Q: McGarrett, was the police chief in the tv show Hawaii five O, you chose that name to indicate that period was also about law and order, not just free love and hippies, yet, that show was groundbreaking, it had the first Asians on television, what if any hint does that give us?

A: This is a great first question because I think there are multiple ways to answer it. Some I probably didn’t even realize till you asked.

McGarrett is attractive to me because he is actively good. In many movies and TV shows, the good guy is someone who is just passively there and only becomes the good guy because there is some bad guy that comes after them. This is why the bad guy is usually the more interesting character: the bad guy has a motivation. McGarrett is actively good in that he is a smart, driven, and dangerous man pretty much capable of anything. Yet, he uses his drive and force of will to do good. He does not need a deus ex machina. He is the deus ex machina.

Now, your observation about the racial mix on the show is something I never considered. I am not Asian but am comfortable in Asian culture and have invested time in understanding it somewhat. But, this all occurred as an adult and without a real logical explanation why I have the interest. It makes me wonder about my sub-conscious a bit.


Q: If you were to describe your politics, using the current definitions, what would you use to describe yourself?

A: My deepest convictions are about the need for individual liberty for all people in all places. So, the closest current term would be libertarian. But, I identify with the Republicans because the Libertarian Party is unserious and unlikely to make any real progress. The hope I have is for the Republican Party to be more consistent with its stated principles. This is not a big hope that I count on but it seems the only practical option among multiple bad alternatives.

Also, by nature, parenting, and experience, I am conservative in my actions and morals. It is something I choose for myself and am confident would be good for others. However, because most government interventions into human interactions have unforeseen circumstances, I would prefer that laws focus primarily on protecting life, liberty, and property. Using examples of success, examples of failure, and persuasion will best address most of the so-called "culture war" and “victimless crime” topics.


Q: Do you feel like you have planted a solid conservative flag at OS? 

Q: Did you find anything of merit in the Bush era?

A: Not a lot but a few things. Bush enlarged the Federal government so I don’t like that. I do think he was right to go on the offensive after 9/11 and I think the Iraq War was a gamble worth taking. The stakes were high, no doubt. But, it was and is a worthy goal to seek to bring freedom to a region of the world that is normally written off to a bunch of ruthless dictators committing horrible atrocities against their own, other people, and Americans. The idea that some people are somehow not deserving or capable of liberty is offensive to me. People from every race and every culture that comes to America find ways to fit in and prosper. It can happen everywhere else too if the local governments would only allow it. I am not advocating that we intervene everywhere, but in special cases, we should. Iraq was a valid choice for an attempt.

Anyway, back to Bush. Continuing the pop culture psychoanalysis of me, you could see Bush’s Iraq mission as somewhat McGarrett-like. I expect you would say Bush is not smart like McGarrett but I don’t think anybody can say that he was not a dangerous man to U.S. enemies. I think Bush will be an interesting figure for historians for years. If Iraq is a beginning that leads to a free Middle East, Bush will have changed the world for the better. Hardly any other U.S. politician would have taken on what Bush took on. Obviously, the jury is out and will be out for a while. I hope to live long enough to see how it turns out.

Q: What if anything of the ideology of the Reagan/Conservative era do you think is salvageable?

A: This question exhibits one of the things I find both entertaining and frustrating about you. The use of the word “salvageable” connotes failure which then leaves me starting from a potentially defensive position. It makes me laugh but also biases the conversation. I don’t think you are consciously aware you are even doing it.

Reagan did what no one thought could be done. He was faced with the once-thought impossible combination of recession and inflation that we know as stagflation and counteracted it. The process was painful but the Reagan approach was basically that we had to take our medicine, let the markets clear out all the mess, and then cut taxes to create more incentive for people to invest in search of profits. The ideology that risk-taking producers are the engine of the economy, not demanding consumers, does not need to be salvaged because it is still true.

Something I have been thinking about is the nature of regulation. Government regulations that specify outcomes tend to be counter-productive. Government regulations that establish consistent processes and enable competition help market players (Example: The judiciary enforces contracts). Reagan pushed deregulation of producers but did not really deregulate things like the financial markets. Glass-Steagal was actually repealed under Clinton. So, I would challenge your implication that it is the conservative ideology that is the big problem. The conservative distrust of big government also has a sometimes side alliance with distrust of other big institutions and a desire to decentralize power in a competitive market. It was big-government Clinton who acted as if big is good everywhere and made Citigroup possible. Robert Rubin went onto the Board of Citi after leaving as Clinton’s Treasury Secretary.


Q: How will it be salvaged? Will it be another wild swing?

A: I wrote a post after Obama got elected basically hoping that he would turn out to be more Carter-like with a burst of misery and failed policies but spurring a common sense recognition to do something different that could last for a generation similar to the 1980’s and 90’s. I re-read that post for this interview and part of my speculation may be starting to come true. The dumb Bush bailouts have been made bigger and dumber. So, deficits galore are coming and printed money is everywhere. Stagflation may be coming. Smart Republicans will have a theme to use: we were here before and we know what to do. We’ll see. It’s a long way to go before we get to 2010, much less 2012.

Q: Are you sure that there is one path to unravel the current crisis? And what outcomes would you want to see?

A: I am confident that there is not one path. The problems were created because of millions of different decisions. It will be solved by letting millions of market players clear out the bad decisions. So, I think we have to let individual houses be foreclosed on and resold. Propping up the home values with printed money is not a real solution. It only defers the problem and makes it worse later.

I think a better result on AIG would have been to intervene with some cash to keep it alive until the company was taken into chapter 11 bankruptcy. This would have resulted in a judge applying basic contract and bankruptcy law to all the issues like bonuses and payments to other financial firms. None of this political incompetence and show trial grandstanding would have occurred. Again, Obama is just one-upping Bush on these bailouts.


Q: How did your political beliefs develop?

A: As a teenager, I actually was more traditional liberal. Had I been old enough to vote in 1980, I would have voted Carter over Reagan. But, when I went to college, I took the opposite of the stereotypical road where a student gets exposed to leftist professors. I had an economics professor who knew how to articulate complex ideas in very common ways. He was able to describe how individuals making their own decisions and making deals with other people making their own decisions produced not just an efficient net outcome but the most surprising and creative outcomes. Individual liberty and free markets represented the most powerful statement against authority. This professor is not someone famous. He was just a guy at a state university. But, to this day, I can trace my basic beliefs about how people get things done in the real world to his class.

Q: Lets go to the lighter side, you write the best posts on music. Is that something you do on the side? Something you always wanted to do?

A: Thank you for enjoying them. The encouragement from you and a few others motivates me to continue writing them. I find that I enjoy writing those the most too.

In my younger days, I made some small attempts to be a musician however the seediness of much of the culture and seeing how the intentional excesses actually damaged people caused me to pull away. Seeing people hurt themselves is unpleasant. I did not have anywhere near the drive it would have taken to succeed.


Q: Would your dream day to day work, involve music? Office work? or working with your hands?

A: This may be a weakness of mine but I do not have a passion for doing specific things. I actually find that my best days pass without me doing anything in particular. However, when faced with a problem or crisis, I always react well. Basically, I flounder around until something finds me that is necessary to do and then I apply myself very aggressively to the situation. To over-use the starting analogy, this may be a manifestation of the McGarrett thing that you coaxed out of me with your smart first question.


Q: Do you play an instrument or sing?

A: I play guitar and a little bit of keyboard. I cannot sing but do so anyway to songs in the car if no one is with me and I don’t think anyone is watching.


Q: Do you write music or lyrics?

A: I do write music but am a terrible lyric writer. I have an analytical mind so any lyrics I write are always pretentious and unnatural. At my best, I can come up with one or two lines that express some idea well. But, I simply am unable to turn that idea into a complete song.

Q: I enjoy your posts cause of the focus you give to lyrics? Tell me did the lyrics of Dylan move you as a youth or were the politics a barrier? 

A: I think I focus on the lyrics because I am appreciating something that I know I can’t do. Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac) wrote a song that opens with the lyric, “Sweet wonderful you. You make me happy with the things you do. Oh, can it be so? This feeling follows me wherever I go.” That is about as simple and direct language as there is but I know I could have never thought of that. So, those who can’t do, admire.

I do like some of Dylan’s music and appreciate his talent. I like music that expresses righteous anger and a desire to challenge authority but, as you suspect of me, if the themes are for something that is too political then I think the art loses all power. Dylan’s song “The Hurricane” is one I really like because the theme is one that all people should be able to sympathize with… a man unjustly imprisoned. Some of the syntax and rhyming he uses is great. “We want to put his ass in stir. We want to pin this triple murder on him, He aint no Gentleman Jim.”

Q: You are very private about your personal life and I want to respect that privacy. I have one question, did you grow up in Texas and always lived in Texas? Or are you a transplant? If you are a transplant, why Texas? If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

A: I was born in Houston and have lived here my whole life. I have no desire to move. Some people seem born to kick the dust of their hometown off and move elsewhere. I am comfortable here and even find some of the obviously stupid things about this city to be charming. This is a town based on individualism and so I got lucky to be born in a place right for me. Also, all the people that are important to me are here and I can’t see some other personal goal being more important.

I have traveled to other countries on occasion but I find that I am more interested in the idea of places than the actual places. But, to answer your question, Hong Kong is one of the places I have visited that I could see living in for a while. I liked the bustle there and it is also a city for individuals.

Q: If you could choose a century to live, which one would you choose?

A: The simple answer is that now is the best time that has ever been. Thousands of years of slavery and poverty that average people in the past endured hold no attraction.

To answer your question a little differently, I enjoy reading about the ancient Greek and Roman periods. The End of the Roman Republic is one of the most interesting series of events. The tragic nature of the participants is better than most fictional tragedies. It is expansive in that the story travels the Mediterranean even into the family politics of Egypt. I like how random events (the Goddess Fortuna) were influential. 

Recently, I have been more interested in the end of the Roman Empire in the West and what that must have been like for people to live through. I read more non-fiction than fiction but the novels come to mind right now. Iain Pears’ “The Dream of Scipio” partially covers the theme of Roman decline. Very highly recommended. I also enjoyed Gore Vidal's novel "Julian" regarding the last gasps of Roman paganism.

Q: If you could have the perfect concert, dead and living musicians, give us the line-up and venue.

A: I think the venue would be the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. I was never there because it got torn down many years ago. But, it was the last venue for a couple of famous groups: The Band and the Sex Pistols. I only know of it from the films of these shows.

To create a show, I don’t think I will mix and match individual musicians. Instead, I will just pick some bands for a bill that represents a journey through time. Let’s go with: Blue Oyster Cult (Secret Treaties tour), Sex Pistols (w/Glen Matlock in line-up), The Smiths (Queen is Dead tour), Ani Difranco (Not a Pretty Girl tour), PJ Harvey (Stories from… tour), and close with the bombast that is Laibach on their Volk tour.

As an additional tidbit, the best concert I ever attended was The Plasmatics in a 1,500 seat venue here in Houston. We had fifth row seats. That was the real deal.

 

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Book em Danno.  Could not find a great clip of that, but I hope you get a glimpse into McGarrett, read his posts, even though they are wrong headed, keep reading him.  

 

Thank you McGarrett, I hope our journey of communicating across the political divide continues.  

 

Like the clip above, I will still hope to change your mind.  We will use all our powers.