I sometimes like performance art. It is always specific to and dependent on the actor. Generally, it makes a point while telling a story to the audience. Performance art sometimes offers messages that I don’t agree with, but I appreciate it as a very creative form of political protest.
Of course, some of the TikTok challenges we’ve seen and episodes of “Jackass” are forms of performance art, and I think they’re stupid. But my point is, I don’t mind performance art, but I’m tired of those big marble-and-sandstone columned buildings in Washington, DC being used as theaters for performance art, and our elected officials being used as actors. Don’t they have better things to do?
With less than six months until the national election, true governance has come to a complete halt in Washington while our money and time are spent on election drama.
This week, Democrats in the U.S. Senate introduced a poorly worded and constructed bill with a “vote-getting” title: the “Birth Control Rights Act.” Well, of course we need to protect women’s right to access contraception! Is that really the case? Is there an actual threat of access? No, there isn’t, and there never will be. This bill was drafted to put Republicans on record as voting against it, but all but two voted against it, so it could be used in campaign ads and materials. This bill accomplishes nothing beyond what it already accomplishes today. The bill is worded vaguely enough that it could apply to other things, including abortion pills, and regardless of your position on abortion pills, you should not confuse the two issues.
Now, I don’t think that was the intent of the Democratic drafters. It was just the result of a rushed bill, not to enact law, but to create a campaign issue. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) acknowledged but denied it when asked at a press conference immediately after the vote, saying, “Today’s vote is not a sham vote. This is a vote to show who you are.” I wonder what clever campaign communications staff came up with that. Sorry, Chuck, that shows who you are. Someone who is willing to waste the administration’s time and energy to fit another “women’s issue” into their campaign strategy.
To be clear, the right to birth control has been established by the Supreme Court since 1965. Some may argue that if Roe v. Wade can be overturned, this can be overturned too, and it certainly is. But what lower court decisions currently make their way through the judicial process to the Supreme Court? And even if that were to happen (which it won’t), what states would have laws banning birth control? And why would they? So, Chuck, what’s the rush? The 2024 election.
What about border security? Joe Biden signed an executive order to slow border crossings. It has no effect and is largely ineffective. I hate when executive orders are used just to counter the fact that Congress is not doing its job. This is what it is. Biden’s approval rating is dropping on illegal immigration so he needed to do something, and so he did this. It’s theatrical.
Now, of course, if House Republicans had blocked a bipartisan border deal at the urging of candidate Donald Trump and Biden had not been able to “win” on the issue, he would not have had to sign this executive order. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) put on quite a performance to defend the case. What a show! I mean, we now have no border security, but the argument is that the other side is worse than our side when it comes to border security, and if we are unsafe because of the volume of border crossings, are we still unsafe because our elected officials would rather withhold a political victory for the other party than protect the American people? This scenario is hard to understand.
There’s more. Senate Democrats are proposing an “IVF Bill of Rights.” I think most would agree that IVF is a right to help people with fertility problems conceive, and it already is. It’s “allegedly” based on an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that correctly interpreted very narrow and arcane language in a law written long ago, and the Republican-led legislature has already amended it and the Republican governor signed the bill into law. So, what’s the problem? Either ticket sales are down or ACT II isn’t being written.
The House Judiciary Committee is subpoenaing Attorney General Merrick Garland for investigative materials to which they are not entitled, and Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is trying to subpoena Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg before the committee because he doesn’t like the outcome of the jury trial against Trump. None of this is for “We the People.” If the Merrick Garland “hearings” are any indication, Bragg’s presence will be purely theatrical. I’m watching to see if the yellers and fist-wavers on either side of the debate will acknowledge that the camera has turned to catch their good side.
So we are in the midst of campaigning season at the expense of good governance, and while I’m not planning on printing any fliers just yet, I expect to see more of this by November.
Alicia Preston Xanthopoulos is a former political consultant and media professional from Hampton Beach who lives with her family and two poodles. You can email her at PrestonPerspective@gmail.com.
