This happened because of a period of deep introspection, soul-searching, and subsequently my willingness to learn viewpoints that I did not agree with. Years of my being a left-radical and a lot of disillusionment after having seen profound dysfunction, endless infighting over ideological details, and overall lack of discipline and commitment among the leftist activists, ultimately opened my mind and eyes to the works of Edmund Burke, Russell Kirk, Robert Nisbet, Theodore Dalrymple, Friedrich von Hayek and others.
Having had my feet in both conservative and progressive worlds, however, I find many common grounds once one scratches the surface. Certainly, they come from very different philosophical and ideological principles. Yet, there are numerous areas where people can join together and work together for common goal -- the common good. I believe that our society can be at its best when we understand this, and minimize the political polarization.
To this end, I founded the 99 Unite Civic Forum, a non-partisan public policy study group that seeks to galvanize the middle class and working class people behind issues that matter to all (and hopefully to explore ways to correct the errors of both Tea Party and Occupy movements).
Currently I serve on the Friends of Occupy Portland board of directors, as well as sit on the advisory council of Ingenuity Innovation Center, LLC.
My passion and interest areas include human rights, civil liberties, economic self-determination (microenterprise, entrepreneurism, empowering the poor), women's rights (mostly from a cultural feminist approach), immigrant rights and advancement, and local autonomy (localism, decentralization, county/state rights).
My passion and interest areas include human rights, civil liberties, economic self-determination (microenterprise, entrepreneurism, empowering the poor), women's rights (mostly from a cultural feminist approach), immigrant rights and advancement, and local autonomy (localism, decentralization, county/state rights).
I also offer consulting and technical assistance in community organizing, event planning and volunteer management for a modest fee, on a scalable basis. Contact me for details and rates.
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