Common Sense with Chad Law | Political Commentary
America doesn't have a shortage of opinions. It has a shortage of common sense.Common Sense with Chad Law is a political and cultural commentary podcast for Americans who are tired of partisan talking points, political theater, and being told what to think.Hosted by political commentator Chad Law — better known as “The Last Gay Conservative” — the show brings an independent conservative perspective, sharp humor, and a healthy dose of skepticism to the biggest conversations shaping America.From Washington politics and public policy to economics, technology, media narratives, and cultural controversies, Chad goes beyond the headlines to examine the arguments, incentiv...
They're Not Voting for Politicians. They're Voting for Paychecks. | Thursday Special
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Why do unhappy voters in California, Oregon, Illinois, and Washington keep electing the same politicians? The answer may have less to do with Democrats versus Republicans and more to do with public money versus private livelihoods.
In tonight's Thursday Special, Chad Law challenges the conventional explanation for why blue-state voters repeatedly say their governments are headed in the wrong direction while continuing to support the political status quo.
It's not necessarily insanity. It's not simply Donald Trump. And it may not even be party loyalty.
It's the paycheck.<...
Government Shrinkflation: We're Paying More and Getting Less | Wacky Wednesday
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💸 MORE TAXES. LESS SERVICE. WHO'S GETTING THE MONEY?
America has a government shrinkflation problem. We're paying more in taxes while schools, public safety, and essential government services struggle to deliver what taxpayers are paying for.
And tonight, we're following the money.
In this Wacky Wednesday episode of Common Sense with Chad Law, we're examining how public employee unions, political endorsements, collective bargaining agreements, and decades of pension promises can create a system where politicians negotiate with the very organizations that helped elect them.
Nearly 90 years ago, Fra...
Why Congress Won’t Pass What Most Americans Want | Tech Tuesday
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🇺🇸 WHY CONGRESS WON’T PASS WHAT MOST AMERICANS WANT | TECH TUESDAY
Americans agree on more than Washington wants us to believe. So why does Congress keep burying bills that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents overwhelmingly support?
Voters want Congress to stop trading stocks. They want to stop changing the clocks twice a year. They want lower costs, accountability, and results. Yet Washington keeps delivering procedural delays, political commercials, and excuses.
What if gridlock isn't a malfunction? What if keeping popular problems unsolved is exactly what rewards politicians?
In this...
The Fraternity Problem Has a Solution. Nobody Wants It. | Monologue Monday
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Should America ban fraternities to stop campus sexual assault and hazing? After Cornell University's fraternity scandal, sweeping party bans, and renewed demands to abolish Greek life, Chad Law argues that both universities and fraternity critics are missing the real solution: make fraternities police their own members—or risk losing the house.
🏛️ THE FRATERNITY PROBLEM HAS A SOLUTION. NOBODY WANTS IT. | MONOLOGUE MONDAY
Cornell University has spent generations confronting fraternity hazing, sexual misconduct, and campus safety failures. Yet the same cycle keeps repeating: allegations, investigations, suspensions, university task fo...
Why the Bottom of Your Ballot Matters More Than You Think | Sequel Sunday
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🗳️ HOPEFUL RACES IN HOPEFUL PLACES 🇺🇸
What if the most important elections of 2026 aren't the races everyone's talking about?
Republicans are trailing in major governor's races across California, Arizona, and Minnesota. Political analysts are calling some of these elections before voters even get to the polls. But something extraordinary is happening farther down the ballot.
School superintendents, state auditors, controllers, treasurers, and attorneys general are running surprisingly competitive races in states where the top of the ticket looks hopeless.
And those are the people who actually control your school...
Selma Blair's New Job at Flydubai: Crew Combat Trainer | Satire Saturday
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✈️🥊 WELCOME TO FLIGHT CLUB.
Selma Blair's new job at Flydubai? Director of Crew Combat Training. At least, that's the completely fictional appointment we're celebrating on this edition of Satire Saturday!
After airline crew altercations made headlines, Common Sense with Chad Law imagines what happens when corporate management decides the problem isn't employee screening, airline safety, or accountability. It's that the crew needs better fighting skills.
Enter Hollywood, where apparently biting your coworkers is a résumé builder.
😂 THE NEW FLIGHT CLUB CURRICULUM:
🥊 Bite Like You Mean It — B...
Republicans Abandoned Ron Paul's Revolution. The Left Didn't. | Freedom Friday
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🔥 Republicans once had a grassroots revolution that inspired young voters, raised millions, and challenged the political establishment. It was called the Ron Paul Revolution. So where is the next one?
In 2008, a 72-year-old congressman turned Federal Reserve policy, limited government, and political independence into a youth movement. College students organized rallies, funded his campaign, and took over local Republican meetings.
Today, the Democratic Socialists of America are building their own youth-powered political organization while Republicans compete to inherit Donald Trump's MAGA movement.
What happened to the Republican grassroots rev...
How to Use AI to Become the Smartest Voter in the Room | Thursday Special
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🗳️ What if the smartest voter in the room isn't the one who knows who to vote for — but the one who knows what questions to ask?
Americans are turning to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok to research candidates, compare policies, and figure out their 2026 midterm election ballots. But there's a problem: asking AI who to vote for can turn the most powerful research tool we've ever had into another political cheat sheet.
For years, you've asked me to publish a Common Sense voter guide. I've refused. Not because I don't...
San Francisco's Comeback Exposes Portland's Leadership Failure | Tuesday Special
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🌉 San Francisco is making a comeback. Portland is heading in the opposite direction. Two progressive cities. Two Democratic mayors. Two promises to turn things around. So why are the results so different?
In this Tuesday Special of Common Sense with Chad Law, we're examining San Francisco's surprising recovery under Mayor Daniel Lurie and Portland's continuing struggles under Mayor Keith Wilson.
Both cities elected businessmen who promised to fix broken local government. But when you compare homelessness, economic recovery, job growth, downtown vacancies, public safety, city budgets, and government accountability, two ver...
21 Days to Save an Election: Fire Your Consultants | Monologue Monday
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With just 21 days to save their campaigns, why are so many Republicans and Democrats struggling in races that should be easy? Political consultants are spending millions on attack ads, polling, and messaging while missing the one thing voters actually want: results.
In this Monologue Monday episode of Common Sense with Chad Law, I put my former marketing executive hat back on and do something the political consulting class apparently can't: write four campaign commercials for free.
From Arizona's water crisis and Florida's homeowners insurance bills to Texas affordability, Ohio's electricity...
The One Mistake Costing Both Parties Their Voters | Sequel Sunday
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Why are Republicans and Democrats losing voters in races they should be winning? Why are independent voters reaching record levels? And why are democratic socialists gaining ground in places where their politics should be a nonstarter?
These aren't three separate political stories. They're symptoms of the same mistake.
🇺🇸 In this Sequel Sunday episode of Common Sense with Chad Law, we're examining the political disconnect reshaping the 2026 midterm elections—and the one basic principle of business and marketing that America's political parties seem to have forgotten.
Customer...
The Secret Deal That Ended Red Waves and Blue Waves | Satire Saturday
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🌊 WHERE DID ALL THE RED WAVES AND BLUE WAVES GO?
The New York Times says Democrats may have found the recipe for flipping red-state Senate seats. Chad Law has another theory: the political consultants found the recipe for billing all the way through November.
Welcome to Satire Saturday on Common Sense with Chad Law, where our entirely fictional investigative team uncovers the secret bipartisan agreement that changed American politics forever.
The deal? No more landslides. No more solving problems. Every election must be close enough to keep the con...
The Primary Trap: Why America Keeps Getting Bad Candidates | Freedom Friday
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America keeps asking why we end up with such terrible choices in November. But what if the problem isn't the candidates? What if it's the system that picks them?
On this Freedom Friday, Chad Law takes on America's broken primary system — the closed-door process that excludes independent voters, rewards ideological purity, burns through campaign money, and produces candidates who spend the spring dividing voters before begging those same voters to unite in November.
The primary rewards subtraction. The general election requires addition. And we're surprised when the math doesn't work.
...Close Governor Races: What Does a Real Builder Look Like? | Thursday Specia
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Oregon’s governor race between Tina Kotek and Christine Drazan raises a bigger question: What does a real builder look like in politics? And why do we keep hiring politicians based on who we like instead of what they've actually accomplished?
After hundreds of thousands watched Chad Law's original breakdown of Oregon's governor race, one question kept coming back: If neither candidate is a builder, what exactly is one?
Tonight on Common Sense with Chad Law, we're answering it.
🏛️ POLITICIANS AREN'T YOUR FRIENDS. THEY'RE...
🇺🇸 IS THIS REALLY THE BEST REPUBLICANS CAN DO? | WACKY WEDNESDAY
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🎪 BAD CANDIDATES. BAD CAMPAIGNS.
🇺🇸 America, have you watched the campaign ads this fall and wondered, is this really the best they could do?
Because I have. And this time, I'm asking about my own side.
From California and Oregon to Ohio, Texas, and Iowa, voters are frustrated with the people running their states. They're looking for something different. The political marketplace is practically begging for a better product.
And somehow, candidates keep finding ways to oversell, misread their audience, and turn an opportunity into a liabili...
The Conservative Case Against the Death Penalty | Monologue Monday
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I supported the death penalty for most of my life. Then I started asking what we were buying—and whether it was working.
The Christa Pike case in Tennessee brings that question into focus. But this conversation goes beyond one inmate or one execution. It’s about capital punishment, government accountability, innocent lives, victims’ families, taxpayer dollars, and a life sentence that actually means life.
If conservatives believe government is wasteful, fallible, and too powerful, why should its power to execute people escape the same scrutiny?
🇺🇸 On this episode of C...
The Convenience Economy Is Making You Poorer | Sequel Sunday
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Too Much Month at the End of the Money: How the Convenience Economy Is Draining Your Paycheck
Are you tired of having too much month left at the end of the money? You're not imagining it. Housing, insurance and groceries really are more expensive, and those are real structural problems. But that's not what you feel every day. What you feel every day is your money disappearing faster than it used to, through thousands of little fees, price hikes, markups and subscriptions that nobody ever adds up.
Chad...
Democratic Socialism Is Just Having Rich Parents | Satire Saturday
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America, congratulations. You’ve been adopted. 🇺🇸💳
I finally figured out democratic socialism—and I owe the DSA an apology. It’s having rich parents.
Rent? Dad. College? Dad. Healthcare? Dad. And if Daddy runs out of money, that’s okay. Daddy has a printing press.
On this Satire Saturday edition of Common Sense with Chad Law, I take the Democratic Socialists of America’s “Workers Deserve More!” program to the family dinner table. Their vision of life without capitalism sounds awfully familiar: no bills, no debt, plenty of leisure, and somebody e...
Europe’s Energy and Immigration Mistakes Are America’s Warning | Freedom Friday
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Europe’s energy and immigration mistakes are America’s warning. From refinery closures and foreign fuel dependence to national identity and immigration without an integration plan, Europe has already shown us the consequences. America still has a choice.
🇺🇸 On this Freedom Friday, we’re asking a common-sense question: Can we learn from somebody else’s mistakes before we pay for them ourselves?
We connect Europe’s energy decisions to California’s refinery closures, examine what happens when a country stops teaching its own principles, and ask what successful immigration should actually accomplis...
The Worst GOP Congress Ever! They’ve Got Nobody Left to Blame. | Wacky Wednesday
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Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. They’ve got every key to Washington—and nobody left to blame. So what did they actually deliver?
🇺🇸 Tonight on Common Sense with Chad Law, it’s Wacky Wednesday: the worst GOP Congress I’ve ever seen.
We’re comparing what they promised at the podium with what they put on the docket. Daylight saving time. Local beef processing. Voter ID. Government savings. Housing affordability. Tax relief. Congressional stock trading.
They can find time for college football. Your priorities keep...
They Block the Power. You Pay the Bill. | Tech Tuesday
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We’re not out of power. We’re out of permission.
America’s innovators are building solar farms, gas plants, batteries, and new ways to harness geothermal energy. Meanwhile, projects wait years to connect—and the companies sending your electric bill keep asking for higher rates.
Tonight on Common Sense with Chad Law: the bureaucratic bottleneck behind America’s electricity debate, the monopoly hiding in the delivery charges, and why permission to raise your bill seems to come faster than permission to supply your power.
From two innovators reinventin...
Washington Brought Back Wolves. Ranchers Got the Bill. | Monologue Monday
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Washington wiped wolves out of the West. Then it brought them back and left ranchers to carry the cost.
In Oregon, wolf losses look tiny in a statewide statistic. On the ranches where those losses land, the bill includes missing calves, stressed herds, lighter weights, extra fencing, and nights spent riding instead of sleeping. Colorado shows what happens when voters approve wolf reintroduction before the support system is ready.
The answer isn’t to make the rancher or the wolf the villain. It’s to make the people who designed the...
The Homelessness System Pays for Nights, Not Exits | Sequel Sunday
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Portland can tow and crush a lived-in RV, then pay nearly $2,900 a month for its former occupant to sleep in a temporary shelter pod. Who gets paid when she stays—and who measures whether she ever gets out?
Tonight on Sequel Sunday, we follow Methany, a composite, through the homelessness system’s own map. She starts with an RV she owns. Then come the tow truck, the shelter cot, the tiny-home clock, harm reduction, the wait for treatment, job requirements, and a health-insurance cliff.
At every stop, I ask: Is she...
Justice for Hee-Haw: Why Cops Keep Shooting Pets | Wacky Wednesday
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A COP SHOT A MINIATURE DONKEY IN HIS OWN PASTURE.
His name was Hee-Haw. He was bottle-raised and worked with children at petting zoos. When officers entered his pasture during a search for a missing child, he ran toward them. One officer shot him.
Then I found the other stories. A K-9 handler shot his own dog. An LAPD officer shot a dog wearing a Knicks jersey during a welfare check. A Marine veteran called police for help—and an officer shot her service dog three times.
The st...
Everything the Data Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know | Tech Tuesday
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Your data doesn’t disappear after you click “I agree.” It enters an industry built to collect it, combine it, sell it, and increasingly use it to determine what you pay.
I spent years on the buying side of this business. Tonight, I’m breaking down how the data industry actually works—from device IDs and real-time advertising auctions to data brokers, government purchases, Flock cameras, and surveillance pricing.
The problem isn’t data collection. Collection powers services we use every day. The problem is that our data has acquired the value of...
The War on Beautiful Women Backfired | Monologue Monday
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America didn’t run out of beautiful women. We stopped allowing them to become icons.
For decades, every generation produced a bombshell America could recognize from a silhouette: Marilyn Monroe, Farrah Fawcett, Cindy Crawford, Pamela Anderson and Angelina Jolie. Today, Sydney Sweeney may be the only contender—and every time she uses her beauty, the cultural referees question whether she can still be taken “seriously.”
The old beauty standard was too narrow. But instead of widening the fantasy, Hollywood, advertising and the fashion industry began treating aspiration itself as the problem...
America Needs a Mom: The Case for Sarah Huckabee Sanders | Thursday Special
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Republicans spent four days in Dallas asking who should inherit Donald Trump’s movement. They discussed JD Vance, Marco Rubio, Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz—but almost nobody mentioned Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
That may be the biggest oversight in the Republican Party’s search for its next leader.
In this Thursday Special, Chad Law makes the case that America doesn’t need another political heir. It needs a reset: someone who can preserve what worked, reduce the drama, fight when necessary and show voters actual governing results.
Sanders has rais...
Flock Cameras, Fetterman and Firefighting Goats | Wacky Wednesday
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A Senate candidate shoots a Flock surveillance camera for a campaign ad. John Fetterman spends the weekend at Rupert Murdoch’s Montana retreat. Diesel reaches a record $6.27 per gallon. Twenty-two states sue over a new green-card rule. And the government finally discovers that goats are surprisingly good at fighting wildfires.
Welcome to Wacky Wednesday, where Chad Law digs through the week’s strangest headlines, finds the part everyone else walked past, and delivers the final grade: common sense or nonsense?
Also in this episode:
📷 Why sho...
The People Warning You About AI Are Already Using It | Tech Tuesday
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Who told Americans to be afraid of artificial intelligence—and what are those people protecting?
Washington, Hollywood, and the news media publicly warn Americans about AI while quietly using it themselves. Congressional offices use it to summarize legislation. Movie studios are hiring AI specialists. Journalists increasingly use it for news gathering.
The people selling the fear have already decided the technology is useful enough for them.
In this episode, Chad examines:
How Congress is already using AI Hollywood’s public opposition and private adoption How the media manufactu...You Don't Hate Capitalism. You Hate This. | Monologue Monday
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Americans still overwhelmingly like free enterprise. So why are they rapidly souring on capitalism?
Chad argues that the anger behind America's “cost of life” crisis is real — but we're giving it the wrong name.
Housing, healthcare, insurance, prescriptions and utilities consume enormous portions of American household budgets, yet many of these markets fail a basic test of competition: Can you walk away? Can you switch? Can a new competitor enter? And does losing your business actually cost the incumbent anything?
In this Monologue Monday, Chad examines why young Americ...
Make America Gay Again: Grindr Goes Down at the RNC | Satire Saturday
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Grindr goes down. The Republican convention comes to town. Coincidence?
Dallas is hosting the Republican convention, and reports of problems with Grindr put the city at the top of Downdetector’s map.
But Dallas isn’t the first convention city to generate headlines about Grindr activity.
Cleveland. Milwaukee. Now Dallas.
Ten years. Three cities. One very awkward pattern.
Chad has spent years attending conservative conventions as The Last Gay Conservative, carrying a pocket Constitution and trying to convince Republicans that gay conservatives actu...
