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Opinion

Top news a campaigning circus

Jim McCormick
Opinion Columnist

Lately, the national news seems to be dominated by two things: a flap over the management of a few ports possibly being transferred to a company based in the United Arab Emirates and the fact that the South Dakota legislature passed a bill banning abortions in that state except to save the life of the mother. 

While I'm mildly concerned about port security and a perception that women are simply baby machines, I can't help but question the motives behind these stories even getting into the headlines.

Let's face the facts: 2006 represents congressional midterms. A lot of offices are coming up for elections in November, and few, if any, of the people in office have done much of anything since 2004. This has led them to try to come up with last-minute ways of distracting people from the record by waving hot-button issues in the faces of voters. 

Port control is hardly a major issue worthy of front-page news. So what if the company in ultimate control is based in the UAE ? It's not like we have trade sanctions against that country that forbid such an economic situation. The ports aren't being handed over to the Taliban or Fidel Castro. 

However, there seems to be, in this country at least, the idea that all Arabs are terrorists, which is simply not true. This issue has been concocted by a group of Congress critters that have looked back on the last two years and found their accomplishments to be wanting. Therefore, they have decided to come down on this issue in the name of preventing terror.

The truth is that while ports are tempting targets for terrorism, terrorists don't normally think in terms of corporate takeovers, especially ones that involve aiding their enemies economically. It's not like there will be any change in the actual port workers, who are almost entirely local citizens anyway. After all, it would be very expensive for any company to fly workers to any American port from some place like the UAE to take the place of American dock hands. There is no threat here, other than the one imagined by a group of people in Congress. And while Bush bashing is a particular hobby of mine, I really can't see what the big deal is in this case.

The South Dakota case is a bit more interesting. Yes, South Dakota's governor is up for re-election in November, so it stands to reason that their legislators are in the same position. The stated purpose of this law is not to provide any moral high ground for the state, but instead to try to present a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. 

The governor has little to worry about: he had a 75 percent approval rating before this bill came up -- one of the highest gubernatorial approval ratings in the country. From what I can tell, he doesn't have any competition in the Republican primaries, so he's basically a shoe-in for the office. 

However, the legislators are not necessarily in the same position. One could stand to reason that a few of these men and women are facing more serious opposition in either the primaries or from the opposing party. Given that South Dakota is what we would call a "red" state, Republican control there seems to be fairly secure. The only reason for this particular ploy (yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is a ploy -- I seriously doubt that Roe will be overturned -- despite the addition of two archconservatives to the Supreme Court) is paranoia on the part of the legislators.

If political campaigns are to be waged in this era of campaign finance reform, then I'd rather have the old rules back. This ceaseless bickering does little to provide for compromise, but instead hardens both positions. 

Unfortunately, this is not something people considered back when such laws were being passed. Now, we only can deal with the consequences of that folly: A massive media circus in which issues are created out of fear for politicians' job security.

McCormick, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at thephotoman@gmail.com.