On Stage with Hillary Clinton
California Democratic Convention
April 2007
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On Stage with Barack Obama
California Democratic Convention
April 2007
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On Stage with Jesse Jackson
Dukakis Rally
October 1988
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Writer - Lecturer
- Consultant |
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Selected commentaries,
adapted for the Internet from published articles (available as
Free Downloads by clicking on the titles):
Politics and Public Policy:
- Elizabeth Warren for President 2020. Democrats need to stop losing election by playing it “safe” and nominating compromise candidates who fail to inspire the new voters we need to show up at the polls. Doug recommends supporting Elizabeth Warren for president in 2020 and presents the reasons she is the best and most electable option in the 2020 primary.
- Role of Government. (Foundations
for public policy) Outline of the nature of Jeffersonian-style
limited government in the context of a modern, high-tech industrialized
global economic democracy that differs greatly from the rural,
agrarian, sparsely-populated low-tech society of our third president.
- Economic Justice & Fairness.
(Economics) While public policy should not compel individual
moral beliefs or practices, and economic policy should not be
used to enforce personal ethics, such policy perhaps should at
least be consistent with values such as compassion which, like
the justifications for public policy themselves, are based on
the manner in which we interact with others.
- Justice for All. (Judicial
fairness and court reform) Do Americans today really have equal
access to their judicial system? Is there justice for all in
our nation? Is there a two-tiered system of justice in our country?
Are Constitutional safeguards being adhered to? Problems are
identified and possible solutions are considered.
- Flat Tax Fiasco.
(Taxation) An examination of the failure of flat-tax proposals
and the flawed assumptions they are based on, as the few wealthiest
Americans seek a mechanism for bleeding the middle-class that
would support them with higher taxes while those who have enjoyed
the most success in our regulated free market system would reap
huge tax savings windfalls.
- Electoral Larceny 2000.
Al Gore won the popular vote and, if all the ballots cast are
properly counted, the electoral vote as well. However, on January
20 he will not be sworn to the office of President that he won,
as Dubya Bush will usurp that role in the greatest case of electoral
larceny in this nation's history.
- Invasion of Iraq. George Dubya
Bush wants to do what no other American president has ever done
before: invade another nation without any direct provocation.
He claims Iraq presents a specific and credible threat to our
national security, but there is no evidence of this. On the contrary,
all the evidence is that Iraq has no hostile intentions against
the U.S. and that Bush has other reasons for this desired invasion.
- Immigration and Border Control.
Many Americans are concerned with the high rate of both legal
and illegal immigration, but seem powerless to address the issue.
This commentary provides specific solutions for resolving immigration
issues by addressing the underlying economic causes rather than
merely reacting to symptoms.
- Is MEChA Racist? During the
recent California gubernatorial recall campaign, questions about
candidate and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante and his affiliation
with MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) raised
challenges as to whether that organization is racist or not.
This article addresses those issues head on.
- Debunking the Elian mythology.
There are a number of common myths floating around about young
Elian Gonzalez that need to be debunked, and which serve as a
larger metaphor for our policies on relations toward Cuba.
Social Order:
- Sex and Violence.
The subjects of SEX and VIOLENCE are too often linked in the
same breath. However one (sex) is beautiful and natural and something
that everyone expects to grow up and experience as adults, while
the other (violence) is NOT natural or beautiful and something
we hope no one will ever have to experience. So guess which one
is the one that gets censored and which some want to put restrictions
on?
- Drug Minimization.
Criminalization of substance abuse has proven an abject failure.
But the products that cause the most suffering and deaths --
tobacco and alcohol -- are those that are legal, so legalization
hasn't been much of a success, either. The solution is a true
middle-ground solution of DECRIMINALIZATION, not as a euphemism
for legalization, but as the balance between the extremes.
Nature, Science and Health:
- Bluebirds Are Free. Lessons
taught by a scrub jay about equality, dignity, freedom and respect
in relationships, and the differences between individual personal
privacy and community social interaction.
- Waxwings are Wild. Cedar
waxwings are beautiful birds of mystery -- masked bandits raiding
fruit from forests and orchards -- with mystery of unpredictable
migration and fascinating rituals of social interaction. They
are also wild creatures that need to be free.
- Bird Whisperer or Bird Brain? Doug's life time love affair with birds is chronicled with picturers of interactions with both wild and domesticated birds, from childhood through adulthood.
- Cloning. So many
people express, as their first reaction to the idea of cloning,
revulsion and disgust at the idea of having genetic doubles.
Yet almost everyone finds the idea of identical twins (nature's
own genetic doubles) to be fascinating and attractive.
Books by Douglas
Dunn
- Dazhan
was first published in 1981, with a second edition (revised and
expanded) published in 1988. A third edition is now being prepared,
but is currently only available as an online download, though
the 1988 edition can still be ordered through bookstores or directly
from the publisher. Dazhan
uses a fictional model set in a beautiful fantasy setting to
demonstrate how to put into practice a lifestyle
in which practical values work to enhance goals and values instead
of working against them.
Can be ordered through Amazon.com (paperback or Kindle e-book)
or Barnes and Noble.com (paperback or Nook e-book.
- Extro-Dynamics
was written to complement the lectures that resulted from Dazhan, in which it became clear
that, in addition to the popular fantasy/fiction model in Dazhan, a deeper level of non-fictional
presentation, with additional examples and explanation, was needed.
Extro-Dynamics shows how
to achieve ethical happiness, and make it work with, not against,
goals and desires for success in financial
secuirty, romantic love and
a long and healthy life.
Can be ordered through Amazon.com (paperback or Kindle e-book)
or Barnes and Noble.com (paperback or Nook e-book.
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Books written by Douglas Dunn may be ordered online through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com (see above links) or through many bookstores -- if not in stock may be special ordered..
Douglas Dunn was born in Los Angeles, California, accompanied at birth by identical twin brother Dennis
(yes, folks, there's two of 'em). He was raised in a family that
was Republican, religious and conservative. With an early demonstration
of his committment to values he believes are right, he began an
early involvement in Republican politics. As a teenager in 1964,
he campaigned vigorously for Barry Goldwater and met Ronald Reagan,
who was then campaigning for Goldwater. But as Doug grew
and matured and read and studied and learned more about government
and politics, he began to have doubts about the political beliefs
he had been raised with. There were just too many facts that didn't
gel with his conservative views, and encountered too many logical
inconsistencies. By the time he was 18, in 1968, he still supported
Republican candidates, but was plagued with increasing doubts
as he moved toward more moderate positions on issues. That fall
he enrolled in college with a major in Political Science. As he
learned more about government and politics from credible sources,
he learned that much of what he had been led to believe in his
formative years was simply not true. He gravitated increasingly
toward liberal political values and beliefs. For example, as a
Republican he had heard terrible things said and written about
Martin Luther King. While King was still alive, Republicans had
accused him of being a radical and a communist. But when Doug
actually read for himself several of the books written by King
(Stride Toward Freedom, about the Montgomery bus boycott
and Why We Can't Wait, about the campaign to desegregate
Birmingham), he was amazed at the moral decency, the non-violence,
and the real-life action-based committment to Christian principles
of love and inclusion that conservatives only gave lip-service
to, and he realized how much he had been lied to by his Republican
mentors. Doug encountered many such revelations. By the time he
was old enough to vote (in those days the age limit was 21), he
shocked his family and early political mentors by registering
as a DEMOCRAT !!! Thus (despite his early upbringing and
teenage activism), since Doug has always been registered
to vote as a Democrat, he considers himself a life-long Democrat
-- with party activism continuing almost 30 years so far! Since
that time he has worked on many political campaigns for Democrats
and has been active in writing, speaking and campaigning in support
of Democratic principles.
Some of Doug's recent involvements include:
San Diego County Central
Committee, 1992 to 2004
California
State Central Committee, 1993 to 1998
Democratic Club of Carlsbad-Oceanside,
1992 to present (member); past positions include Vice-president
of Political Action, Director of Communications and spokesperson
for various media interviews, political panels and other public
events (including public appearances and television/radio interviews)
City of Oceanside, Community Relations Commission, 1995 to 2004 (commissioner). Appointed by city mayor and City Council. Positions include chair of education committee and Vice chair of commission.
National Audubon Society, Buena Vista (Oceanside) chapter. Member of Board of Directors (2002-2007) for 1500+ membership environmental and birding association. An avid birder, Doug frequently leads bird-watching field trips.
Also a member of Palomar (Escondido) chapter.
Environment: In addition to activity with Audubon, Doug drives a 100% electric Nissan LEAF, and lives in a house that includes an extensive array of PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR ELECTRIC PANELS that produce more electricity than what is used, with the excess sent back into the electric grid to help the community become less dependent on buying filthy fossil fuels from terrorists and dictators. Doug is currently actively investigating options for replacing the Hybrid with either a plug-in hybrid or a car that is either fully- or primarily electric powered with range extension from a source not requiring the use of gasoline. (Click here to see a YouTube video demonstrating the photovoltaic solar electric panel's on Doug's house.) Powered by sunshine! Here comes the Sun! Let the sun shine in!
Links of interest to Democrats:
Democratic Club of Carlsbad-Oceanside
San Diego County Central
Committee
California
State Central Committee
Democratic National
Committee
November 2010 California Ballot Proposition Recommendations. Doug's recommendations on Ballot Propositions for the November 2010 election. Propositions are those from North San Diego County, California.
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Dunn