When the Editor-in-Chief of Red County magazine suggested I write this piece, I thought it would be simple. However, as I worked to distill my current ideology (and how I got there) to a pithy article, I found myself struggling to curb a Kaczynski-like desire to pen a manifesto. If I've failed dear reader, take comfort in knowing I'm far more boring in real life.

I WAS BORN A POOR BROWN CHILD
OK, so that's not really true, but a decent segue nonetheless. My parents immigrated to this country in the 60s from India to pursue their doctorates (Engineering and Psychology). Growing up in a conservative immigrant family (read strong family values, a hyper-active obsession with education, and a frugality that rivaled Ebenezer Scrooge... but NOT Republican), I learned that America was the greatest country in the world. In 1960s India, my father (an affable curmudgeon) would argue, a man could be hard-working AND smart and still never get anywhere, but in the US a man need only be smart OR hard-working. All this American optimism was oddly set against backdrop of deep distrust of the "wealthy" and their "rigged" system and a bedrock belief that the Democratic Party embodied fairness and compassion and thus deserved our support. I grew up to be a bookish 12 year-old lad that was as likely to debate politics with his peers as he was to engage in any other less abnormal adolescent activities. My friends would consistently engage from the far-right, and I, along with a few others, would parry from the far-left. Looking back we did a great job of parroting what we had been programmed to think. I wore my "compassionate", "informed", "intellectual" political ideology like a nice warm sweater. I believed what I believed because I was good people. People were hungry--feed them, People were uneducated--educate them, People were struggling--help them. We inappropriately took this land from the Native Americans--Give it back. Simple.

"HIGH"ER EDUCATION
After a ridiculously fun (though often flagrantly irresponsible--the subtitle says it all) half decade at UCSB, I managed to cross the first milestone of my evolution. While I still considered myself solidly left, I actually started to think twice about actually giving the country back to the Native Americans (Santa Barbara is really quite nice). What I really learned at UCSB was this: Personal Agency. I realized that in this country I was free. Truly free. Free to spend my life partying, surfing, and lounging, but no one would be responsible for where I ended up but me. So if I wanted to get somewhere in this life, I had to put my head down and get to work. From UCSB I departed to the Midwest. The University of Iowa College of Law beckoned, and I was fired up.

For the first time in my academic career, I was truly challenged and loving it. I left law school having completed my metamorphosis from an underachieving slacker to a young idealistic hard-working corporate attorney with Morrison & Foerster. From tapping kegs to mergers & acquisitions in three years. Not bad, I thought.

Always a believer that involvement makes a difference, I plunged into local Democratic politics to lend a hand. I got to know everyone, and did the work of a true believer. I raised money (chump change), recruited other Democrats and did what I could for the cause.

Now here's the rub. Working everyday with entrepreneurs gave me the first insights which would propel my political evolution. Here were individuals swimming upstream to create something. People rarely helped, often looked down on them if they failed, and were jealous when they succeeded. All this despite the fact that a successful new business employed people, solved a business problem, and created wealth for many besides the owner. After five years of parsing, analyzing, and negotiating legal risk, I wanted more. I decided to head back to school to study finance. The siren song of the markets was blaring and I was all ears.

I found myself at Oxford University and this is where my epiphany occurred. I saw a clear correlation while studying macroeconomics and emerging capital markets. As 3rd world countries embraced free market policies, middle classes grew, populations became more vested in their economies and tolerated red tape and corruption. As these barriers diminished, economies grew and became more efficient and robust. Healthcare improved, life expectancy grew, infrastructure was improved, infant mortality rates dropped, and people were empowered.

After the MBA, I switched to a Wall Street career. I joined a large investment bank, and once again found myself working with successful entrepreneurs. A different perspective on America gained in England, combined with a front row view of the capital markets served as a mid-wife to my ideological shift. At first I felt rudderless, like Descartes with his anxiety. This was no small thing to a life-long Democrat. But with reflection and thought, it began to take shape. My newly formed world view was far more comfortable than my old sweater--a better fit, practical, and still nice and warm. I would believe what I believed because I was good people. Simple. While I have not changed parties, and will not until the Republicans give me an alternative that actually matches my principles; I have been able to distill my beliefs to a small set of core political principles.

FORTIS EST VERITAS
Politics as I choose to define it here is simply the set of policies and underpinning ideas that motivate and guide the interactions between the governed and their government.

GOVERNMENT BY ITS NATURE IS INEFFICIENT AND WASTEFUL
This is on its BEST days. The truth is that on its worst days government is malignant. I know of no genocide that ever occurred without a motivated government. Government's wasteful nature truly is a function of the lack of personal agency--no one is responsible. This lesson is old.

GOVERNMENT IS A NECESSARY EVIL
The tragedy of the commons and other plain facts of civilization make government necessary, but it must still be understood as evil. Locke's social contract dictates that we the governed cede some portion of liberty to achieve certain needs: security, infrastructure, etc. While this is NECESSARY, it is still an EVIL. When man cedes liberty he gives up a god-given right, and in this case we must always watch the other side of the contract as BY ITS NATURE it GROWS. This is the cold hard fact. Government grows. Bureaucracy begets bureaucracy, and with each layer of growth, so arrives a new attack on liberty.

GOVERNMENT IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR COMMUNITY.
Somewhere along the way, we've abandoned the notion of community. We've abrogated our responsibilities and turned to the government as a panacea for our struggles. When we look to government as a solution for all problems that plague us we begin our walk down a dangerous slope. When we allow governments to serve this role we begin to allow them to define morality as well. While a government must enforce laws, we as a community must reinforce moral norms. In an increasingly multi-cultural world this is an important task. Community must not die, neighbors must still engage in dialog, and discourse outside government fostered environments become increasingly important. Government is not the only meaningful aggregator of human altruism.  I believe families, churches, charities, neighborhoods, and other social organizations would be better able, and more likely, to provide assistance to those they personally know in times of crisis if the government would quit promising to be the omnipotent savior. When the chips are down, I should have more faith in my friends and neighbors than the Uncle Sam.

DECENTRALIZE POWER.
Power aggregated is power abused. If we cede liberty in exchange for a local solution, the power ceded should be exercised locally. The federal government's twenty-five year plus effort with education is a classic example of this folly. A new department created, tax dollars consumed like beer at frat house, and we have a broken K-12 system that feeds into the finest secondary education system in the world (which is market run - coincidence?).  We all understand congressional pork. We see odd local efforts funded by ear-marked funds in large bills. This system is broken and starts when we look to the federal government to solve local problems.

EMPOWER (AND TRUST) THE INDIVIDUAL.
Enough said. Encourage effort, hard-work, sacrifice, and individual belief. This is not the same as saying atomistic greed without adherence to morality is an answer, but it does mean that government should be as small an obstacle as possible to creative, individuals who dare not just to dream but to build as well. The greatest tragedy of our current system is that far too many remain un-empowered and thus under-utilized. Simply put, we are losing too many scientists, artists, inventors, writers, judges, and great politicians because our current systems trap talent and stifle it through myriad systemic failures.

TRADE BEGETS MARKETPLACES BEGETS DISCOURSE BEGETS MARKETPLACES OF IDEAS BEGETS SOME FORM OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT AND FOSTERS FREEDOM.
History has shown that countries that meaningfully trade rarely fight wars. Further, robust free markets erode tyranny. What we must remember is that democracy has many forms and faces and it doesn't often look like our own. Our foreign policy is too often geared to create mini-me democracies around the world instead of understanding that freedom empowers people to express themselves their own way.

TRUST THE MARKET
While the market may have imperfections, be wary anytime an action is taken to remedy an "imperfection". Far more often than not the action of the government causes more harm than good, especially when you consider that in dynamic state, markets tend to self-correct. Markets are powerful forces that bring out our best. While not altruistic they tend to solve far more problems than any governmental efforts.

PERSONAL AGENCY
At every turn, we must encourage people to help themselves and solve their own problems. We must stop looking to the government to solve every problem an individual faces. More often than not government can't meaningfully help and worse yet, if it tries, it tends to fail and make a situation worse. We must change our assumptions about government's capabilities and its proper role in our lives.

LETTING GO OF HEGEMONY
It came to us though we didn't seek it. After WWII, we went back (happily) to what made us us. Like Cincinnatus, we didn't seek empire but instead just wanted peace. We came home had a bunch of kids, spoiled them rotten, but continued, through every tribulation, to stay true to ourselves. As we stuck to our core principles and our ideas, the world ran toward us. They emulated us. They supported us and enjoyed Pax Americana. As the world changes post cold-war, we seem to have backed ourselves into a corner, by acting as though hegemony was ours by right. But instead, we must understand and remember it goes to those that earn it. The best ideas win. Period. We've always had the best ideas, so let's lead with our ideas, instead of acting with perpetual paranoia. Hegemony will be ours because our ideas are better not because our bombs are bigger, our tanks are faster, or our troops are stronger. While I believe in carrying a (very) big stick, we need to remember to walk softly.

NEVER GET INVOLVED IN A LAND WAR IN ASIA, AND NEVER GO IN AGAINST A SICILLIAN WHEN DEATH IS ON THE LINE.
Sorry it's late, and The Princess Bride is on HBO.

CONCLUSION
There is little doubt that I've crossed the Rubicon. But like Caesar, I see little need to go back. In short, I was a left leaning liberal because I recognized the problems our society faced. I've become more conservative precisely because I believe that markets, and an ideology of personal responsibility, provide the best path to solving those problems. My understanding of the problems has not changed but I realize that the solutions lie not in the first order answer but instead in the changing the very structures that perpetuate them.

ACHILLES DEAD WAS ACHILLES STILL