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
Trump’s Labor Secretary Targets Occupational Licensing for Elimination
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta took on occupational licensing reform Friday, calling for the elimination of unnecessary licenses and the streamlining of those that make sense. Acosta urged while speaking at the 44th Annual Meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in Denver, Colorado, state legislators roll back burdensome occupational licensing requirements that effectively serve as government-created barriers… -
opinion
Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down DC’s Concealed Carry Restriction
On Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the District of Columbia’s law requiring applicants for a concealed carry permit to demonstrate a special need for self-protection “distinguishable from the general community.” The Supreme Court previously struck down D.C.’s ban on possession of handguns in the landmark case D.C. v. Heller (2008), and… -
opinion
Coast Guard’s Aging Fleet Is Struggling to Keep Up With Threats
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche recently offloaded 18 tons of cocaine, valued at $554 million, after a multinational counternarcotic operation in the eastern Pacific. This effort was part of Operation Martillo, an operation that has seized over 693 tons of cocaine since 2012. This is just one interdiction in what has already been a… -
opinion
Minnesota Is Pushing Gender Identity Debate on Kindergartners
It would seem to be common sense that schoolchildren fresh off of learning the alphabet should not have to learn the alphabet soup of growing gender pronouns sprung from the laboratories of college campuses. But that is exactly what is happening in Minnesota. On Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Education advisory council voted to implement… -
opinion
Charlie Gard’s Fight Coming to a Close, but His Legacy Will Live On
The fight to save Charlie Gard, the British infant at the center of a worldwide debate about parental rights and medical treatment, is coming to a close. On Monday, Charlie’s parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, announced they are ending their lengthy court battle over treatment for their son. One month after his birth last… -
opinion
Don’t Believe the Hysteria Over Carbon Dioxide
The way Americans perceive climate change is too often determined by their hearing just one side of the story. The American people should be made aware of both the negative and positive impacts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Without the whole story, how can we expect an objective evaluation of the issues involving climate… -
news
Failed Welfare State an Opportunity for Conservatives, ‘Hillbilly’ Writer Argues
Liberals built a welfare state that doesn’t offer upward mobility to Americans trapped in poverty, “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance says, and conservatives should step forward and chart “a new direction” in government policy. The best-selling writer, speaking Thursday at The Heritage Foundation for the think tank’s release of its 2017 Index of Culture and… -
news
Scaramucci and Sanders New Voices for Trump’s White House After Shake-Up
President Donald Trump has two chief spokespersons with political and campaign experience, after a long-anticipated shake-up that saw the resignation of White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been conducting the bulk of White House briefings for months, and will likely have a seamless transition into her job as new White House… -
news
High Stakes for the US Navy as It Wages War on ISIS
USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH, Mediterranean Sea—During the early days of World War II, the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a memorable comment about British pilots’ defense of their homeland from Nazi Germany. “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few,” Churchill said in an… -
opinion
White House Procurement Priorities for Renegotiating NAFTA Do Not Advance Free Trade
On Tuesday, the Trump Administration released its list of objectives for renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In the section on government procurement, the 20-page document included priorities such as “increasing opportunities for U.S. firms to sell U.S. products and services in to the NAFTA countries,” “keep in place domestic preferential purchasing programs,”… -
opinion
How the LGBT Movement Used Fake Science to Push Gay Marriage
In his book “32 Yolks,” Eric Ripert, head chef and owner of Michelin three-starred Le Bernardin in New York City, tells the story of his parents’ divorce when he was 5 years old: I went from being a happy kid to a kind of pint-sized depressive. From the time I was 5 until I went… -
opinion
‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Author Outlines Ways to Increase Opportunity
On Thursday, Genevieve Wood interviewed J.D. Vance, author of “Hillbilly Elegy.” Vance, who also wrote the introductory essay to The Heritage Foundation’s 2017 Index of Culture and Opportunity, shared his thoughts on what can be done to help struggling Americans. Here is a transcript of Wood and Vance’s conversation: Genevieve Wood: Let’s talk about culture… -
opinion
Revisiting NAFTA: Ronald Reagan on Free Trade in North America
The Trump administration’s announcement of objectives in updating the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, provide a good opportunity to reflect on President Ronald Reagan’s vision for North America. Congress passed legislation authorizing implementation of NAFTA in 1993, and President Bill Clinton signed it. But 14 years earlier, in 1979, candidate Reagan proposed his… -
opinion
Republicans Just Made Tax Reform More Difficult
This week, the House Budget Committee released its long-awaited budget. It makes progress in some areas, and falls short in others. One of the places it falls short is in facilitating tax reform. By all accounts, tax reform will be difficult. True tax reform that simplifies the tax code while making important reforms to enable… -
news
Sessions Stirs Conservatives With Civil Asset Forfeiture Directive
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new directive strengthening the government’s ability to seize property of suspected criminals that clashes with reforms some conservatives have advocated. “As any of these law enforcement partners will tell you and as President [Donald] Trump knows well, civil asset forfeiture is a key tool that helps law enforcement defund… -
opinion
The American Dream Is in Crisis
Every year, The Heritage Foundation publishes a collection of data, charts, and thoughtful contextual pieces under the heading of the Index of Culture and Opportunity. Its title is a nod to something often lost in our politics these days: that culture and opportunity are linked together, that the opportunities that exist in our society and… -
opinion
Undercover Government Report Shows Just How Ineffective This Telecom Program Is
This June, the Government Accountability Office published a report on the federal government’s Lifeline program, one of four programs established in the decadeslong pursuit of “universal service.” This principle that all Americans should have access to communications services has cost telecommunications companies and their customers over $100 billion over the past 20 years. The Lifeline… -
opinion
This Reagan Adviser’s Wisdom on Free Trade Is Much Needed Today
Ana Swanson at The Washington Post recently reported on a letter from former chairs of the Council of Economic Advisers, warning against raising new tariffs—something President Donald Trump has mentioned as a possibility Swanson later tweeted, “It would be more convincing if [Council of Economic Advisers] chairs came back from the grave to warn Trump… -
opinion
Think a Charlie Gard Situation Can’t Happen in the US? Think Again
For weeks, the world has been watching in rapt attention the saga of Charlie Gard—the case involving a desperately ill child fighting for survival in the face of U.K. government efforts to block treatment. Charlie’s parents have been relentless in fighting the government and seeking help abroad. Their efforts are already bearing fruit. Most recently,… -
opinion
The Key Facts About Slavery That the Left Conveniently Ignores
Too many people believe that slavery is a “peculiar institution.” That’s what Kenneth Stampp called slavery in his book, “Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South.” But slavery is by no means peculiar, odd, or unusual. It was common among ancient peoples such as the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, Greeks, Persians, Armenians, and many others….