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Jewish World Review July 13, 2005 / 6 Taamuz, 5765 What's the beef, Dems? Let go of mad cow issue By Froma Harrop
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
For one who would like to see more Democrats in Washington, I
spend a disturbing amount of time trying to save the party from itself.
Polls show Democrats on the popular side of many big issues: health care,
Social Security, the environment. But then they go out and lose it on the
small stuff. Case in point is their recent tango with the mad-cow "threat."
Mad-cow disease is a non-issue in the United States. As far as
we know, not one person has ever died from eating an American cow infected
with mad-cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy). And it's not like
Americans haven't been testing beef safety. How many millions of burgers go
down every day?
The mad cow discovered in Texas last month was only the second
ever found in the United States — and the first one came from Canada. The
Texas cow never entered the food supply, but even if it had, no one would
have been the wiser for it. That's because the only part of a mad cow that
makes humans sick is the brain and spinal cord. Americans almost exclusively
eat the muscle meat.
To allay any new fears, the U.S. Department of Agriculture moved
to tighten the already stringent rules preventing and monitoring mad cow
disease. So as the Fourth of July weekend approached, Americans rightly
shrugged off any concern over the steak supply and fired up their grills.
But some Democrats could not relax. They went zealously to work,
trying to get the mad-cow death toll down from zero.
Rep. Henry Waxman of California called the administration's
response "more public relations than public health" and demanded a
congressional investigation into "what went wrong." Connecticut Rep. Rosa
DeLauro said that discovery of mad-cow disease in a native-born animal
required "a major overhaul of coordination between HHS (Health and Human
Services) and USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture)."
At this point, I'd like to ask Waxman and DeLauro what they are
doing about the bee menace. Bee stings kill at least 40 Americans a year.
Why are Democrats flogging a phony food scare? I have no idea.
True, cattle farmers are hardly a core constituency. Probably more people in
Waxman's Los Angeles district think that they have mad-cow disease than
there are ranchers who voted for John Kerry.
But the mad-cow dance does hurt the Democrats. First off, it
mars their growing reputation as the party of sound science. Republicans are
the ones attacking 21st century research on stem cells and global warming.
Some even have trouble with the 19th century — witness the fight over
evolution. Democrats risk an advantage when they push junk science.
Finally, thoughtless attacks on agriculture harm the Democrats'
prospects in the heartland. America's center is not raw Republican red, as
some coastal types think, but medium-rare pink. The conservatism in plains
and mountain states tends to be more libertarian than Bible Belt. Democrats
can get elected in these places if they strike the proper tone.
For example, Democrat Ken Salazar became U.S. senator from
Colorado by promoting his humble farm origins. When the second mad cow was
found, he jumped to the defense of the cattle industry.
"We like to say that Colorado is a Republican state, but
Democrats can win here," says Bob Loevy, professor of political science at
Colorado College. He notes that while 80 percent of Coloradans now live in
metropolitan areas, ranching remains a beloved part of the culture.
In Nebraska, Sen. Ben Nelson, also a Democrat, was working to
reopen key Asian markets to U.S. beef. Their doors shut in 2003, when the
first mad cow was found.
Without people like Nelson and Salazar, Democrats are never
going see real power again on Capitol Hill. And, in any case, who do Waxman
and DeLauro think they're pleasing with their mad-cow nonsense? The radical
vegetarian vote is already in the bag. They should be out helping their
colleagues in the heartland.
This is a big country, Democrats.
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© 2005 Creators Syndicate |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
