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
Vermont Poised to Let Kids, Not Parents, Make Gender Decisions
Most schools can’t give a child an aspirin without getting a parent’s OK. But in Vermont, kids are about to get a whole lot more than Tylenol. Under a new rule, they’ll be able to get entirely new bodies—in some cases, without ever calling home. If you thought the war on parents’ rights was bad… -
opinion
The Problem With Ocasio-Cortez’s Shameful Ignorance of History
“The United States is running concentration camps on our southern border, and that is what they are.”—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. In April 1944, two Slovakian Jews named Alfred Wetzler and Rudolf Vrba escaped from Auschwitz and provided two of the first eyewitness accounts of the horrors of the European concentration camps. Both men had been rounded… -
opinion
What Was Iran Thinking in Shooting Down a US Drone?
U.S.-Iran tensions just reached a new level: Iran shot down an American drone. In today’s episode, we unpack the situation with Tom Spoehr, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense and a former Army general. Plus: Days after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., compared U.S. migrant detention centers to Nazi concentration camps, a Polish… -
news
US Sanctions Send Iranians to Northern Iraq Looking for Work and War
SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq—When Iran’s economy began to collapse last year under U.S. sanctions, Iranian computer programmer Mohsen Heidari decided to look for work in Iraqi Kurdistan. “It’s impossible to support my family, anymore, living in Iran,” said Heidari, who is from the Iranian city of Kermanshah. “Coming here was my last option,” Heidari said of the… -
opinion
This New York Man Got Arrested After Defending His Own Home
All too often, advocates of strict gun control promise that more complex and convoluted laws will save lives without imposing a serious burden on the right of law-abiding citizens to exercise their constitutional rights. Their argument simply doesn’t hold up. Their gun control laws fail not only to address how actual criminals get their firearms,… -
opinion
7 Justices Split 5 Ways in Deciding Peace Cross Doesn’t Have to Go
The Supreme Court decided 7-2 Thursday that a 40-foot cross erected on government land in Bladensburg, Maryland, as a memorial to those from that community who died in World War I is not an unconstitutional “establishment of religion.” The influence of this decision on future Establishment Clause cases is unclear, however, because the seven justices… -
news
Peace Cross Honoring War Dead Can Stay, High Court Rules
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Thursday that a cross-shaped war memorial on public land in Maryland doesn’t violate the Constitution. In the case of American Legion v. the American Humanist Association, the atheist group had sued seeking removal of the 40-foot Peace Cross in Prince George’s County—just outside Washington, D.C.—contending that the World War I… -
news
Left-Wingers Pile on Chuck Todd for Calling Out Ocasio-Cortez
MSNBC host Chuck Todd sparked a left-wing backlash by criticizing Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s rhetoric on immigration enforcement. Ocasio-Cortez drew criticism after saying the U.S. is running “concentration camps” on the southern border. “That is exactly what they are. They are concentration camps,” Ocasio-Cortez said Monday in an Instagram Live video, referring to migrant detention centers. “The… -
opinion
To Whip Congress Into Shape, Withhold Their Pay
Many lawmakers seem to think they deserve a pay raise. When House Democrats and Republicans began negotiating a congressional pay increase earlier this month, Democrats seemed to support it, as did some ranking GOP members. Critics then voiced open opposition, and House leaders swiftly pulled the bill—though House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., maintains the… -
news
Young Democrat Booed for Opposing Slavery Reparations at House Hearing
A day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters he is against making reparations to the descendants of slaves, an award-winning author called out the top Republican during a House hearing on such compensation. Some in the hearing Wednesday booed when another writer, also black, opposed reparations. “For a century after the Civil War,… -
opinion
Regulatory Red Tape Risks Strangling DC Opportunity Scholarship Program
For 15 years, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program has been a District of Columbia institution. Yet the program, which provides scholarships to children from low-income families to attend a private school of choice, faces death by a thousand regulatory cuts. Since Congress enacted it, participation among private schools has fallen from a peak of 68… -
opinion
I’m an Oberlin Graduate. They Had It Coming.
As a right-wing alumna of far-left Oberlin College, I have four words for the administration in response to last week’s ground-breaking $11 million jury verdict in the defaming of humble Gibson’s Bakery: You had it coming. I have five more words for Oberlin as arrogant college officials continue their obstinate war on the Gibson family… -
opinion
With Crony Tax Bill, Democrats Are Doing Their Level Best to Revive the Swamp
Congressional Democrats are taking the lead to renew a list of long-dead tax subsidies at the behest of powerful corporate lobbyists. Their plan is to attach the long-sought-after corporate tax subsidies—called “tax extenders”—to a bill that expands welfare spending. How to pay for it? They plan to cover about a quarter of it by raising… -
news
Mike Lee’s New Bill Would Enforce ‘No Regulation Without Representation’
Americans should not have to put up with so many government regulations imposed by unelected bureaucrats, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Tuesday while outlining a legislative remedy at The Heritage Foundation. “If the Founders’ rallying cry was ‘No taxation without representation,’ ours must be, or must at least involve, ‘No regulation without representation,’” Lee said… -
opinion
Harvard’s Capitulation to the Mob
This week, Parkland survivor Kyle Kashuv announced that Harvard University has withdrawn his acceptance to the college. In the aftermath of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the then-high school junior became a prominent voice for school safety, meeting with politicians across the political spectrum. He was also a prominent defender of… -
opinion
Clinton Bought ‘Dirt’ From a Foreign Agent. Why No Media Outrage?
There was a time when calling someone a hypocrite could stain their reputation. No more. Like the overused and often misapplied word “racism,” hypocrisy has lost the power to cause harm. The media and Democrats are agog over President Donald Trump’s comment to former Bill Clinton adviser and current “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos…. -
opinion
These Wasteful Government Programs Need to Go
When considering the leviathan size of the federal government, it’s easy to overlook the quality of individual programs. After all, we can reduce the $4.1 trillion that Washington spent last year to lines in a spreadsheet. However, the truth of big government goes much deeper. Indeed, just as the biblical Leviathan was a giant and… -
opinion
What’s Lost in College
When assessing America’s or any of the Western world’s universities—wondering whether you should send your child to one; whether you should pay for a child to attend one; whether you should go into great debt to attend one; whether you should donate money to one; and related questions—it would seem that the single most important… -
opinion
There’s No Need to Subsidize American Uranium
There is no compelling evidence that uranium imports present a threat to America’s national security interests. But President Donald Trump is expected to weigh in on a petition between now and mid-July brought by two uranium mining companies that have tried to build that case. If their lobbying efforts are successful, the payout could be… -
opinion
Making Trump’s Tax Returns Public Could Endanger Privacy of Your Tax Returns
President Donald Trump won a victory Friday when the Justice Department said Congress does not have the right to see his tax returns. More importantly, all American taxpayers won a victory, because the Justice Department memo regarding Trump’s returns has the effect of upholding the privacy and confidentially of all our tax returns as well….