by Elizabeth M Young

Created on: July 15, 2010

What makes stars political experts? Before asking what makes anyone else a political expert, it needs to be asked, which movie stars? It seems that there is grinding of teeth and wailing when the star is not a right wing politician, like Reagan, SonnyBono, who was to the right of Mussolini, and some other know-it-alls. But when a moderate or liberal decides to go in to politics, the histrionics begin.

Movie stars are not exactly stupid. They are not automatically uneducated. They are not automatically inexperienced with national and international politics. Many are exposed to or are introduced to causes and concerns on a far more sophisticated level than the average citizen, and at a younger age than most citizens. They travel to and live in places that expose them to the political facts. They come from places where they know about the political facts.

How we can hold grudges against movie stars who decide to enter politics any more than we hold grudges against doctors, lawyers, corporate elites or the insanely wealthy is beyond rationality, except when we remember that attacking a movie star's profession as a cover for attacking the political leanings of a person is an old and dirty political trick: get the public worked up about celebrity status, not the ideology or politics of an individual.

No one blinks an eye when a local fat cat who has not a clue, or a corporate executive who has a hidden agenda enters politics, whether they are liberal or conservative. They have no better understanding of politics and government than anyone else who did not study the field in college or graduate school, or work an entire career in government.

No one blinks an eye when a charismatic individual sets out to fool most of the people most of the time. But add in the title "movie star" and we have trouble!

The bottom line is that movie stars come from a lot of differing backgrounds, have political ideologies of every type, have educations that we rarely hear about, and have had causes and experiences of the lifetime by the time that they are ready to retire from films and to enter politics. Finally, a movie star has to be able to stand politics as a vocation in order to go there, so the vast majority never get involved to the point of running for office.

The answer is this: nothing makes anyone a political expert except for political expertise, and their current profession is not important. Their level of expertise is important. Being a movie star is not a fatal impediment to becoming a part of political history. It should be worrying more people that individuals who have not achieved much of anything in life are managing to attain public office these days.

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