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Arnold Schwarzenegger

An exclusive interview with the manliest man about his plan to help California's youth.

By Joe de Wolk

When you think of Arnold Schwarzenegger, what comes to mind? Guns, massive explosions, more guns... and politics?

It may not be common knowledge, but Schwarzenegger has a sizable political history. He is a registered Republican, has raised funds for the GOP (in a recent speech he labeled himself a "common-sense conservative"), and under President George H.W. Bush's Administration he was chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

And now, Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking the law into his own hands. Well, kind of.

Schwarzenegger is the architect and chief advocate of California's Proposition 49, an initiative which will appear on the November 5, 2002 California ballot. Proposition 49 would set aside 550 million dollars annually for after-school care for all state public schools that apply for it. However, it would not go into effect until the non-education state budget increases by 1.5 billion dollars, which Schwarzenegger says could happen by 2004 if the economy improves.

Proponents of Proposition 49 say funding for after-school care is needed because most crimes committed by minors happen in after-school hours, from three to six p.m. They say after-school care would prevent crime and save the taxpayers money by not having to pay for the legal bill and jail time of juvenile delinquents.

But while opponents agree that after-school care would be beneficial, they argue against what they say is the economic inflexibility of Proposition 49. In addition, they point out that the funds allocated by Proposition 49 would be written into state law, and could only be changed by a statewide vote.

We got the chance to talk to Arnold Schwarzenegger and hear his thoughts on life, movies, Proposition 49, and his future on the political stage.

Youth Radio: You're going around the state talking about Proposition 49, and you're really passionate about it. But you obviously really like acting, too. If you had to choose between politics and acting, which one would you do?

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Well, right now, I do both. Because I'm very fortunate that I can. While I was doing Terminator 3, I was sitting on the set and doing my scenes. And as soon as my scene was over, I was going off — with my makeup on, bullet holes in my head and all that — and going back to my makeup trailer and I made fundraiser phone calls. And I had meetings with teachers' unions to get their endorsements, or met with the correctional peace officers' associations to get their endorsement. So I did both: the political thing, and the movie. I still want to do two, three more movies...The Crusade and True Lies II.

But eventually, well, I just do this. Because I get a lot of satisfaction out of helping the children, helping the community, going out, reaching out. Because I've done so much of the other thing already. This is kind of like a new challenge. You've got to switch and do different things all the time. So it could easily be that I'm going more in this direction.

YR: I was part of after-school care in elementary school. So how would your Proposition 49 affect kids like my brother and me?

AS: The schools will get more money and therefore be able to include a lot more kids in the after-school programs. For instance, we asked the program down in San Diego, the Six-to-Six program, which is one of the best after-school programs in America. They said even though they're in every school, every school has a waiting list of 100-200 children. If Prop. 49 passes, they can now absorb 100 new kids in every school. That's the big advantage. So more kids can participate.

YR: Some critics argue that in your movies, there's a lot of violence and killing...you smoke cigars. So how can you be a role model for kids with this kind of example?

AS: That's a good question. But that question, you cannot ask me. Because I don't pick myself as the role model. You can't pick yourself. You can't say, this is what I want to do: I want to smoke stogies and do things to be a role model. The role model is picked by youth. You kids are the ones that admire me. You kids are the ones that see my movies. You kids are the ones that say, "This is really cool, Arnold with his muscles. I like his bodybuilding. I'm going to watch pumping iron.''

It's the kids that do it. They think it's cool when you have a stogie in the mouth. So when I go on the talk shows, I always tell the kids: don't smoke. Because what I do, I do to make it part of my character. It's an image thing. And the movies, with the gun in my hand? I don't run around every day with a gun in my hand. So I want kids to understand the difference: one is make-believe, like we do in movies. But in reality, I'm for gun control. I'm a peace-loving guy. I hate violence amongst the young kids.

I always tell them, get away from the violence. Solve problems with dialogue. That's the ultimate power — your vocabulary. How you communicate. Study vocabulary. The more words you have, the better you can communicate, and the quicker you can put someone away. Because if you hit someone in the face, that maybe hurts then and there. But to put someone away with dialogue — it's painful for a long time. People think about it at night, when they go home, and they say, "Oh, my god, what this guy said...."

YR: I know you're here to talk politics… but it's hard not to speculate. I know a lot of people my age are looking forward, quite frankly, to seeing your name on the ballot. So what do you have to say to them?

AS: One thing I would say is: the biggest mistake that young people make today is not to vote. The young kids have almost no voting record, which is a real crime...you have a tremendous power. Think about how close it was between Gore and Bush. And people thought, "What power do I have?''

That's number one. Take your time and [vote]. Even if the choices aren't exciting. But make it routine: I'm going to eat every day, and sleep every day. And I'm going to vote every time there's an election.

Number two: I'm very happy by your compliment. But as I said, it would be wrong for me to speculate on that now. Because I don't want to dilute the story of our initiative, Prop. 49. I want the focus to go on that, instead of having someone going off the deep end, writing a story about Schwarzenneger's planning a future governor race.

— Joe de Wolk's body is the size of Arnold Schwarzenneger's forearm.