Public intellectual Michael Lind is the author of Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States. He is also a co-founder of the New America Foundation and policy director of its Economic Growth Program. Before talking about the 250-year divide between Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians, he revealed in the Zócalo green room that he is Normon Podhoretz’s worst nightmare: a Southern intellectual who is not an alcoholic (and a teetotaler to boot).
Robots—awesome or terrifying?
Awesome.
What’s your spirit of choice?
I’m a teetotaler because Norman Podhoretz worried that one of these days a Southern intellectual would come North who was not an alcoholic—so I’ve tried to fulfill his nightmare.
You wrote a children’s book; what children’s book author inspires you?
Charles Causley, a British poet who wrote a number of works for children and adults in the ballad form.
If you could have any superpower, which would you choose and why?
Time travel—to undo my mistakes.
Is Austin overrated?
Officially, yes, because we don’t want people to move there. If they knew the truth, then everyone would live in Austin.
What music have you listened to today?
None. I’ve been on public radio all day, and unfortunately they have people like me talking instead of playing songs.
Ask yourself a question then answer it.
[Laughs.] Is this a mistake? We’ll find out later.
If you had to lose one of your senses, which would you choose?
Locomotion. I’d rather keep all of my other senses and be wheeled around.
Do you have any recurring dreams or nightmares?
Yes, they’re all logistical, and involving airports and missed flights.
What’s the most decadent thing you’ve ever eaten?
Texas chicken fried steak
What’s your favorite thing about Los Angeles?
The bad architecture. Every single idea that was rejected by the professor in architectural graduate school has been tried out for a dentist’s office or a restaurant somewhere in L.A., and the lack of pretension is the most endearing quality of the city.