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Editor’s Note: This is the final portion of a three-part series by longtime coastal policy expert Douglas Tom. Here is part I and part II.

If you wonder why we don’t seem to be moving forward, you are not alone.

We are to blame because we are reticent and rely on government and politicians to think and act for us.

We are our own problem.

Instead, we need to pursue a partnership with them if we are to achieve a meeting of the minds about what society truly needs and how our tax monies ought to be spent.

In election years when political candidates emerge, we should challenge the candidates to reveal who and what they truly are, and press those who assert the old standard of “wanting to give back” to clarify what they want to give back and what predicated such a noble gesture.

If we do not, how can we elect those that hold the most promise to understand and act on society’s behalf when confronting problems, issues, and opportunities? How can we choose wisely? Hosted debates and so-called public service announcements do little, if any, to reveal what makes political candidates tick. If we agree that the ocean’s health and productivity is vitally important to island living, we should make it an election issue. Or we can remain reticent and continue to complain, a strategy that will certainly get us nowhere. Will public service and representation remain concepts for discourse only in the halls of academia? Will we be confined to the road that leads to nowhere and continue to witness the squandering of taxpayer monies? I hope not. We deserve better.

Unfortunately, we do not possess the “tricorder” technology to divine the well-being of the marine environment and help us to find solutions that would assure future generations of islanders of their right to a healthy ocean and insular living space. However, unlike Star Trek, we are not hampered by a “prime directive” that precludes us from considering new social and political paradigms that might alter the way we view the global commons and stimulate the public into thought and action.

Our government and political leaders must be challenged and held accountable for their failure to act. We need to ask our governor and others who were elected or appointed to protect our interests and safeguard the public trust how they see their roles and what they are doing to hold the line against the well-heeled corporate interests and their lobbyists.

Ordinary citizens would be alarmed, if not enraged, if they knew that trade lobbyists view the public as a disorganized mass of whiners and individuals whose only care is about themselves. We need to communicate to our political leaders that we are tired of these marriages of convenience that have bonded them to the very same people we have asked them to “regulate.”

We need to demand transparency and accountability in our elected bodies and censure or impeach those who continue to act as handmaidens and puppets to the self-serving group of oligarchs. Real problems, issues, concerns and opportunities cannot be identified and dealt with if there is no commitment to open, honest and genuine dialogue. Similarly, it is crucial to have an exchange between government and the public, and understanding and commitment to partner with one another with due diligence to seek implementation of joint findings and resulting recommendations.

The Next Step

What will it take to effectuate the partnership?

If we do not take a side or simply don’t get involved, or maintain anonymity by privately bitching and moaning with friends and family about world events, politicians, and the shadow government of big business, we won’t have a dog in the fight, and we may be better off going back to the big screen television for entertainment while the infrastructure for our well-being erodes further.

What will we say to our children about why we did nothing to safeguard their interests? We should no longer sit idle. In addition to holding them accountable for their inaction, we need to also actively participate in the efforts lest we be doomed to business as usual and will not avail ourselves of the benefits our ocean frontier can offer.

Change is possible only if we want it and are willing to act. Then we will know whether benefiting from the ocean frontier is a real hope or mere fantasy.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

About the author: Retiree Douglas Tom was the first elected chair of the Ocean Policy Committee of the Coastal States Organization, an organization of coastal state governors.

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