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
The Curious Recovery of a ‘Threatened’ Bat Species
If it were true, it would be good news. Unfortunately, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s claim that the lesser long-nosed bat has “recovered” so well that it can be removed from the endangered-species list is definitely not worth the paper on which the proposed rule delisting it is printed. (At about $480 a page… -
opinion
California NAACP Calls ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ ‘Racist.’ Here’s Why Frederick Douglass Loved It.
Editorial Note: California’s NAACP has launched a campaign to remove “The Star-Spangled Banner” as America’s national anthem because it is “one of the most racist, pro-slavery, anti-black songs in the American lexicon.” The organization expressed support for NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who launched the recent movement to kneel for the national anthem before sports events. The following… -
opinion
Podcast: The Lessons From the Virginia Election Results
In today’s podcast, we discuss the lessons conservatives should learn from the Democrat shellacking of Republicans in Virginia Tuesday. Among them: Democrats are now paying attention to state races, an area Republicans had dominated in recent years. But there’s also lessons for Democrats: gubernatorial winner Ralph Northam went against liberals on the sanctuary city issue…. -
opinion
After Texas Shooting, the Secular Left’s Gospel of Condescension Continues
Adversity does not build character, James Lee Allen wrote, it reveals it. That’s become painfully clear in the last 24 hours, as many liberals seem intent on showing the country just how little they’ve learned about Americans since last year’s election. The party that thought calling voters “deplorable” was a winning strategy is back at… -
opinion
An ICE Agent Got Shot 3 Times in Mexico. Now, He’s Looking for Justice.
“Betrayed.” Victor Avila is a survivor. Soft-spoken but iron-willed, he dedicated his life to law enforcement and to his country. Yet, the feds are now fighting tooth and nail to bury the full truth about the 2011 ambush by Los Zetas drug cartel thugs in Mexico that left him gravely wounded and his partner, Special… -
news
Q&A: Daniel Hannan on the Biggest Brexit Myths and Communism’s 100 Years of Cruelty
Daniel Hannan visited The Heritage Foundation this week for a speech on the virtues of free trade and an update on Brexit. The conservative member of European Parliament spoke to Daily Signal Editor-in-Chief Rob Bluey about those topics, President Donald Trump, and the cruelty of communism. An edited transcript of their interview is below. Bluey:… -
opinion
Nikki Haley Warns South Sudan Strongman Against More Empty Promises of Peace
“I didn’t come here to talk.” So said Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.), in Juba, South Sudan, last month. She was responding to a journalist’s question about whether substantive U.S. action would back her warning to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir to stop his armed forces’ many outrages against the… -
news
Trump White House Recognizes 100 Years of Victims of Communism
The White House issued a statement Tuesday commemorating the National Day for the Victims of Communism, on the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution that led to decades of a murderous totalitarian regime in the Soviet Union. The statement came the same day that President Donald Trump visited South Korea, which is facing a nuclear… -
opinion
3 Ways the House Republican Tax Plan Is Good for Farmers
Last week, House Republicans released their long-awaited tax reform proposal, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act. Many of the key changes made by the legislation would have a positive impact on farmers and ranchers. Here are just three of them. 1. Repeal of the Estate Tax Under existing law, the federal government taxes the transfer… -
opinion
New Bill Would Make It Easier to Fire Federal Employees
It’s hard to cut back on federal employees, but a new bill making its way through the House would make it a little bit easier. Last week, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved the Ensuring a Qualified Civil Service Act, which would double the probationary period for federal employees from one year to… -
opinion
As Communism Turns 100, a Brief Look at the Death and Destruction It Has Wrought
President Franklin D. Roosevelt called Dec. 7, 1941, “a day that will live in infamy,” and with good reason. The date that Tojo’s Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor heralded America’s entrance into the bloody fighting of World War II. But there are other dates that live in… -
opinion
Why I Pray, Even After the Texas Shooting
When I was growing up, my parents almost daily rounded up my four siblings and I for family prayer, the seven of us—albeit with differing degrees of attention—reciting out loud the Catholic prayers of the rosary, while meditating on different events in Jesus Christ’s life. At the end of the rosary, after my dad had… -
opinion
US Puts Pressure on Burma, Joins Chorus Against Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing
In his strongest denunciation to date, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in mid-October condemned the atrocities committed against the Rohingya Muslims in Burma, holding military leadership responsible for that nation’s humanitarian crisis. “What’s most important to us,” Tillerson noted, “is that the world can’t just stand idly by and be witness to the atrocities that… -
opinion
Federal Housing Administration Should Not Terminate Mortgage Insurance Premiums
Only a few years after the Federal Housing Administration required $1.7 billion in special appropriations from Congress to cover losses in its single-family housing mortgage insurance program, some members of Congress now want to derail the agency’s efforts to return to some semblance of fiscal sanity. Implementing these changes would be unfair to federal taxpayers… -
opinion
What This Disabled Navy Veteran Told NFL Team When They Tried to Honor Him
The NFL owners are desperately trying to put the anthem controversy behind them after weeks of slumping ratings, sales, and horrible PR. But the damage, say most Americans, has already been done. Some fans are more determined than ever to stick it to the league that dishonored our flag, country, and millions of U.S. troops…. -
news
Church Leaders Highlight Hope in Wake of Texas Massacre
The Southern Baptist Convention showed sorrow and strength over the tragedy that befell one of its churches in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday. According to CNN, members of the First Baptist Church were shot and killed by Devin Kelley over a “domestic situation” with his in-laws. Leaders of the convention expressed sympathy for the victims… -
opinion
Federal Taxpayers Should Not Cover Guarantees in Any Future Mortgage-Backed Securities Market
After nearly a decade since the 2008 financial crisis and collapse of the private label mortgage-backed securities market, the U.S. mortgage securitization market has remained almost exclusively within the domain of mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae, and the two government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain in… -
news
Christian Student Group Called ‘Hate Group’ by LGBT Students, Forced to Defend Itself in Hearing
A traditional marriage student group defended its right to exist at a Catholic university Thursday after LGBT students claimed it was a hate group. The student members of Love Saxa, a Georgetown University group that promotes healthy relationships through traditional marriage and premarital abstinence, defended themselves in a mandatory hearing against the complaints of two… -
opinion
Stop Forcing Taxpayers to Fund Public Broadcasting
This month marks the half-century of one of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” programs. It’s not the War on Poverty, Medicaid, or the Voting Rights Act. It’s public broadcasting. And it’s high time Congress stopped forcing taxpayers to subsidize it. When Johnson signed the Public Broadcasting Act on Nov. 7, 1967, he spoke of a… -
opinion
Two-Thirds of Americans Believe Bakers Should Be Able to Refuse to Make Cakes for Same-Sex Weddings
With so much political tension across the country, it would probably help to sit down and have an open conversation. There’s just one problem. According to 71 percent of America, political correctness is silencing the discussions we need to have. That’s just one of the fascinating nuggets from Cato Institute’s 2017 Free Speech and Tolerance Survey,…