Shifting Baselines

Posted by Jack Sterne, jack@oceanchampions.org

Sunday's N.Y. Times carried a story, "Washington Feels Hollywood's Heat", about entertainment industry "eco-wives" descending on D.C. to lobby for strong climate change legislation.

Despite the inclusion of passages like this:

On Wednesday morning, Ms. Meyer and Ms. McCaw, a former model, discussed how they would handle being young grandmothers when the children from their husbands' prior marriages had children of their own.

"You'll be the hot grandma, I'll be the kind-of-hot grandma," Ms. Meyer said. [see the picture and judge for yourself]

photo: Jamie Rose for The New York Times

You're not going to get any lampooning here.

That's because the story contains a very important insight about how Washington works: it's all about access. The first step in getting change in our nation's capital is getting the ear of the powerful.

And we all know that money talks.

Entertainment moguls and their wives have the ability to give significant campaign contributions, and every politician needs those contributions to get elected or re-elected.

And more than that, those politicians who can raise more money than they need for their own election campaigns can afford to give it their colleagues who are in danger, which builds their own power bases and makes them more effective legislators.

Is this the system we wish we had? Probably not.

But it is the system we've got. So until that system gets changed by some sort of Constitutional Convention (see this very interesting proposal from political guru Larry Sabato), then those who want to influence it are well-advised to play by its rules.

That's one of the reasons we founded Ocean Champions: to be able to gain access to politicians in the same way that a hot Hollywood grandma can. Fully understanding the way things work--we are the only political voice for the ocean.

The ability to participate fully in the political process - i.e., making direct campaign contributions, running ads for your allies or against your opponents, getting out the vote for your champions -- is critical to policy success.

When you fight for your friends, they remember that.

Anyone who wants to influence a politician is well-advised to do whatever they can to help them get elected. Because politicians are much more inclined to listen if they feel like you have their back, and can help them.

All this while being a hot Hollywood grandma.