Nicolas Berggruen: Change agent

Nicolas Berggruen is the kind of man who, like the White Queen in Wonderland, not only can believe six impossible things before breakfast but has the means and the drive to nudge them into reality. The descriptor “billionaire” is invariably attached to his name, as are the famous facts that he is “homeless” by choice -- no house, just an art collection in storage and a jet to get him from hotel to hotel on his point-to-point work for Berggruen Holdings, his private investment company, and for the other, civic-minded causes that take up his time and his money.

There might be no more impossible cause to believe in right now than California’s. Yet Berggruen’s think tank, the Berggruen Institute, is putting $20 million into the Think Long Committee for California, trying to help the state (and then the country) “break out of the gridlock that is leading us from an era of promise to a trajectory of demise,” according to the institute’s website.

At the committee’s first meeting in October, the lions of California business and policy -- Willie Brown, Eli Broad, Condoleezza Rice, Gray Davis, Gerald Parsky -- sat down together to commit to some fierce and fearless gestalting about California’s problems. Berggruen the patron, a fan of Confucius and chocolate, suggests all things are still possible in this best of all possible states.

With a world of things needing fixing, why choose California?

California is a place of invention, a place of courage, a place of vision, a place of the future. People who made California what it is were willing to take risks, think outside convention and build. California has something which not every place in the world has: It has what I would call a sunny side, and I don’t mean just physically, but the sunny side is a future. California’s worth saving, to put it bluntly. California has a great history, will have a great history. Other places in the world, including other places in America, I don’t think have that, unfortunately. California, even with the troubles that it has today, has this window into our future.

But it also has problems of its own making.

You’ve had [former Gov.] Gray Davis trying to do things; you had Schwarzenegger, who I think was well intended. [But] it’s very difficult to get anything done, because the structure is so difficult. So California is in trouble -- not just short-term financial trouble but also structural trouble. Anybody you talk to almost -- left, right, nonpartisan -- says the place needs reforms. I think people want reforms, and they’re willing to go beyond the partisan.

You have personal reasons for caring about California.

I spend a lot of time in California, more than any other place probably in the world. My father came to California in the early ‘30s. He studied at Berkeley and then became a journalist at the San Francisco Chronicle. He met his first wife, and they had two children, my brother and sister, who live in California. I came to America for the first time [when] I was in my teens. I came to L.A. and San Francisco and New York, and I always said that someday I would be here. I was living in Paris, which is a very beautiful, very wonderful place, but a tight place as a city, a tight place culturally. Its people are very brilliant, thoughtful, the place functions, but it’s a historical place in some ways, like a big museum. California is sort of the opposite -- it has history, it has enormous charm, but there’s so much new and such an influx of new talent that California is fresh. When I saw all this sunshine [for the first time], the palm trees, the people, the openness -- very vibrant, very seductive. I still love it. When I’m here, I’m really happy.

If you’re in Paris, you fit in with Paris. Here you want to create a new version of California that suits you.

California is morphing every day and people are open to change. California is, I think, a bellwether state, and if reforms are done here, they’ll have a big influence. If it’s happening in California, the country will take note and maybe it’ll help that change. And frankly California will have an influence on the world. In China or Paris or South America or Africa, anyplace -- you talk about California, people light up. It’s still a place of dreams.

What do you get out of this? The satisfaction of seeing California work properly?

Bottom line, yes. I’ve had a business career which luckily has been good to me, and I’ve been thinking, “What do I do to use whatever energy I have, and other resources, to put them toward the highest and best use?” I wish I was a great writer or a great journalist or a great scientist or a great artist; I’m not. So I’ve seen what’s happening around the world, a huge correlation between good countries and good government, and a culture that allows good government. You need a combination. Governments can change and address issues, so I thought, [this is] where I can be the most effective, the most helpful.

This is not a criticism, but I think [most] people prefer to put their name on some hospital or something super important. [That] doesn’t change long term the viability of the place where they’re making this contribution. So at the end of the day you have to go back to the biggest factor, which I think is the structure of government and the institutions of government. I’m willing to do something that doesn’t get me anything. I’m not going to get elected from it. I’m not looking for glory or for a medal. But I can get the satisfaction of being an agent of change, in a way that I believe in.

Why do you think California went Democratic in the November election?

In my mind, the country is sort of fighting yesterday’s war, saying, “We protest, we’re not happy with the government.” California is already fighting the next war, which is not just protest but reforms. We’ve created this bipartisan Think Long Committee to address short-term [and] long-term issues, issues that have to do with money and entitlements but also to do with the shape of government and how it functions. Now, some of these will require a popular vote, and some of these may not be embraced by Sacramento. One reason I think California is in trouble is [that] you can go directly to the voters. A lot of things that were voted on in the last 20 years have helped create these structural issues. [But] why not [use] the initiative process to help the reform process? That can be done in California. It cannot be done in a lot of other places.

It’s so easy to get something on the ballot and into the constitution here, which is why we have more than 500 constitutional amendments. Are you saying the solution is inherent in what’s contributed to the problem?

Why not? [In California] the concept of democracy -- it’s sort of been hijacked by special interests, by short-term politics. To vote every two years on something that is highly promoted is not democracy. It’s an illusion and a delusion. I think it’s lying, in essence, to the public [to say], “Well, we live in a democracy because you can go to the polls every two years.” The constitution has been changed so many times and by a lot of special-interest groups so that the system no longer serves the general public, and you have perversities that have become very evident in times of crisis, which is now. Let’s trust [those we elect] to do things.

Are we capable of making short-term sacrifices for the sake of long-term gains, like giving up a little power -- fewer ballot measures, perhaps -- to make the whole state more powerful in the long run?

You make a very good point, which is a difficult point. Today you have a mind-set in the West, very self-indulgent, very short-term oriented, very used to immediate everything. Even though people know what the long term is, they may not be willing to go with the long term. In America, I think, people have spoiled themselves, building big houses, driving big gas-guzzling cars, not caring about energy costs and the effects of using up energy. All of these things are becoming question marks. Everybody in the West will have to make a decision. Will they be willing to sacrifice certain things if they want their children and grandchildren to have a life?

One of the strengths of the East -- there’s Confucius: The culture is more willing to work together, and the idea of doing something for future generations is much deeper in the culture, the idea of shared responsibility. In the West [that] is harder, and in America is hardest. America, as opposed to other places, doesn’t trust or believe, in essence, in government.

For all the lip service given to the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, we tend not to trust institutions created in our name.

Correct. You’ve got to work together, you’ve got to engage government, in this case Sacramento but also local government, so you can get the most out of government, as opposed to saying, “This is government; this is no good.” One should say, “Listen, government is my ally. They’re doing things for me, and I’ve got to work with them.”

What’s interesting about this Think Long Committee is people from different parties have come together very willingly in a way that’s constructive and not partisan because they know the whole thing can’t just continue. When we had our first meeting, I was super impressed. All these strong personalities, maybe they’ll just try to put forward themselves or whatever they represent. Well, they listened to each other. They were there for the good of California. They know the issues; they’re willing to work with others and with new ideas -- so far.

A lot of things have to change for the whole thing to function. It takes probably a few years, but it needs to be done. I think there’s three kinds of changes -- short term, long term, and there are some that are truly structural-- redistricting, budgeting, voting and many more.

You and Jerry Brown are both known for being personally uninterested in material possessions.

The world of ideas is more important, to advance us as human beings; but the world is material, so there is the combination.

The arts represent a combination -- a book, a painting that can transmit knowledge or emotion across centuries and cultures. That matters to you.

It couldn’t be more true. That’s what makes us human, a history, a culture that we admire and learn from, from books to art to music. I’m on the board of LACMA; I’m, as you say, not so interested in material things. I don’t have a house, but I do have art, and I am collecting it quickly so that it ends up in museums because I think museums are a democratic way to share a culture.

Do your friends think you’re quixotic to do this California project?

The reaction I’ve gotten is universal and unprompted. It’s “This is great.” People have been positive, but people also say this is going to be very hard work. But, OK!

latimes.com/pattasks.