You may not know this unless you're a stalker, but I actually have a history of influence through my philanthropic work.
I am not a rich guy by any means. Though I admit that since I got involved with blockchain technology, especially now that I'm recruiting, the environment I exist in has become considerably more comfortable.
But even before then, I've been very lucky as far as being able to attract investors, which in the way I see it investors also include employers.
I'm lazy, very, and because I want to take the easiest path through I've become extremely good at solving problems. Not just my own problems, other people's as well...
At some point during my early adulthood, I caught the attention of some...I guess you could call them visionaries, who noticed I was very efficient at pretty much everything but in particular I was good at getting messages across.
I never intended to get into politics, I'm actually super shy and an introvert, I don't like the spotlight, I don't like to have my life examined and judged by outsiders; ya'll can have the fame, I don't want it. But because I don't enjoy praise and can communicate well I stood out as a potential politician, one of the good ones, when I spoke people would listen, and since I had a little money to move around a lot I was very successful in engaging with my fellow countrymen.
I have written extensively about my political work in the past, this post is not about describing what I was for or against, it's not even about all the things I did that might have got me noticed, this post is about one of the things that could happen if you're great at what you do.
Usually, when you attend events that involve some sort of community initiative, tabs are kept on attendance. My email ended up on a list, and then another list, and before I knew it I was getting emails from people and institutions I had never heard of.
One of those emails was an invitation to apply for some sort of youth forum. I was a youth, I had something to share, I didn't know what it was about but they said the event was happening in the country of Panama...and I had never been there before.
So I applied, why not? That "why not?" attitude has got me way closer to anything I could consider success than any formal education program ever did.
It wasn't long after, I got a follow-up email asking a few more questions, and a couple of days later I got the "good news" that I had been selected to participate in the youth forum thing which I still kinda didn't know what it was about to begin with.
Since I got accepted and I was being sent abroad I felt like I should probably figure out what I had gotten myself into...
The Young American Business Trust. I am young, I am American (from the American continent and actually part indigenous), I enjoy conducting business, and perhaps a trust could contribute to the development of my entrepreneurial drive. So far so good, but if one thing I have learned in my time in politics is things shouldn't be accepted at first sight.
More research was needed! Who runs this Trust? Anyone else sponsoring the event? As flattered as I might have been when I learned I was considered a promising youth I am also from a third-world country, and up until that point I didn't feel like my government had helped me in the least. I don't trust easily, much less in an organization selling themselves with the word trust...right at the end too, as if a cliffhanger.
In politics things are said politically, the same thing usually happens in business. I kind of understand why it's done in politics, but in business oftentimes having to read between lines can cost a lot of money.
One of the things that bothered me the most about actively participating in some of those events, because there were many, sometimes I'd go to 2 and 3 meetings per day, was that before anyone ever says a word they (or someone else) give you their whole life story.
There are instances in which learning the context first is necessary to be able to fully understand an important message, but most vital messages can be shared by anyone regardless of preparation or prior achievements and should be understood as truth independently of the messenger. This is how it should be, but this is not how humanity works.
Sadly, for whatever reason, a lot of people have become accustomed to letting their lives be led by others. It can sometimes feel simpler not to have options, not to have choices. And to a certain degree this could be explained as a lack of commitment, a determination not to take on more responsibilities than absolutely needed. I'm not going to lecture you on civic duty, it's no secret that I myself still have some doubts about whether or not citizen participation ultimately improves any situation. But what I am going to tell you is that if there is a chance that the democratic process still can do some good, why not get involved and explore that possibility?
Flying as a diplomat, because if you are a youth visiting a different country while representing your own you are sort of traveling in a diplomatic capacity, was very different than flying as a civilian.
I don't know if they tagged my passport, I do know I got an expedited visa, but I didn't just fly through the air I flew through the whole process. They picked us up at the airport with refreshments and had a large team of people seeing to our safety and comfort from the moment we got through immigration.
Even prior to arriving, they took such care in the experience being smooth that we didn't even have to worry about booking our own flights or hotel.
They drove us to our stay, gave us pocket money, by that time we already had our itineraries, and after we had dropped our bags and taken a look at the luxury of the hotel rooms assigned we were encouraged to go across the street and get to the conference venue to begin the hustle.
The first thing you have to do when you arrive at this politician internship is get clearance. Once you are correctly identified as belonging to that environment, once you have been given the diplomatic shield of being able to prove you're an international delegate, then you can go off to party work.
What do we do? We write policy! We are given the task to help policymakers by providing recommendations based on our personal experience and our previous work with whatever sector of the population we are there representing.
Will they ever even look at our recommendations? I ain't no psychic, that's for you to decide or figure out.
I am not a pessimist either, what I am is an analyst. I see trends and I can easily tell where trends originate. One trend I have seen throughout life is that politics responds to business more than business responds to politics. And businesses respond more to consumers than consumers respond to businesses. Considering all this, aren't we in control after all? And I mean, theoretically, any state administration is supposed to represent us and not the other way around.
Don't tread on me! I might actually get one of those flags now that I know what it represents. I'm all for that. Leave my darn freedom alone. If I'm not hurting anyone don't even call my name, let me be. Gosh, I can't possibly express the allergic reaction I have to any impositions. Obviously, I've never been a fan of politicians, even less after I did political work. When you really get involved you realize there's a conflict of interests in the work of politicians. Perhaps a lot of them want to do good and start out with good intentions, but if they really do fix all the problems then what are they needed for?
Luckily, during this adventure at the Young Americas Forum, they weren't really that strict about anything. They sure fit everything they could into that itinerary, but you don't mess with my personal freedom. So I did the minimum to please the organizers, I went on and I spoke my two cents and made sure it got on paper, I found a couple of like-minded buddies to make true friends with within the convention, and then I was off to do my own thing.
What is my thing? Back then mostly curiosity, these days mostly money...but sustainable money. Generally, in parallel to the youth convention, they also run a sort of youth innovation competition called TIC Americas. My curiosity at the time, my drive to solve problems, pulled me toward those entrepreneurs and their creations. How brilliant some of those kids were! I couldn't begin to tell you. Because even if some of them didn't exactly have a new product, the fact that they were brave enough to present it to the world and get out there is admirable. They dared! They were brave to say I can offer something to humanity, and they got out there and did it.
Part of me knows, I'm intellectually aware, that it makes sense to know what your competitors are up to. I know that some of those kids are there so that big companies can buy their ideas for cheap, or hire them out while they're young and impress easily. It could be seen by some as exploitation, it could also be seen as a vulnerability of capitalism and the free market, but the reality of most of those kids is that they would have likely had to fight a lot more to see their dreams come to fruition by different means. Many of those young adults who attend are well off, but most are dirt poor. Whether or not you think they are that poor as a result of the same people who supposedly want to help them actually screwing them over is irrelevant to the fact of the matter. The fact is that if you are not going to help them then I am glad someone is, for whatever reason, so long as ultimately the person feels like the results were beneficial.
Not at all hidden amongst the kiosks where the TIC innovators were pitching their ideas/inventions, I found who I believe was the real sponsor of this event...it was one of those acronym things, get used to acronyms if you're planning on doing politics, and when I researched the name I remember it had something to do with International Monetary Fund...the banks, of course.
I spoke to the very nice and very beautiful woman seeing to the kiosk visitors, and believe it or not you guys, I actually confronted her. I have been involved with crypto for 11 years and I attended this event 7 years ago for the first time, hopefully I'll be attending again this year in Los Angeles. So I was one of the original Bitcoin evangelists talking to a representative of what I thought was basically The World Bank...you know I had to take a shot, lol.
What I gathered from my interaction with the bank lady was that banks need us, they really do, banks want our validation. And this, I believe, is good news. The lady told me that young people should get more involved with their representatives to encourage cooperation with certain financial entities that can lend a hand. And when I pressed my concerns about the nature of fiat, of course, that subject was avoided in the most diplomatic way possible. I actually learned a lot more about policy-making and diplomacy in that single interaction than I did through the whole process of political socialization with the recommendations committee I was assigned to.
So did Tommy sell out to the overreaching oligarchs that might or might not even be human?
I'd say the most valuable lesson that I relearned at this particular event was that we shouldn't be so quick to judge and act based on assumptions.
Wally Brewster on the left, @tommycordero on the right.
While I was in that building talking to all the entrepreneurs and hustling a few pictures with high-profile individuals that could later be useful, I heard a commotion outside that very soon grew in strength and became one of the most frightening noises I've heard to date.
There was a protest outside and those people were protesting us!
How do I know the same event organizers didn't also organize that protest to create the illusion of sides and to encourage us to take sides? I don't know that, I have no way of knowing that. But what if the protest was real? If their rage was anything like my justice-seeking rage at the time then I was in HUGE trouble.
I mean, you guys, I could have easily been the one out there protesting. What were they protesting? Why were they making so much noise when we kids were in there, in our minds, doing our very best for our countries and the world at large? Is this what the so-called elite experience? Do they have to be afraid of judgment over things they haven't actually done? Do they maybe see sides and take sides because we see sides and take sides? I was shaken by this reflection to say the least.
There was a possibility that such a large number of people could have broken into that building, even though we had the military and police securing it, I know they could have broken in. And if they did that, would they see an ally in me or would they see the enemy?
Things aren't as black and white as they can often seem. We have a big mess on our hands, all of us do, regardless of whether you take personal responsibility for this mess and decide to do something about it...you're still sitting on this pile of crap with all the rest of us.
With this I'm trying to tell you, take whatever opportunity you see for change even if you have doubts your actions will have completely desirable consequences. Take your chances, ask yourself why not? Why can we not find some sort of compromise with those who have a different way of doing things? Is it really true, for example, that cryptocurrency and more traditional financial institutions are entirely incompatible?
That last question right there is what I plan to bring to the private and public interests at that conference if they invite me once again this year. I also think there are a few concerns about excessive energy consumption from certain blockchain deterministic approaches that deserve careful consideration, and perhaps even a willingness to compromise.
If you don't like what I am saying then come to LA and make your case. I promise I'll listen and they too will, at least at that very moment, even if only to reply in the most diplomatic way possible. Any adult younger than 34 years of age who is a citizen of a country with OAS membership can apply regardless of academic achievements. The only requirement is that you have be a real hustler, that's all. So why not? Why not yes?
