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
Massachusetts’ New Abortion Law Is a Tragedy
This Monday in a crowded room of people beaming with pride and excitement, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey smiled for the cameras as she enthusiastically signed legislation legalizing abortion for any reason, at any time, right up to the moment of birth. It’s hard to overstate just how jarring and bizarre this is. A room full… -
opinion
Why Are Noncitizen Voters Only Found After They’re Registered?
New Jersey recently exposed a problem poised to change the national conversation about election administration. State officials disclosed a so-called processing error at the Motor Vehicle Commission that resulted in approximately 6,600 people who identified themselves as noncitizens registering to vote between June 2023 and June 2024. The numbers are troubling, but they are not… -
opinion
Is Los Angeles Seeing Sense on Noncitizen Voting?
The Los Angeles City Council has reversed course on a ballot measure that would have asked voters in the nation’s second-largest city to decide whether noncitizens may vote in city and school board elections. However, this news isn’t as simple as it might seem. The motion’s author, Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, said that he authored the motion for noncitizen voting because… -
opinion
Havana Should Not Dictate American Immigration Enforcement
In 2008, Fort Myers police officer Andrew Widman was shot in the face and killed on a downtown street. He was a husband and father of three, and he never had the chance to draw his weapon. The man who killed him, Abel Arango, was an armed robber already ordered removed from the country. Cuba… -
opinion
The Quiet Manufacturing Boom
Beneath the cacophony of media noise, an important untold story emerges: A manufacturing boom is unfolding across America right now, and especially so in the geographic center of the country. This developing boom represents an epochal shift because investments in factories and tangible production involve the stickiest kind of capital expenditures. The commitment to production… -
opinion
What El-Sayed’s Victory and the DSA’s Rise Could Do to the Economy
Last week, democratic socialist Abdul El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democrat primary for U.S. Senate, securing 48.5% of the vote. El-Sayed will now face former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in a toss-up November race that could determine control of the Senate. This result is not an isolated event. Across the country, socialists… -
opinion
Arizona Schools Build Fields of Taxpayer Nightmares, but There Is a Solution
In the 1989 film “Field of Dreams,” an Iowa corn farmer named Ray heeds an unseen voice telling him, “If you build it, they will come,” and builds a baseball stadium. Ray lived happily ever after in this fantasy sports movie, but heeding this advice has not worked out for taxpayers financing dubious school projects…. -
opinion
Why Is the Archdiocese of Washington Less Protective of Religious Liberty Than Maryland?
For some, questions of religious liberty seem abstract. For us and our families, they are deeply personal. I (Arina Grossu Agnew) taught at an Archdiocese of Washington school for a year, the very school where my young son was later accepted for admission. As Catholics committed to raising him in the faith, my husband and… -
opinion
Far-Left Democrats Lose to Far-Far-Left DSA Challengers
A fundamental error distorts news about the Democratic Socialists of America’s takeover of the Democratic Party. Journalists claim that the DSA’s radical contenders and their comrades are defeating “moderate” Democrat incumbents. Pundits are wondering how pro-Hamas Abdul El-Sayed deprived “centrist” Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan’s Democrat U.S. Senate nomination. While the largely triumphant DSA candidates… -
opinion
Did Spain Go Full Trump to End the Ceuta Mass Migration Crisis?
The great Ceuta mass migration crisis—during which a human tsunami of 72,000 North Africans swamped the Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coast on July 30 and 31—could easily have lasted for months. However, it is all over but for some mopping up. Few, if any more, are coming or adding to the death toll of… -
opinion
How Brown University’s Next President Can Set the School Apart
Brown University President Christina Paxson is resigning after two years of federal scrutiny into antisemitic activity and school safety policies at the college. On the same day as Paxson’s announcement—Aug. 3—the U.S. Department of Education released a statement calling on college leaders nationwide to “reaffirm higher education’s foundational commitments to academic excellence, pathbreaking research, and… -
opinion
Christians Are Called to Political Engagement
This is an adapted excerpt from Gary Meredith’s recent book “Bibles and Ballots: Ten Biblical Reasons Christians Must Engage in Politics,” released July 11 from Gramercy Press. “Do not add to his words, or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar.” (Proverbs 30:6) The whole Bible encourages and equips Christians for political involvement. Not one verse… -
opinion
What Conservative Columnist Could Freely Write for The New York Times?
The Left’s perennial scolds of CBS News churned out barrels of umbrage over hiring conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat as part of the new team of correspondents at “60 Minutes.” They suggested this was some sort of “desperate” lurch to the right, an obstreperous overthrow of Pelleyesque arrogance on 57th Street. But that created a… -
opinion
Climate Crisis?
Just two years ago, the United Nations secretary general announced, “Global warming has ended … The era of global boiling has arrived!” “[We were] warned about this,” said a “Daily Show” host, “by every scientist for the last 50 years!” His audience applauded. Wow. Every scientist agreed! But here’s the thing. They didn’t. My new video covers how many of the scaremongers’… -
opinion
Family Should Never Become a Political Battleground
There are some disputes that belong in a courtroom. Others belong around a family table. Very few belong in the court of public opinion. When family conflicts involving public figures spill into headlines, cable television, and social media, the public often assumes it is witnessing a search for truth. More often, it is witnessing only fragments of a much larger story. Allegations, counter-allegations, selective leaks, and emotionally… -
opinion
Victor Davis Hanson: Is ‘Communist’ No Longer a Slur?
It is not difficult, these days, to see the neo-communist flipside of “democratic socialists”—once they find power. Indeed, the more the ossified Democratic Party claims that its growing cadre of socialist renegades are not really socialists, the more they act like—and even appear comfortable being called—communists. With every new policy they propose, the socialists have… -
opinion
The Value and Virtues of Free Enterprise
Socialism is on the rise, and capitalism is on its back foot. The implications span all parts of our society but certainly include corporate governance. As is often the case, the corporate governance issue boils down to who makes decisions, and to what end those decisions are—and should be—aimed. Should corporations strive solely to maximize shareholder value?… -
opinion
Time for a Renaissance of American Public Service
America has no shortage of critics. What it increasingly lacks are American citizens willing to step forward and serve. A republic cannot survive indefinitely as a spectator sport, with millions of people shouting from the sidelines while expecting someone else to defend the country, administer justice, strengthen the community, and preserve the institutions on which freedom depends. Self-government requires… -
opinion
How Pittsburgh Became the Early Alarm Bell for the DSA’s Rise
PITTSBURGH—The rise of the Democrat Left in Pittsburgh did not happen overnight. It was built over years through patient organizing, disciplined recruiting, and a clear-eyed focus on the races that mattered most: low-turnout primaries where entrenched power was vulnerable. Mik Pappas’ 2017 race for Pennsylvania’s 31st Magisterial District judge offered an early hint that the… -
opinion
Pope Leo, AI, and Just War Theory
Pope Leo XIV’s “Magnifica Humanitas” warns that just war theory has too often been used to justify any kind of war and, in light of modern weapons and artificial intelligence, may be outdated. But is he correct? From Homer’s “Iliad” to our own constitutional order, civilization has understood that war is never morally self-authenticating. The…