There is a part of Henry Rollins that is very hopefull about America.  Beneath the tattoos and muscles and scowl, lies an optomist who sees a brighter future than our present.  In the second part of our exclusive interview with the Mouth of American Hardcore, Rollins discusses who he is pulling for in this upcoming election (hint: it ain't McCain), his experience talking with injured vets of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and whether we are all our brother's keeper.

(Check out Part One of this interview here.)

REAX:  I want to talk about the current election.  I understand you were a supporter of Congressmen Dennis Kucinich when he was running?
Henry Rollins:  He always says stuff where I go “Yeah, man!  Right on!  You’ll never get elected.  You are making too much sense for me and you’re a little man with a tall wife.  It will never work, but I like what you are saying.”  I also always liked John Edwards, which would’ve been the death knell for Democrats.  But, what is going to kill Democrats in any election is just the nature of Democrats.  They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.  But, I always liked Edwards.  But then, you find out he was schtupping the help and you’re like “nice going, chief!”  Way to think big.  You can’t keep it in your pants and you’re running for the highest office in America. 

REAX:  Do you think Kucinich would as appealing if he was in the lead during the primaries and ended up the Democratic nominee?
HR:  Kucinich isn’t a dumb guy.  I think he goes in knowing that he is not going to get in so he can speak loudly and call everyone else to task.  He knows he’s not getting in.  He doesn’t look presidential.  And, you do judge these people by how they look, to a certain degree.  So he can say the stuff that needs to be said and knowing that he’s not getting in, he can tell the truth.  Its like when the military guys leave the military and they turn around and tell the truth. 

REAX:  There is this messiah complex people have about Barack Obama.  The huge crowds, the “O” logo, the mantra of "change."  How do you see him? 
HR:  I am just wary of politicians.  I am voting for Obama.  I think John McCain will be the next President of the United States.  I said that since ’06.  I think both men mean well.  And, I think they the both really think they can take America to a better place.  Neither of them are evil people.  Sarah Palin is more distraction than anything.  I am not a fan.  She seems more funny than dangerous to me. 

I think Barack Obama has great appeal.  He is very well spoken, nice tone of voice.  He comes across very well, very erudite and educated.  And has a definite charisma that John McCain lacks.  John McCain looks old when you put him next to Barack Obama.  Barack Obama, a lean, young guy with a great telegenic face and that great deep clear voice.  I do voice over a lot, from National Geographic documentaries to Discovery Channel.  I am very aware of people’s voices.  I listen very carefully and Barack Obama has a very pleasing tone to his voice.

REAX:  Since 2006, the Republican Party has suffered tremendous hipocritical stories from Senator Larry Craig and Congressman Mark Foley who were both against gay marriage but were caught supporting a gay lifestyle, to President Bush who claims to be an expert at protecting the United States but cannot competently lead us in war, to John McCain’s reputation as a being a patriot but having the worst voting record on veteran affairs.  Why do you think the Republican Party can still weather these hypocrisies and remain politically solvent?
HR:  That’s an easy answer: because its corporate owned media.  You can point out all these glaring truths and wave your arms as frantically as you like.  Rupert Murdoch does not see you.  At the end of the day, neither does Mr. [Roger] Ailes, or whomever took over from Ted Turner.  To me corporate news is just the pits.  I don’t watch it.  I don’t care.  I don’t get mad at Fox News.  It’s like getting made at a crocodile for eating your sister.  It’s what the do.  I hear “How dare Bill O’Reilly say that!”  Hey pal, its how he makes his paycheck.  He knows its bull. 

America doesn’t get the real news.  You don’t get to see the causalties.  You ever watch an hour of Al Jazeera?

REAX:  No.  But, I would love to see what their impression of us is.
HR:  Well, its pretty intense.  They will show you what a missile strike looks like.  They will take you to a rocket attack in a village and you can see the body parts and the people screaming and the people looking at their dead kids.  They will take you to the hospitals where people are just lying in beds screaming at the top of their lungs as they die.  It’s really intense and you get the idea that war really sucks.  Here, we get the “Rambo” version.  You know, win, win, win!  You don’t see what it really looks like.

I go to Walter Reed [Hospital] in Bethesda to visit wounded soldiers.  I get a little bit of an inkling as to how it looks.  I see the sanitized version.  But, I see a lot of amputations and men without most of their brain.  I’ve done this for years.  It gets to you.

REAX:  You’ve also entertained soldiers through USO.  Have you talked to soldiers about politics?
HR:  If it ever goes there, its because they bring it up.  I would never bring it up.  When you are in country, you find people, not surprisingly, being apolitical.  In that, we speculate this from the relative safety of our living rooms and these guys go out 12 hours a day, outside the gate, and their mission is don’t get blowed up and get back to the dining facility at sundown.  So when you say “what about the pre-existing agenda of the Bush administration?”  They’re like, “Pal!  I gotta get through today.  That is not on my mind.  My mind is, am I going to drive by that piece of garbage as it blows up my Hum-Vee into the powerline and I got to watch my buddy’s back and hope he is watching mine.”  They are in the moment.  They are dealing with “it.”  So, the politics doesn’t really come up.

Sometimes in America, I put a lot of vets and soldiers on the guest lists when they request it.  And, that’s when we will have the discussion, in the parking lot after the show.  I’ve heard all kinds of attitudes and opinions expressed.  I listen really carefully.  I save the letters when they come in.  I’ve had all kinds of interesting letter, jpegs, mpegs, sent to me over the last few years.  Rocket attacks, photos of dead bodies, torture victims, people confessing war crimes to me.

REAX:  Your personal politics seem to put you in your own third party niche.  If you could create your own political party, what would your platform be?
HR:  Let’s make America the envy of the world and not the enemy of the world.  By doing that, we won’t be 46th in literacy.  We’d have a public education system that is the envy of the world.  When you see the European model where they realize if we train these kids to be doctors, they will be helping us as we get older.  So, lets put the emphasis on eduction.  You want to be a doctor?  Well, we will pay for that.  We are the Swiss.  I would be a great emphasis on education, thinking that if you have more educated people you will have less liquor store robberies, less rape, less spousal abuse, less war.  People are going to make better choices. This gets in the way of some people’s agenda, which is selling bombs and bullets. 

And, when you see that the prison industrial complex is a booming multi-billion dollar industry, building super-max prisons, and charging the government $30 for the cheese sandwich to feed the inmate, you see why America has the highest number of incarcerated people in the world, even in countries who have a higher population.  I would like to take the sex appeal out of that type of profiteering. 

I’d also like to lead the world in solar energy, wind energy, alternative energy pursuit.  I mean, we’re America.  We should just be kicking ass in this arena.  We should save the world.  That’s what I would be running on; a more cheerful, fortuitous, forward looking nation, where everyone is busting ass knowing they are working for a living wage.   Like, why should people go into foreclosure?  Can’t this be better for people? 

Now, its pretty to think these thoughts.  But, the proof has been, over the years, say you find a poor nation who is starving.  You know what happens when you give them all of the food they need?  They start breeding.  And now, they need even more food because now they have three kids.  Humans have their button set on “kill me already” and they are working steadily at their own demise.  So, when you give them peace they make another war.  When you give them food, they make more starvation.  When you make food cheaper, they get obese.  When you make cars safer, they get into more crashes.

REAX:  When you give them more credit, they go into debt faster.
HR:  Bingo!  So, what do you do?  Is there a rule of thumb in this?  Do you starve them?  I don’t know what you do with people.  It would be so great if you had to go through some type of test to get your testicles back from agency to see if you are allowed to breed.  Oh, you’re knocking you’re wife around?  No, you’re not allowed to have kids.  Nah, you don’t get to breed.  I’m holding on to your nuts.  Sorry, Chief.

You can check out Rollins' "Recountdown Tour" at the following venues during the following dates:

forming Arts Center