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
Latest Court Decision Blocking Texas’ Attempt to Defund Planned Parenthood Shows Need for Congressional Action
A U.S. district judge has blocked the state of Texas from cutting off Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding. This is the sixth instance in which a court has prevented a state from denying Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood: Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana have also attempted to make Planned Parenthood ineligible for funds. On Dec…. -
news
Democrat Governor Wants to Cut Taxpayer Funding for Public Broadcasting to Zero
At a time when President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly considering cuts to public broadcasting, one Democrat governor already has proposed to eliminate taxpayers’ subsidies for his state’s TV and radio affiliates. “Taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to fund such marked bias,” @Gundisalvus says. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s budget proposal would cut state funding for… -
news
CPAC to Focus Its Message on ‘We the People’
This week, thousands of conservatives will travel to the nation’s capital for the 43rd annual Conservative Political Action Conference. The four-day conference, hosted by the American Conservative Union, will be centered around the first three words of the U.S. Constitution, with the theme being “We the People: Reclaiming America’s Promise.” “We have to restore government… -
news
Congressional Aides in Criminal Probe Owed Money to Hezbollah-Connected Fugitive
Congressional aides suspected of criminally misusing their access to House computer systems owed $100,000 to an Iraqi politician who is wanted by U.S. authorities and has been linked to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Middle Eastern terrorist outfit. Imran Awan and four of his relatives were employed as information technology aides by dozens of House Democrats, including… -
opinion
How Reined-In Government Regains the Trust of Americans
A dangerous “us versus them” attitude is festering in Washington these days. It’s not surprising with headlines about congressional Democrats and party officials expressing an “anti-Trump all the time” strategy. The media is stoking the perception that Washington is riven by divisions about to boil over. The New York Times had a recent front-page article… -
opinion
Creating Jobs in Mississippi’s Golden Triangle
Entrepreneurial dynamism has lagged in America for the past eight years, according to The Heritage Foundation’s 2017 Index of Economic Freedom. Yet someone in Mississippi’s Golden Triangle has been creating jobs for the American people. That person is Joe Max Higgins, an economic development official who has been going the extra mile for his fellow… -
opinion
There’s Nothing Free
It was Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman who made famous the adage, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Friedman could have added that there is a difference between something’s being free and something’s having a zero price. For example, people say that there’s free public education and there are free libraries, but public… -
opinion
Credit Where Credit Is Due: Leave Tuition Tax Credit Scholarship Options to the States
The Trump administration is reportedly considering working with Congress to establish a federal tuition tax credit scholarship program. Such tuition tax credit scholarship programs make sense at the state level, and have worked well and grown in popularity over the past decade. They are now in operation in some 17 states throughout the country. But… -
opinion
Latest Case of JAG Malpractice Shows Pressing Need for Reform
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (the top military court) has slammed another Army trial prosecutor for egregious misconduct in an Army court-martial. This is the second case in as many years that this court has castigated an Army prosecutor for misconduct. In 2015, the court found serious problems with the way another… -
news
House Democrat Aides Got $100K From Mysterious Iraqi While Overseeing Hill IT
Rogue congressional staffers took $100,000 from an Iraqi politician while they had administrator-level access to the House of Representatives’ computer network, according to court documents examined by The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group. The money was a loan from Dr. Ali al-Attar, an Iraqi political figure, and was funneled through a company with “impossible”-to-decipher financial transactions that the congressional information… -
opinion
Michael Novak and America’s Moral Ecology
“Americans are good at going to meetings, and that’s a tremendous skill to have,” said Michael Novak in a 2009 lecture at The Heritage Foundation. Leave it to Michael Novak to ennoble the bane of professionals’ existence. Americans “figure out what they need to do and organize themselves to do it,” he explained. “It’s essential… -
opinion
How Arizona Is Using Licensure Laws to Punish Compassion
Has it become illegal in America to give someone a free haircut? Juan Carlos Montesdeoca was a cosmetology student at the recently shuttered Regency Beauty School in Tucson, Arizona. As a former homeless man, he knows that the homeless often go months without receiving a basic haircut. Putting his new talents to good use, he… -
opinion
We Hear You: ‘I Tried to Put Myself in the Defector’s Shoes’
Editor's note: We're hearing from so many enthusiastic members of The Daily Signal's audience that we decided to begin running some of your correspondence. Here is a batch on issues overseas. You’ll find our address below. —Ken McIntyre Dear Daily Signal: I’m writing to express my concern about human rights violations in North Korea and to… -
opinion
Why We Should Celebrate Washington’s Birthday, Not Presidents Day
America’s greatest statesmen did not think that national holidays were merely about family dinners, watching fireworks, or getting a three-day weekend. These occasions, to the contrary, were needed to encourage all citizens to together raise their gaze above the enthrallment of their private lives, so as to see or imagine something greater than themselves and… -
opinion
Troubling New Videos Show Urgent Need to Defund Planned Parenthood
Live Action, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending abortion and protecting the right to life, has released videos and findings that demonstrate the urgent need for Congress to defund America’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. According to a report released in January, a Live Action investigation revealed that “Planned Parenthood lied to the media about… -
opinion
The Real Crime in the Michael Flynn Saga
Washington is abuzz with the saga of former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation, the Russia connection, and the melodrama of who knew what, when, and what they did about it. There are, to be sure, myriad aspects of this story that will consume the media, the Hill, civil society, and the like for a… -
news
Sen. Mike Lee Calls for ‘Populist Agenda’ Putting Government on Side of ‘Forgotten Americans’
“We as conservatives can make a case for a unified, principled, and populist agenda that puts the federal government back on the side of the forgotten Americans.” That was the message Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah delivered at a Heritage Foundation event Wednesday titled “Conservatism for the Forgotten Man.” Lee urged conservatives to consider… -
opinion
Study Finds Cohabiting Parents Twice as Likely to Split as Married Parents
Children born to unmarried, cohabiting parents—both in the United States and across Europe—are nearly twice as likely to see their parents split up, compared to children born to married parents. A new study from the Institute for Family Studies and Social Trends Institute examines family stability among cohabiting and married-parent families from numerous countries across… -
opinion
Conservatives Are Flooding Town Halls, Too. I Know, I’m One of Them.
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending a town hall event in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., spent about an hour offering her vision for congressional action and fielding questions. As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and acting chair of the House Budget Committee, Black has a significant role…