I was born and raised in an Ohio town where the most reactionary ideas were framed as conservative. Hence I gravitated toward the left, which I watched become a community where the most reactionary ideas were framed as progressive.

My book "Leaving the Left" is a chronicle of my political odyssey and convictions. For more than a decade I've been an independent journalist, though my most important work is being my son's dad. I get this question a lot: "So you've moved to the right?" The mistaken assumption that there are only two choices is deeply ingrained. I believe people are capable of using traditional values, received wisdom, everyday moral understandings, and plain common sense, to make the basic political, economic, and moral decisions that shape their lives.

John Gardner said "the ever-renewing society will be a free society, one that recognizes its capacity for renewal depends on the individuals who make it up. It will foster innovative, versatile, and self-renewing men and women and give them room to breathe." Seems like a good place to start.