An anonymous comment on yesterday’s post raised a recurring issue.
I have some experience with life in both Hawaii and Oregon.
In my mind, Oregon is run like Germany, and I mean that in a complimentary way: In the public sphere, everything works, everything is clean, people are invariably polite, conscientious and efficient.
Hawaii, on the other hand … well, Hawaii is more like Bangladesh or Uzbekistan.
I think there’s a lot of truth to this observation. The big question is–Why?
My working theory is that we’ve inherited this inefficient, backward, unhappy bureaucracy from Hawaii’s plantation era, when the major interests ran their own fiefdoms and weren’t much interested in funding a vibrant and effective public sector. Major landowners and the interlocking power structure they were part of pressed to keep property taxes low because it was in their own interest. Better an underfunded government than an effective one, from their point of view.
It continues today because we accept it as the baseline condition, it’s “normal” and, perhaps, because we’re just too far in the hole to dig ourselves out. Look at the deferred maintenance in our schools and university. It’s unlikely we’ll ever catch up. Add in other government buildings, parks, streets, and the rest of public sector, and triage is the only strategy that seems realistic.
I’m trying not to rant, but really to come up with a theory that explains why this part of governing in Hawaii seems impossible to get onto the right track.
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This much is Spot On: “My working theory is that we’ve inherited this inefficient, backward, unhappy bureaucracy from Hawaii’s plantation era, when the major interests ran their own fiefdoms and weren’t much interested in funding a vibrant and effective public sector. Major landowners and the interlocking power structure they were part of pressed to keep property taxes low because it was in their own interest. “
My observation is that it is an attitude, a lack of appreciation.
T is very accurate but incomplete. There is a very different quality in average persons who were born and raised in Oregon and those who were born and raised in Hawaii. Oregonians are independent minded, questioning and not easily sucked into following leaders who line their pockets with public money. Hawaii people are loyal followers who, out of whatever reason, are scared to offend leadership. Many of Hawaii’s politicians would have been ridden out of Oregon on a rail long before their careers got started. I know these things because 1- I am an Oregonian and, 2-I have spent half a lifetime in Hawaii. It is night and day politically. Hawaii born and bred people, you have to figure this out.
It is not totally up to “Hawaii born and bred people” to figure this out. Hawaii is made up of many people, and we all have a responsibility to make sure our government is running the way we want it to. If it’s not running the way we want, then we have a responsibility to change it.
reminds me of the typical condo association board —– it represent a relatively small community, but several self-absorbed members care only about themselves, creating chronic disagreement and little needed change. so people leave, both people who were born here and people who moved here. this is Hawaii.
I, too, spent half my life in Oregon.
I ain’t going back there!
their economy, after the timber industry weakened, is beer and wine and a few other micro-industries. Nike is about the only Major Company I think of. their unemployment has long been a major problem. and their solution? More Marijuana!!!!!
given its green environment and libertarian-alignment, Oregon could be the Marijuana-growing planation of the planet.
Everyone could be a farmer!
Unfortunately, management would likely be the worst on the planet, and the owners would probably want to live in Europe.
Well T, you are right about the service-related economy, though you forgot Intel and a few of other major players in Oregon. This is the same weakness and dependence that Hawaii has with its dependence on people who want to visit there and the importance to the US military. But, like the rest of the country, the economy and manufacturing jobs have been largely exported to other parts of the world.
It may very well be that, about the same time that Hawaii’s vog starts to reduce tourism or it simply abates for other reasons, Oregon and the rest of the country will start to loose its underpinnings also, since the entire economy is built increasingly around selling pizza to each other. Until then, the first comments mentioned about the way things work in Oregon are still true. And especially the part about conscientious and polite people. No “sneer behind the veneer.”
Until all of America descends into the economic twilight and every state resorts to gravel roads and lanterns, there are some areas that have roads, infrastructure, utilities, parks and other “frills” that work and look nice, which was the point to the whole thing, Ian?
One has to look to history to understand this place. I don’t want to be obtuse here, so it needs to be said that the existing situation can only be understood in terms of the labor union/plantation war that was waged for political control here. Katsu Goto, for example, was lynched in 1889, and the war waged for another 60+ years before the unions won. And with power came corruption, and some of the same violence that supported the plantation systems political dominance supported the labor unions control.
Now, in Hawaii, we are presumed to be the most post-racial State, but nothing could be farther from the truth. And public discussion of this issue is anathema to all, public figures or not.
Fact: While voting rates among Americans of Japanese Ancestry in Hawaii surpass 90%, we have among the lowest overall rates of voter participation in the United States.
“My working theory is that we’ve inherited this inefficient, backward, unhappy bureaucracy from Hawaii’s plantation era, when the major interests ran their own fiefdoms and weren’t much interested in funding a vibrant and effective public sector. Major landowners and the interlocking power structure they were part of pressed to keep property taxes low because it was in their own interest. Better an underfunded government than an effective one, from their point of view.”
To this I’d add. There was/is little call for skilled labor; there was/is little interest in having a public education system that creates skilled labor; there was/is little incentive to work ‘harder, faster, smarter’ on a plantation/ in a factory / in a hotel / for the military / for the government. Your personal place is secured by plodding. There was no hierarchy to climb thru skill and inventiveness. You cut cane/worked the canning line; You supervised those who cut cane. You managed those who supervised or you owned the operation. 3 or 4 levels. Today: you clean hotel rooms/cook; supervise those who do that; manage those who supervise, or are an attenuated absentee shareholder owner. All the governing institutions e.g. state; local; educational select for the same, non-service, non-creative skills. It may be the nature of an economy 2500 miles from anywhere. Rules for continental economies simply do not apply. You can’t drive 30 miles and get better service/product.
There is a folk (?) story that 80% of Punahou students leave the state when they graduate? Even if it is half that, and is also true of other top schools, and young risk takers, then you have a major brain drain. Sort of like Newfoundland, but without the weather as a reason to leave.
We keep hearing about this, but how many people come into the state who are educated and contribute to the economy and society in general?
when i wen’ grad Punahou in the 90s, school leaders told us that the rate of kids leaving for better mainland education was closer to 90%.
so i googled this just now to check it out.
and i found this: “Back in 2007 (Brief 2007-16) we charted Punahou’s senior college
going pattern and found that about 90% of Punahou alumni leave the Islands for their
undergraduate degrees……”
the same report also notes that “Although our previous work showed most private school
students leave Hawaii to do their undergraduate, these tables suggest some are returning …”
Unlike those who authored this report, I am not impressed by the words “some are returning”.
so Hawaii’s main export is its children.
yes, basically Hawaii is slowly bleeding its main intangible assets dry: people and intelligence.
our own version of Nauru, if you will. the lovely islands will always be here, but the value (monetary and social) will slip.
Longtime Sen. Inouye’s death, sadly enough, is going to accelerate this process, methinks.
In an island economy, more emphasis is placed on employment than on efficiency. Likewise, more emphasis is placed on interpersonal relationships at the job site as opposed to achievements on performance reviews. The better comparisons are among islands where these dynamics exist rather than with other states. It is different here.
“. . . more emphasis is placed on employment than on efficiency . . .” I would agree with this. As far as performance reviews go, it sounds like union jobs are simply protected positions and that not much can be done when there’s a poor-performing employee. Is this actually the case?
Yes, surely the fault lies with the Big Five and their legacy, not the 60 years of Democratic Party/ Union rule since.
Good one.