I just finished reading farmer Joel Salatin’s book, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal.

It’s at once humorous and infuriating. Humorous because of Joel’s genuine, down-to-earth writing style that just makes you chuckle throughout. Infuriating because of the jumble of insane bureaucracy he reveals.

Joel can be pretty far out with some of his political views, but that adds to the appeal of the book. Joel defines authentic — he lets it all hang out, doesn’t mince words, and states things plainly.

Whether you agree with him or not, he’s a likable guy whose thoughts should be considered seriously.

Proponents of locavorism, sustainable agriculture, and gardening, such as myself, will devour this book with glee.

But even if you’re not a “foodie,” this is a must-read for anyone dedicated to building a mini-factory.

In The Coming Aristocracy, Oliver DeMille points out that one reason we’ve lost freedom in America is because we have so many employees relative to owners, and employees don’t directly struggle with the loss of freedom on a daily basis.

He writes:

“In our current model of government and corporate dependence, aristocratic institutions, laws and policies encounter only nominal resistance. More to the point, relatively few people are even aware of how burdensome our current regulatory environment is. Employees are largely shielded from red tape. Ironically, they feel its effects indirectly in almost every aspect of their lives, but few make the connection.

“Create a multitude of mini-factory owners and it’s a different story. Suddenly, freedom issues are brought to the forefront as more and more people clash with bureaucracy, and mass consciousness is awakened.”

Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal is the perfect example of this. Unless you’re on the front lines, as is Joel, you don’t know how burdensome our bureaucracies have become.

But a good starting point is to learn from an in-the-trenches farmer like Joel Salatin. Joel caught the attention of Michael Pollan in his New York Times bestseller The Omnivore’s Dilemma when he refused to ship T-Bone steaks to New York. Since then, he’s been featured in a lot of media, including the documentaries “The Future of Food” and “Food, Inc.”

As Joel writes:

“Our farm, Polyface, has been featured in countless publications and media…All this notoriety has vaulted our family farm into the spotlight, the darling of local food advocates around the world…

“What many people do not understand, however, is that at every step on this journey toward success, government officials have unceasingly tried to criminalize us, demonize us, dismiss us, and laugh at us. We have fought, clawed, cried, prayed, argued, and threatened.

“The point is that if it had been up to public servants, Polyface would not exist. And the struggle is not over. Some battles, as you will see, we did not win. Some we refuse to fight. The war goes on…

“Supporters of local, heritage, artisanal, organic, ecological, sustainable, humane, biodynamic food need to know that every day, their food farmer friends receive visits, phone calls, threats, summonses, confiscation, and criminal charges.

“The harassment from government officials would make your hair stand on end. This book is about one such farmer’s lifetime of dealing with these issues.”

If you care about freedom, I urge you to read Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal. It makes theory concrete and will motivate you to stick with the fight.

“If you score 100 points on these guys, I’ll take you out for pizza.”

November 1992. I’m a freshman in a small-town high school in Washington state, a starter on the Junior Varsity basketball team.

We travel to a nearby Indian reservation to play against their high school team.

The gym is old, dark, cramped, dilapidated.

The Indian boys won’t look us in the eye.

A few minutes into the game, the scoreboard displays our double digits compared to their zero.

The first quarter buzzer sounds, we retire to the bench. My teammates are in high spirits, giggling and clowning around.

I am dumb.

Our mustached coach, thrilled, says, “If you score 100 points on these guys, I’ll take you out for pizza.”

Everyone cheers. Almost everyone.

The game continues. Swish after swish on one side of the court, steal after steal on the other.

We pass the 100-point mark minutes before the closing buzzer. More cheers.

I can’t take my eyes off the floor.

I don’t look up — even though I do not score a single point throughout the entire game.

I’m still haunted by the shame seventeen years later.

I continue pondering: Can just society be attained by animals?

ChangeThis published a manifesto by Seth Godin entitled “Brainwashed: Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself.”

Take time to read it now. Once again, Seth has hit the nail on the head.

He echoes the same themes we’ve been proclaiming on the Center for Social Leadership: the mini-factory model transforming industrial, bureaucratic, and top-down business, government and society; Hub Mentality™ giving businesses and individuals more power than ever before; how the Fourth Turning is reshaping everything; conveyor-belt education versus Leadership Education; the fact that you have to be a producer (what Godin calls a “linchpin”) to survive in today’s economy; why you should pursue mission over money.

Click here to download and read the e-book now. Here are a few excerpts:

“And so generations of students turned into generations of cogs — factory workers in search of a sinecure. We were brainwashed into fitting in, and then discovered that the economy wanted people who stood out instead.

When exactly were we brainwashed into believing that the best way to earn a living is to have a job?

I think each one of us needs to start with that.”

“The pillars we grew up with (things like General Motors, TV, the postal service, retirement, top down media and commodities) are disappearing and are being replaced with entirely new ways of interacting, making a living and making a difference. Not just for organizations, but for individuals — people like you.”

“It’s like this: we were brainwashed. Brainwashed into believing a set of rules that aren’t true (any more). And because the brainwashing has been so complete, the shifts in our world and new opportunities they open up are easy to see as ways to shore up yesterday’s faltering system.

Please, don’t fall for that. Don’t use the tools of today to support your effort to do yesterday’s job better. This is an opportunity to completely reinvent your role in the system.”

You’ve seen the “Sound of Music.” You’re familiar with the story of the von Trapp family’s heroic escape from the clutches of Nazism in Austria.

But do you know what happened to them after they left Austria?*

They arrived in the United States in 1938 with no possessions and no money. Singing tours took them back and forth across the U.S. for several years and they gradually saved enough money to settle down.

Of everywhere they had visited, Vermont was their first choice. It reminded them of the land around their native Salzburg.

In the summer of 1943, they scrambled to find a home around Stowe, Vermont, but they couldn’t find anything affordable.

Their train was scheduled to leave the next day. But they were determined to stay until they had found a home.

Maria recalled:

“We set up a small chapel in the broom closet of the inn where we were staying. We prayed around the clock for three days. Each of us — there were eight children, from ages three to twenty-five — prayed for one hour, in rotation. Can you believe it?

“When the morning to leave came, father had gone to get ready for our departure. When he returned, he told us that a local farmer had decided to sell his land and that we were going right up there to look at it. When we got out of the car, we all knew that this was our future home. We bought the property that day.”

That’s a powerful story in itself, but the von Trapp’s then took it a step further.

“When we bought this land,” said Maria, “we blessed it. We dedicated it to serve God.”

That’s the spirit that founded America. It’s a spirit that’s largely been lost in an age of politically-correct multiculturalism. Not only do few people recognize and live it, but those who do are marginalized for speaking of it.

But the connection between freedom and faith in God is historically empirical. Free men and women believe in God. They believe in a Higher Power whom is intimately familiar with their lives, who cares about them and who governs in the affairs of mankind.

Furthermore, they believe in stewardship, not ownership. They understand that all they have is a gift from God to be used in His service.

Find a free society in history and you’ll find people who strive to serve God. They may have differing conceptions of God and different worship practices. But a firm belief in and submission to God is a universal trait of free people.

*Source: Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society by Senge, Scharmer, Jaworski, and Flowers

Mashable recently published a great article listing five YouTube channels providing excellent education for small business owners.

Their list of five includes the following:

1. Harvard Business Publishing
2. Google Business
3. U.S. Small Business Administration
4. Robert Scoble
5. Fast Forward

Not only will you learn applicable knowledge for your business, you may discover some ideas to leverage YouTube in your own business.

Check them out!

I love this commentary by Chris Brady.

This is precisely why I will never affiliate with any political party. Partisanship generally distorts issues and inhibits solutions. Sound-bite media and culture are glaring challenges in the information age.

If we truly want to reclaim freedom at the roots, we need independent-thinking citizens who are educated enough to understand depth and nuance. We need voters and leaders who recognize and incorporate the good of all party platforms while rejecting the bad.

We need integral thinkers who stay attached to the best from the past, while recognizing that the future requires innovation at the level of form.

A few of my favorite insights from Chris:

“The inherent problem with our partisan political process is that the very essence of its structure imbibes a false assumption. We are invited to participate, but in order to do so we have to ‘choose a side.’ Then, having chosen, we are fed the long list of proper beliefs to substantiate why our side is so right and the other is so wrong.

“But what if both sides are complicit in the problem, or perhaps less, what if they are both benign in their abilities to do anything about the real problems? What if neither side is totally right or wrong?”

“What has happened is the American public has been hi-jacked by a glitzy distraction called partisan politics in which blame and guilt are manipulated by the media to keep us split in a neat fifty-fifty feud.”

“I wonder what would happen if we rose above the partisan stage show and united? What if we found common ground on all the things we could agree upon, such as freedom and justice for all, and turned our well-meaning but misguided furor upon the real thieves of the American dream?”

Since the presidency of George Washington, the United States has adopted a two-party political system which ensures that nearly all elected offices are held only by the candidates of the two parties obtaining the highest number of votes.

Defenders of the two-party system cite the political stability that it produces and the inherent filter of extremism that it provides.

However, two problems that are becoming increasingly apparent with the evolution of politics in America are 1) the almost indistinguishable character of the two main parties, and 2) the distortion and redefining of long-held and widely-debated political definitions.

The two current parties vying for power are the Democrats and the Republicans, which also are often loosely categorized as liberals and conservatives.

Historically the two viewpoints arose from the philosophical differences that existed between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.

Hamilton believed in a strong federal government influence over local governments and individuals, while Jefferson believed strongly in individual rights and a limited federal government.

Democrats seemingly reflect the Hamiltonian perspective and push for more governmental intervention economically and for increased social programs such as welfare, universal health care coverage, and affirmative action.

Republicans appear to take Jefferson’s stance and assert individual responsibility and condemn the encroachment of the federal government upon individual liberty.

Catering To the Swing Votes

The U.S. population in the political realm consists of three main groups: liberals, conservatives, and so-called “moderates,” which are also labeled swing voters.

Each political party will always have a definite constituency that can be counted on to vote along party lines, and therefore candidates put relatively little effort into campaigning for the votes of their clearly defined base.

Instead, hopeful candidates spend the bulk of their time and efforts catering to the vacillating swing voters.

The result of this is that previously defined party lines and definitions are now obscured and concealed behind ambivalent rhetoric, propaganda, and proposals designed to entice voters from all sides.

A perfect example of this is President George W. Bush’s $400 billion proposal for prescription-drug benefits for seniors, which has traditionally been a key Democratic issue.

His obvious strategy was to steal the issue from the Democrats in an attempt to entice both swing votes and Democratic votes, knowing full well that even staunch conservatives will still vote to reelect him.

In the current political climate, candidates can use the over-simplified party designation as a simple matter of convenience to further their careers, while hiding disagreeable positions and special-interest affiliations behind the title.

Gunnar Myrdal, a contemporary political economist, stated that,

“Political parties . . . have to take up a fighting position at least at election times when they have to stimulate the lazy and undecided voters to vote, and to vote for them. All politicians . . . have, however, an interest in preserving favorable conditions for the normal day-to-day cooperation and collective bargaining among them all.”

He added that,

“We tend to arrive at a situation where there is a large measure of agreement among all the political parties. They sometimes even compete in propagating new and constantly more sweeping redistributional reforms as levels of income rise.

“In any case, we have seen very few examples, if any, where the coming into power of a more conservative political party has meant a substantial retraction of reforms previously carried through by a party which was further left.”

This general obscuring of issues of principle leaves the voting public with virtually no clear choice and has turned the election process into an arbitrary roll of the dice.

Political candidates no longer have defined principles; only general tendencies and ambiguous slogans, and often voters feel an acute sense of being misrepresented and an attitude of futility toward the election process.

The current prevailing strategy among voters seems to be that of “defensive” voting: they vote for the candidate on their side with the highest poll numbers for fear that by voting for another candidate they will “split” the vote, thereby handing the election to their opponent.

Unless the voting public begins to cast their votes in alignment with their conscience and principles, as opposed to choosing the perceived lesser of two evils, the two parties will continue to merge into one, both in theory and in practice, as they compete for the swing votes.

Voters must choose candidates who espouse explicit and unequivocal visions and whose political views are reflected in their actions.

Illegal immigration poses serious problems for America, on many levels and for many different reasons.

It must be dealt with if we wish to preserve our heritage and culture and “establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, [and] provide for the common defence…”

But to enact long-term solutions we must raise the level, temper the tone, and deepen the wisdom of the current discussion.

We’ve all witnessed or taken part in furious debates about illegal immigration, and undoubtedly received intense mass emails about it. The issue is definitely a turbulent fire raging across America.

My immediate concerns have less to do with illegal immigration as a fact, and more with the virulence surrounding the issue.

It’s imperative that we extinguish the flames of fear and enmity and find solutions initiated by love and kindness, infused with human dignity and respect, and based in justice and principle.

Specifically, there are three destructive tendencies that must be eliminated from the anti-illegal immigration stance in order to raise the level of the debate and find real and lasting solutions.

These are:

1. that much of it is promoted through lies and propaganda
2. it seems to be largely based in fear and distrust
3. many aspects of it are hypocritical.

Until we steer the debate away from these pernicious proclivities, we will never arrive at comprehensive, humane, and long-term solutions.

Lies & Propaganda

I’ve received dozens of anti-illegal immigration mass emails. The more I sort through them, the more disheartened I become because of the blatant falsehoods perpetuated by such thoughtless messages.

For example, one detailed Robin Williams’ “plan” to deal with immigration.

Other than the fact that the proposed “solutions” are unfeasible to say the least, the other slight problem with the email is that it is entirely false.

Other reports, such as former Colorado governor Richard Lamm’s speech on the perils of multiculturalism may be true, yet when forwarded to the masses take on a perverse sensationalism that does little more than stir up hatred and fear.

According to the anonymous author of the forwarded email, after Mr. Lamm’s speech,

“Profound silence followed…A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference…If we don’t get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.”

I wasn’t at the conference, but I’m dismayed by the melodramatic portrayal of its conclusion which is obviously intended to evoke strong emotions, as opposed to initiate thoughtful and rational discussion.

A Foundation of Fear

While there are undoubtedly many opposed to illegal immigration who are not steeped in fear, my observations of the fear driving the debate disturb me.

“We’re losing jobs!” How many of the individuals who make this claim have actually lost their job to an immigrant?

Furthermore, is this how economics really works? The same logic was used to prevent the production of the printing press. In The Reformation, Historian Will Durant wrote that when the printing press was introduced,

“…not all welcomed it. Copyists protested that printing would destroy their means of livelihood; aristocrats opposed it as a mechanical vulgarization, and feared that it would lower the value of their manuscript libraries; statesmen and clergy distrusted it as a possible vehicle of subversive ideas.”

Although it was “disruptive,” the printing press created far more jobs than were lost because of it.

We’ve learned throughout history that often the most disruptive forces are those that create the most innovation and therefore the most benefits to mankind.

What possibilities open up to Americans by having more labor available?

Am I saying that illegal immigrants are not taking jobs from Americans? No.

What I am saying is that the claim that we’re losing jobs seems a rather tenuous reason to “round them up and ship them out.”

Am I saying that there are not real and significant problems to illegal immigration? Of course not.

Yet how wise is it to fashion our solutions in an atmosphere of anger and fear?

As a Whill much wiser than I once said, “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hatred. And hatred leads to the dark side.”

Fear-based “solutions” to illegal immigration will plunge us into a dark side of America that we never would have imagined possible.

(And for further evidence of the fear I speak of, look up every time on the Internet where the deceitful Robin Williams’ plan is posted and read all of the comments beneath each post.)

Hypocrisy

I would do exactly the same thing if I were in their (the illegals) shoes.

Wouldn’t you?

If you were working for pennies a day, suffering from a corrupt and incompetent government, oppressed by thugs and officials alike, and living in filth and abject poverty, would you not seek a better life, no matter what it took?

How can we condemn people as common criminals who are doing the same thing that any one of us would do if we were in their situation?

And this is not even to mention the glaring fact that our nation was founded by immigrants, oppressed in their homeland and seeking refuge in a better land.

Our history tells us that every single American today owes their privileges to brave immigrants willing to suffer unimaginable hardship to eke out a self-determined life in a new land.

Granted, there is a difference in that many of those ancestors I speak of came legally.

My point isn’t that showing disrespect for the rule of law is justified–it’s that we must look at illegal aliens with a more human perspective if we are to truly solve the issue. And this view is enabled when we put ourselves in their shoes.

“But coming to America without proper documentation is illegal! They’re all criminals!”

Yes, and so are those who speed, fudge on their taxes, and drive without a seat belt. Are our daily crimes somehow better and more permissible than those of illegal aliens just because we were privileged to have been born here?

“But illegal immigrants cost taxpayers millions!”

Yes, and so do all of the government entitlement programs and frivolous lawsuits perpetuated by legal citizens.

Why is illegal immigration singled out as the impending crisis?

“They should stay in their own country and make it better!”

Right, with all the power that a poor, uneducated, poverty-ridden person has against insurmountable forces?

Is this really the best we have to offer these individuals, these human beings with every bit as much right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness as we have–a knee-jerk, off-the-cuff, self-righteous comeback?

We can do better. We must do better.

I’m not advocating illegal immigration; I’m advocating humanity, respect, thoughtfulness, and decency. These are human beings we’re talking about, and the issue must be discussed in that context.

Conclusion

While many aspects of the illegal immigration issue do, indeed, pose imminent dangers to America, accompanying and equally destructive dangers are fear, hypocrisy, and deceit.

There are serious problems to be solved. Yet we will never arrive at the right solutions as long as our debate is based on fear and propaganda.

Elevating the level of the debate is the first step toward humane, just, and principled solutions to the problems posed by illegal immigration.

Recommending Reading

Charles Bowden wrote a fascinating piece on illegal immigration in Mother Jones entitled Exodus: Border-Crossers Forge a New America. It definitely made me rethink my views and expanded my understanding of how big the problem really is.

Here’s the bottom line: The easiest, quickest, and best way to build a following on your blog and generate revenue is to cultivate a permission marketing database.

This means a database of individuals who have given you permission to market to them. You provide value, and in return, they give you their personal information, most importantly their name and email address.

Building a database should be one of the primary goals of your website. A database is a ready-built audience that can be leveraged to generate traffic and revenues — regardless of how much new traffic you’re receiving. Without it, you’ll be dependent on the hamster wheel of constantly driving new traffic to your site.

Your alternatives for creating community include people having to come to your site manually to read new content, and RSS subscribers. The problem with people checking in on your site occasionally is easy to see — they’re forgetful. And the problem with relying upon an RSS feed is that relatively few people are web-savvy enough to use one.

So how do you keep people coming around? How do you keep them engaged? How can you capture an audience of recurring visitors, rather than relying on driving more traffic?

You build a database of information from people who give you permission to stay connected with them.

How To Build a Database

Step #1: Purchase Email Marketing Software

The first thing you need is software. You can either use comprehensive Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, such as InfusionSoft, or basic email marketing software, such as AWeber.

For 99% of bloggers, AWeber gives you everything you need including database management, email marketing with an industry-leading deliverability rate, auto-responders, and website forms.

So start by signing up with AWeber.

Step #2: Create a Free Giveaway

You must give people a reason to give you their personal information, and this takes the form of a free giveaway. These can include e-books, newsletters, white papers, videos, podcasts — any type of e-product that can be delivered automatically over the Internet.

Make your free giveaway(s) substantial. Create genuine value for for your customers.

Step #3: Create Delivery Systems

Using your email marketing software, create web forms for people to sign up to receive your giveaway. Once created, it will generate code, which you copy and paste into your website template. Next, create an auto-responder that delivers your giveaway once people request it.

AWeber has excellent instructions on how to do all of this.

Step #4: Display Your Offer Prominently & Market

Include a direct call to action on your home page inviting people to download your giveaway. Sprinkle calls to action and sign-up forms throughout your site so that visitors can’t miss it — but do this as unobtrusively as possible (depending on your niche). In every place that a sign-up form is displayed, assure them that their personal information is safe with you.

Then, market the heck out of your blog using the strategies and tips I provide in chapter five of The Beginning Blogger’s Bible.

How To Manage Your Database

Warning: Your database is like the proverbial Golden Goose. When managed properly, your database will produce golden eggs interminably. But you’ll kill the goose if you break the following rules:

Rule #1: Never, Ever Share Personal Information

Don’t even think about it. To do so is to compromise your relationship with your subscribers. It’s wrong and stupid. It may bring you short-term gains, but it will erode long-term profitability.

Trust is money — sharing personal information from your database is like flushing money down the toilet. When your customers subscribed, they gave you and you alone permission to market to them.

Rule #2: 75/25

75% of your contact with your database should be designed to create free value for them. Give them tips, insights, and resources without trying to sell them anything. Limit your direct product offers to 25% of your contact with your subscribers.

Rule #3: Strike the Right Contact Balance

Every niche is different, but you must be very careful with the number of times you contact your database — too few contacts and they’ll grow cold, too many and they’ll get turned off and unsubscribe.

Rule #4: No Carry Over

If you start one thing and get a list of subscribers, then start another, unrelated project, don’t carry over your previous subscribers to the new project. You can tell your existing subscribers about what you’re up to, but don’t automatically place them into your new database.

Each project needs its own list of people who have subscribed specifically to that project. Someone who signed up for your health newsletter isn’t an automatic candidate for your e-book on dog training. Build separate databases for each online project.

Ready to create wealth? Look past the gold of profits to cultivate the golden goose of a permission marketing database.

“It is a part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate, to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.” – Thomas Jefferson

No matter how overwhelming our problems may seem, common Americans can make a profound difference.

Here are the top ten most important things that American citizens can do to reverse our decline.

10. Read at least one classic a month.

According to George Wythe University,

“Classics are original works of depth and substance…that engage the student in the great questions of life. Works that have wide application and scope, they offer valuable ideas to a variety of cultures and times, and can be applied to nations as well as communities, families and individuals. These timeless works change us and ask the hard questions that cut to the core of human nature and human institutions.”

Study the nature and anatomy of freedom through classics. Learn what it takes to preserve and promote freedom for yourself and your posterity.

9. Discuss the classics you read with groups of your peers on a regular basis.

Similar groups were formed long before the American Revolution erupted, and they had an integral role in shaping the views and direction of the entire populace. As Margaret Mead said,

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

8. Keep entertainment in proper perspective.

We’re flooded with an infinite variety of ways to divert us from our highest potential and purpose. When entertainment becomes excessive, it prevents us from living the ideals necessary to sustain freedom.

7. Raise a family worth emulating.

Love and serve your family. Be true to your spouse, be kind and inspiring to and patient with your children. Take responsibility for the education of your children.

Build America from the inside out with the solid bricks of family values and relationships.

6. Forgive those who have wronged you. Replace anger and fear with love and peace.

World peace will never be achieved until individuals become conscious of their own contribution to or detraction from that goal.

5. Be a person of integrity.

Keep your word, no matter how difficult, no matter how tempting it may be to follow the crowd and become casual. Do what you say you will do. Live what you say you believe.

4. Be vigilant about how you spend your private time.

As I have written elsewhere,

“The ultimate measure of a person’s integrity is how they act when they are absolutely alone, and what they do when no one else will ever know. It is the quiet moments spent in solitude that determine if you are true to what you say you believe in.”

3. Become a constitutional scholar.

Know the Constitution backward and forward. Study its foundations. Study the works that its creators read.

Learn what habeas corpus, bills of attainder, and ex post facto laws are. Learn what the different branches of government are authorized to do, and prohibited from doing. Know the intended balance between the States and the Federal Government.

2. Live your mission.

Discover, develop, and utilize your natural gifts and abilities — or Soul Purpose. Do what you were born to do, even if it takes quitting your current job. Live the spirit of providence in your life.

In the words of Steve Farber,

“Do what you love in the service of those who love what you do.”

1. Become “One Who Goes Before.”

Becoming Those Who Go Before means that everything we do is designed to lighten the burden of those who follow us. It’s leaving things better than how we found them.

The Renaissance depends on you.