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
Farm Subsidy Apologists Are Painting a Misleading Picture. Here Are the Facts.
Instead of embracing the reality of modern-day agriculture, too many farm subsidy apologists want to perpetuate the myth of the struggling farmer to help make their case for subsidies. The subsidies for the taxpayer-funded “safety net”—about $15 billion a year—are massive wealth transfers from taxpayers to agricultural producers, generally the largest producers. Farm subsidies shouldn’t… -
opinion
House Republican Health Care Bill Misses the Mark
The key problem with the draft House health care bill is that it fails to correct the features of Obamacare that drove up health insurance costs. Instead, it mainly tweaks Obamacare’s financing and subsidy structure. Basically, the bill focuses on protecting those who gained subsidized coverage through the law’s exchange subsidies and Medicaid expansion, while… -
news
Lost Voices in the Transgender Debate: Liberals and Conservatives Unite
As the debate over transgenderism and gender identity continues to divide the nation, a politically diverse group of women came together to form a coalition called Hands Across the Aisle. Their voices include a conservative, a rape survivor, a feminist, and a lesbian activist, all of whom believe that defining sex based on gender identity… -
opinion
How to Convince Your Friends That Earmarks Have No Place in Congress
The Bridge to Nowhere is baaaaaaacccck. Well, it might soon be if some House Republicans have their way. It’s only been seven years since Republicans famously banned earmarks in a closed-ballot conference meeting, much to the elated response of their constituents. Back then, Republicans were in the minority and were making promises of limited government… -
news
Experts Differ on Whether Trump’s New Travel Ban Makes America Safer
President Donald Trump sought to settle legal and political concerns Monday with his revised executive order pausing travel from six countries plagued by terrorism—and temporarily keeping out all refugees. While the order contains notable revisions—including removing restrictions on Iraq, a crucial counterterrorism partner, and applying restrictions only to prospective new travelers—its intent remains the same…. -
news
Trump’s Mixed Signals on Export-Import Bank Leave Door Open for Conservatives
For the last five years, conservative lawmakers have rallied behind efforts to close the Export-Import Bank, and were successful in 2015, albeit briefly, when the bank’s charter lapsed for the first time in its history. But now, with President Donald Trump in the White House, conservative lawmakers may have a chance to shutter the bank… -
opinion
Trump’s Historic Chance to Dismantle the Administrative State
Last month, the Senate voted to use the Congressional Review Act to undo an Obama-era regulation issued by the Interior Department. In response, the director of the department’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement told Politico, “I believe there’s a good chance that […] a court will overturn Congress’ actions here as an unconstitutional… -
news
Texas Legislature to Consider Bill to Ensure ‘Public Safety’ in Bathrooms
Texas is taking measures to protect its citizens from laws that hinder “common sense and public safety” when it comes to transgender persons being allowed to use both men’s and women’s restrooms. “This is a public safety issue,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, said during a conference call with reporters Friday. Legislation filed… -
opinion
Feminists and Conservatives Link Arms to Confront Transgender Ideology
On Feb. 16, a rape survivor, a lesbian, a radical feminist, and a conservative activist gathered at The Heritage Foundation in support of a common cause. As members of the Hands Across the Aisle Coalition, these unlikely allies have banded together to combat the increasingly anti-woman positions adopted by the transgender movement. The event, which… -
opinion
Time to Say ‘Au Revoir’ to Paris Climate Deal
President Donald Trump will soon issue an executive order calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to rescind the Clean Power Plan, a key component of the Obama administration’s Paris climate agreement. Reports have also surfaced that top officials in the Trump administration are divided on whether to pull out of the Paris protocol. Trump should… -
news
Bakers Accused of Hate Get Emotional Day in Court
The ongoing battle between gay rights and religious liberty escalated Thursday as husband-and-wife bakers in Oregon appealed their case after being ordered to pay $135,000 in damages for declining to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. “Everything up to this point has been administrative hearings,” Aaron Klein, co-owner with his wife Melissa of the… -
news
Assisted Suicide Dehumanizes Suffering, Opponents Argue
Allowing physicians to help people kill themselves is a misguided “game-changer” in how society responds to suffering, a doctor who specializes in children’s medicine said during a Heritage Foundation event on assisted suicide. “Physician-assisted suicide redefines the concept of a medical good as never before,” Dr. G. Kevin Donovan, professor of pediatrics and director of… -
news
Trump’s Opportunity to Work With Congress to Scrap Unneeded Criminal Laws, Rules
In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Donald Trump spoke eloquently Tuesday night about the need to “break the cycle” of violence and poverty, Heritage Foundation legal expert John Malcolm observes. “Combating this problem,” Malcolm writes, “will be one of the president’s greatest challenges, and his success will have much to… -
news
Trump’s 5 Health Care Principles, Explained
President Donald Trump didn’t shy away from asking Congress to unwind Obamacare during Tuesday night’s joint address, and he presented lawmakers with a list of five policies to consider as Republicans craft their replacement for the health care law. During his speech, Trump called on lawmakers to repeal and replace Obamacare, and reform the health… -
opinion
Just Because Liberals Call Something ‘Discrimination’ Doesn’t Mean It Actually Is
The biggest problem with current sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) laws—including “Fairness for All,” which proposes a grand-bargain compromise between SOGI laws and religious liberty—is that they do not appropriately define what counts as discriminatory. As I explain in a new report for The Heritage Foundation, “How to Think About Sexual Orientation and Gender… -
opinion
Why It’s Too Early for Alarm Over Trump’s Proposed Cuts to International Programs
According to multiple news reports, President Donald Trump’s budget proposal will include a $54 billion increase for defense spending that will, in part, be offset by cuts to the budgets for the Department of State and foreign assistance. This has led a number of foreign policy and defense experts to express concern. Again according to… -
opinion
To Unleash Prosperity, Dodd-Frank Must Go
After the financial market crash in 2008, liberal lawmakers insisted that more stringent regulations must be placed on our nation’s financial markets in order to prevent another collapse. In unison, they rallied around the straw man that massive deregulation of the financial system had caused the collapse. Of course, that claim, which is still perpetuated… -
opinion
How Woodrow Wilson Planted the Seeds of the Administrative State
Today the crisis of American government is expressed in an ungainly phrase that rarely appeared in conservative vocabulary in the 1950s and 1960s—the “administrative state,” by which is meant the independent “fourth branch of government” that fits nowhere within the scheme of the Constitution as understood by its authors. Conservatives were slow to perceive the… -
opinion
Jacksonian Ideas That Would Make America Great Again
Andrew Jackson is back in the White House—or at least his portrait is. Following President Donald Trump’s inaugural address, his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, noted that the speech was modeled after Jackson’s and that it contained the “basic principles of [Trump’s] populist and nationalist movement.” Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday will… -
opinion
Hollywood Liberal Groupthink on Display at Oscars
Once again, Hollywood showcased its complete lack of diversity in thought at the Oscars. Of course, it’s a free country, and Hollywood is fine to keep its liberal streak going … just as conservatives can continue to decide whether they want to support new movies. But it does suggest that there might be a lot…