. A patriot and a Marine, he was a combat veteran and oversaw the Marine Corps during a critical period of… -
opinion
Greta Thunberg: A Living Explanation of the Left
It is not easy to understand what the left—as opposed to liberals—stands for. If you ask a Christian what to read to learn the basics of Christianity, you will be told the Bible. If you ask a (religious) Jew, you will be told the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud. If you ask a Mormon, you… -
opinion
5 Predictions of What Could Happen in Foreign Policy in 2020
In the world of foreign policy, no one knows the future. Certainly not me. But trends can be spotted, and their trajectories predicted. Here are five predictions (admittedly aggressive ones) concerning what might happen in foreign policy in 2020. 1. Cyber Conflicts Will Become Real-World Conflicts The world of cyber is already crowded with national… -
news
Teen Vogue Promotes Radical Sexual Agenda to Its Young Audience
Teen Vogue churned out a variety of highly explicit sexual material for its teenage audience in 2019. The publication has been described as a “glossy” magazine “aimed at teenage girls” that has recently stepped forward into the political spectrum to criticize President Donald Trump. But in 2019, Teen Vogue also offered teenagers a chance to discover “How… -
opinion
Why Congress Should Reject Amnesty for Illegal Agricultural Workers
The House just passed a massive amnesty bill that would give millions of illegal agricultural workers and their spouses and children a pathway to citizenship. Proponents of the legislation, known as the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, try to use concerns for farmers and agricultural labor shortages as a pretext for what is first and foremost… -
opinion
California’s Latest Act of Idiocy: Killing Freelance Work
If there’s one thing the California government is good for these days, it’s failing to address crises that glaringly exist while creating new crises that shouldn’t exist—and then shifting the blame when everything goes wrong. A new California law set to go into effect in the new year is the latest example of misguided legislation… -
opinion
The Air Force Needs More Aircraft Now
The Air Force can bring firepower to bear much faster than its sister services and can take out targets in the air, on land, and at sea. But just how much air power does the nation need? The National Defense Strategy directed all services to prepare for a large-scale, high-intensity conventional war with China or Russia, and… -
opinion
Top 10 Hits and Misses of Foreign Policy in 2010s
What a difference a decade makes. In 2010, we got the Arab Spring and Obamacare. Neither turned out as well as we had hoped. We got iPads, iPhone 4, and Angry Birds. Tech has definitely moved on. What about America’s foreign policy? It had its ups and downs. Here is a list of the top 10 foreign policy hits and… -
opinion
Help Us Produce Real News
As conservatives, we know the facts are on our side. But it’s not easy to communicate those facts—especially in a hostile environment with so many liberal-leaning media outlets. What’s more, good, original, compelling journalism is time-consuming and expensive. Producing “real news” involves a lot of fact-checking, editing, and rigorous research—and involves competition against outlets with… -
opinion
Give, Don’t Govern
This week, children may learn about that greedy man, Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge is selfish until ghosts scare him into thinking about others’ well-being, not just his own. Good for the ghosts. But the way Scrooge addresses others’ needs matters. Today’s advocates of equality, compassion, increased spending on education, health care, etc., say “we care” but… -
opinion
Climate Change Protesters’ Traffic Tie-Ups Are No Way to Win Friends or Influence People
The environmental zealots who regularly take to the streets of the nation’s capital for climate change protests clearly have never read Dale Carnegie’s classic self-help bestseller “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” That’s evident from the demonstrations the global warming alarmists stage at downtown D.C. intersections during morning rush hours, unapologetically snarling traffic and… -
opinion
Transgender Athletes Playing Competitive Sports Was a Rising Policy Issue in 2019
The year 2019 saw an uptick in male athletes besting females in female-only sports, citing their transgender identity. Now, lawmakers in three states—Washington, Tennessee, and Georgia—have proposed legislation that would place restrictions on transgender athletes in sports. Might legislation quell this new wave of transgender activism and make sports fair again? The Tennessee Star reports…