Political Commentary & Opinion
Analysis, commentary, and opinion essays on politics and policy from The Daily Signal’s contributors and experts.
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news
3 Things to Know About Eugene Scalia, Trump’s Pick for Labor Secretary
President Donald Trump has tapped Eugene Scalia, the son of a judicial icon, to be the new labor secretary. The nomination comes a week after Alex Acosta announced he was stepping down from the post, effective today. Scalia—a former solicitor for the Labor Department and now a partner in the law firm of Gibson, Dunn… -
opinion
Maine and Nevada Show Why the Electoral College Helps Small States, Not Red States
Last month, both Maine and Nevada did what was in the best interests of their states: They rejected bills that would have enrolled their states in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an unwise effort to override the Electoral College. In Maine, it was killed by legislators in the state House after it passed Maine’s… -
opinion
What I Saw of the Apollo Program as a Kid in the 1960s
As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the historic moon landing, I am not sure that today’s generation quite understands just how exciting this was in 1969. Apollo 11 came before “Star Wars” and a raft of science fiction movies that have since made space travel seem almost mundane. I was in elementary school when… -
opinion
Why ‘Adversity’ Shouldn’t Be a New Advantage in College Admissions
“It’s misleading. How do you measure an ‘adversity score’ anyway?” Martin Smith, a professor at Rowan University and an alumnus from the University of Pennsylvania, shared his thoughts over the College Board’s recent unveiling of an “overall disadvantage level”—in shorthand, an “adversity score”—to supplement students’ SAT scores. “You can’t manufacture equal outcomes when everyone isn’t… -
opinion
Once Again, The New York Times Has Glowing Coverage of a Communist Regime
Editor’s note: In its coverage of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon, The New York Times published a series of pieces critical of the U.S. space program, including an article titled “How the Soviets Won the Space Race for Equality.” Promoting that article, the Times tweeted, “America may have put… -
opinion
Women’s Sports Are Facing a Crisis. These Brave Athletes Are Standing Firm.
The U.S. women’s national soccer team recently earned a historic victory on the world stage, but not all is well for girls who might want to follow in its footsteps. In fact, girls sports has become one of the most tragic battlefields of the culture war. In Connecticut, high school track runner Selina Soule recently… -
opinion
Scarlett Johansson Flap Shows How Identity Politics Could Ruin Acting
Actors make a living portraying other people’s identities. It’s what they do, and they’ve done it for millennia. Yet today, loud voices for political correctness are seeking to redraw the lines of acceptable identity portrayal. The question is: Who has the right to play who on the big screen? Political correctness says: Only actors with… -
opinion
The Sneaky Way the Government Is Growing the Number of Bureaucrats
To constrain the growth of central government, conservatives have fought to keep down the number of federal bureaucrats. This strategy has failed. Since the 1960s, the number of federal employees has remained constant at about 2 million, yet federal power has greatly expanded. This phenomenon arises because Washington has outsourced many civil service functions to… -
opinion
Why Media’s Normalizing of White Nationalists Matters
In 2016, a bunch of real-life white supremacists—not just Republicans who happen to disagree with the Democrats’ preferred immigration policy—put together a conference in Washington, D.C., to attract attention. All kinds of major news networks dutifully showed up, because legacy media has something of a symbiotic relationship with the alt-right. White supremacists get to feed… -
news
Rep. Omar Stonewalling Hometown Paper on Marriage Controversy, Editor Says
Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar has allegedly been uncooperative with her hometown newspaper’s efforts to get to the bottom of accusations that she committed marriage fraud, the paper’s political editor said. Omar’s brief congressional career has been dogged by accusations—which she has denied—that she married a male relative, possibly her brother. Omar and her current… -
opinion
The War Over America’s Past Is Really About the Future
The summer season has ripped off the thin scab that covered an American wound, revealing a festering disagreement about the nature and origins of the United States. The San Francisco Board of Education recently voted to paint over, and thus destroy, a 1,600-square-foot mural of George Washington’s life in San Francisco’s George Washington High School…. -
news
City of Berkeley Bans Gendered Words Like ‘Manhole’ and ‘Manpower’ From Code Book
One of California’s most liberal cities voted Tuesday to revamp its city code book by replacing terms like “manhole” and “manpower” with gender-neutral terms. The Berkeley City Council voted to replace around three dozen terms found in the municipal code. Terms like “policeman,” “policewoman,” “chairwoman,” and “chairman” will be changed, as will “he,” “she,” “him,” and… -
opinion
The High Cost of ‘Free’ College Tuition
In the lead-up to the 2020 elections, we’ve heard several proposals offering free college tuition for all, and loan forgiveness for those still carrying debt. While proponents call these proposals “investments in our future,” the reality is they would be a suffocating financial burden on every taxpayer, but especially on middle- and lower-income citizens. There’s… -
opinion
50 Years Ago, the Eagle Landed
Let us pause to celebrate the 50th anniversary this Saturday of a mission once thought impossible: the landing of a man on the moon. Let us proclaim, without embarrassment, that America, and only America, had the requisite leadership, scientific community, and resources to make it possible for Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong to take that giant… -
news
Broad Skepticism of Big Government Is Good for Federalism, Mulvaney Says
As polarized as politics might seem to have become, both sides seem to agree on one thing that advantages conservatives, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says. “You’ve got an audience of people who say, ‘OK, [the federal] government doesn’t work,’” Mulvaney said Wednesday at a Heritage Foundation forum on federalism. The event,… -
opinion
The Legacy of the Moon Landing
As a young reporter for a local TV station in Houston, I frequently visited NASA (“the space base,” we dubbed it), met many of the astronauts, and reported on their exploits. Along with people from around the world, I watched the lunar landing on television, July 20, 1969, fulfilling President John F. Kennedy’s goal of… -
opinion
Things Haven’t Always Been This Way
Here’s a suggestion. How about setting up some high school rifle clubs? Students would bring their own rifles to school, store them with the team coach and, after classes, collect them for practice. You say: “Williams, you must be crazy! To prevent gun violence, we must do all we can to keep guns out of… -
opinion
Women’s Soccer Team More Proof the Left Ruins Everything It Touches
For the first time in my life, I did not root for an American team. Whatever the sport, I have always rooted American. But if those who called into my radio show were representative of my audience, many millions of Americans made the same sad choice. It takes a lot for people like me not… -
opinion
Improper Payments Are Costing Taxpayers a Fortune
We all make mistakes, but most of us don’t make mistakes with billions of dollars of someone else’s money. We can easily forgive the drive-thru worker who fails to “hold the pickles,” but it’s tougher when it comes to bureaucrats playing fast-and-loose with the federal purse. What exactly does this neglect look like? As Sen….