Chris Doss -  Former Guest Speaker at the Leadership Institute

Chris' political work has taken him across the U.S. and to nearly twenty countries where he's met and worked with heads of state and members of parliament. He even took one prime minister home for Thanksgiving; another thanked him for not "losing his soul" while studying at the prime minister’s left-leaning alma mater!

He drafted free-market laws enacted in Virginia and other states, and he’s worked in over a 'gazillion' campaigns since starting in middle school, including local, state, and federal races. He first wrote scripts for radio spots and phone banks in 10th grade. His political interests began when he accompanied his parents to the polls at age four (his age at the time, not his parents’). He hasn't yet gotten it out of his system.

He’s been an adjunct lecturer and presenter at fifty-six college campuses, as well as think tanks and public affairs institutions – in the U.S. and abroad. Chris served as the U.S. representative on the Executive Board of the International Young Democratic Union, the international organization for conservative and free market political parties.

As first Executive Director, Chris managed start-up operations for a policy think-tank. Earlier, he served three governors and worked in state legislatures and Congress. Including work as a lobbyist for advocacy organizations and private businesses, Chris has managed issues as diverse as transportation, the environment, education, economics, and property rights. He has been a national and international spokesperson – dealing with hostile reporters on a range of media outlets. (But ask why Larry King was nice to him!)

Chris did undergraduate studies (BA, Politics) at Wake Forest University and graduate studies (Magister grad nivå, MA equivalent, Communications) at the University of Oslo, Norway. He also studied Public Policy at the George Mason University Graduate School.

He continues to work on campaigns as a consultant with Revolutionary Communications. (Please ‘like’ their FB page.)  He also serves as president of the Middle Resolution, a Virginia PAC, and on the board of the Our America Initiative.  His favorite "hobbies" are teaching effective activism, discussing free market economics and classical liberal (as opposed to modern socialist) politics, teaching history as a tour guide in Old Town Alexandria, and tutoring Norwegian or German. Han snakker heller norsk enn tysk.

The best thing a student or young professional can do, per Chris' advice, is to find a good mentor and to invest time, attention, and intellectual engagement in that mentor. He believes that anyone interested in politics ought to read Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt; The Law, Frederic Bastiat; The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich Hayek; Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman; Animal Farm, George Orwell; Language in Thought and Action, S.I. Hayakawa; Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky; and, of course, The Federalist Papers. (Check the Leadership Institute's "Read to Lead" list for good measure.)

Chris Doss