I’m a bit of an anomaly in the world of entrepreneurship.  Most entrepreneurs tend to be conservative and ultra capitalist. I am not.

You see, I’ve been on both sides of the philosophical and political spectrum and I have tried on the mindsets that represent each — I don’t feel comfortable in either.  I am a centrist and I can jump from side to side, depending on the issue at hand.

Many of my liberal friends have never owned a business, therefore don’t have the perspective as to how powerful free enterprise can be and how accessible it is for those who choose it as a path, regardless of financial or social status.

My conservative entrepreneur friends have never seen poverty up close and have never experienced it through the eyes of someone who is truly suffering.  Being bankrupt because of bad business decisions doesn’t count as poverty.

Real poverty comes is rooted in long term oppression.  At some point a person’s mind is beyond any counsel or advice and they are truly in need of care and the generosity of others.

And then there’s everybody in the middle…

Regardless of your views, my political story from a very young age is this:

I grew up in East L.A. very poor, but my father refused to accept welfare and food stamps (even though he qualified), because he felt it was his sole responsibility to care for his family. Not the government.

My father passed away when I was 13, and ironically, my entire family was supported by social security for the next 5 years, while my mother continued to fulfill her duties as a mother.  She had never worked a job, because up until that point, my father was the bread winner. Her job was to care for us.

I went to MIT after having done very well in school, had a real schooling not just in engineering but in liberal thought. I graduated 4 years later.

After MIT, I worked at Raytheon (a defense contractor) for 5 years.  Most folks I worked with were conservative.  Some out of fear of losing their jobs if defense spending went down, if democrats ever regained control.  Others were conservative intellectuals and made good arguments for their positions.

I got a real understand as to the importance of our military, yet observed the obscene waste at the hands of the defense industry.  They are too big and clumsy to do any good work and always go way way over budget.  We need smaller more efficient companies to be doing this work.

While at Raytheon in 2003, I dated a wonderful woman who happened to be very liberal and worked for the DNC during the 2004 campaign. I followed the campaign all the way through, even though we ended the romantic relationship after 4 months.

In 2005, I started a network marketing business and studied, absorbed and adopted much of the conservative philosophy many entrepreneurs take on as business owners. From a personal philosophy, it fit perfectly with how I wanted to lead my life. Not necessarily how to govern though.

The philosophy of self-reliance became my way of life and still is.

In 2007, I again got together with the woman I dated back in 2004 and was witness to her rise within the Clinton campaign, as she eventually became Director within the campaign. I met Hillary Clinton and other dignitaries during my association with the campaign, and she became very close to top ranking political figures. I was also witness to the Nevada and Texas caucuses during the primary seasons.

In 2008, Clinton concedes the primary race to Obama, after I witness his extraordinary social media and internet marketing efforts. My relationship with my “DNC love” ends soon after and I’m left to watch the rest of the campaign for the first time as an “outsider”.

In Nov. 2008, Obama defeats McCain and is elected the 44th president of the United States.

At the  announcement of his win, I did in fact cry…

I felt that it was finally an end to my strange relationship between politics and the romance that had engulfed my life up until that point.

It was also a very proud moment as a minority to see an African-American become president of the United States.  I was witnessing history and to know that I had been so close to it, was even more overwhelming.

My life as an entrepreneur and my relationship with democratic politics at times may have seemed to clash.

But the perspective I’ve gotten from this cross of 2 worlds I feel gives me the ability to hold more rational, and pragmatic views, instead of being trapped in the dogma and ideology, which consumes most people in politics.

If you find yourself on the far left or the far right, my opinion is you’ve gone too far.

I’m very happy to have settled in the middle.

-Ferny