This may be so because it can seem like a daunting task; we may feel like small and daily sacrifices just don’t cut it.

We may read accounts of men like George Washington suffering through Valley Forge and think that comparatively our daily efforts are insignificant and meaningless.

This isn’t the case at all; in fact, the best way for us to show public virtue is by making a small yet significant effort every day to make the world a better place.

Without each of us living the proper role of citizens, our republic cannot last.

With this in mind, I have compiled a list of 101 ways that contemporary Americans can display public virtue in small, significant, practical, and consistent ways:

1. Vote
2. Pick up garbage in your neighborhood
3. Read to a child/teach a child how to read
4. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
5. Attend a city council meeting
6. Make a meal for a struggling family
7. Donate money to a non-profit organization
8. Get out and stay out of debt
9. Study the Constitution
10. Volunteer at your child’s school
11. Spend more time with your family
12. Forgive someone who has hurt you
13. Develop a better relationship with God and make an effort to be more religious, i.e. attend church regularly, pray, meditate, read sacred works, etc.
14. Teach a free community seminar on something that you’re passionate about
15. Feed a homeless person
16. Teach a work skill to someone struggling in their career or with finding a job
17. Learn how the electoral college works
18. Write a letter to the editor bringing something important to light
19. Join the political campaign of your choice and volunteer your time
20. Take your neighbor’s garbage can to the street on garbage day
21. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity
22. Give anonymous Christmas presents
23. Memorize the Declaration of Independence
24. Memorize the Bill of Rights
25. Run for office
26. Counsel with someone struggling with abortion or an addiction
27. Donate blood and/or plasma
28. Start a community crime watch program
29. Start a local club on financial or constitutional literacy, or anything that contributes to society in a meaningful way
30. Start a book group that reads classics and discusses them at least monthly
31. Join an “Adopt-a-Highway” program
32. Make and keep a goal to eat more nutritious food
33. Make the leap from employee to business owner
34. Make time to call a friend just to tell them that you appreciate them
35. Make a goal to write a gratitude note to one person each day
36. Write a book and donate a percentage of the profits to a non-profit organization
37. Get a college degree, no matter what it takes, and no matter how old you are
38. Urge your family and friends to vote
39. Start a non-profit organization
40. Overcome an addiction
41. Choose a job/career/business that aligns with your passions and life purpose
42. Face and overcome a fear, such as public speaking
43. Read the Federalist Papers
44. Make new friends deliberately and consistently
45. Tell your parents that you love them
46. Tell your children that you love them
47. Give someone a ride that needs it
48. Watch less TV
49. Stand up for someone who is being harmed
50. Write a letter to your senator or congressman to express your views about something important
51. Say you’re sorry to someone you have hurt
52. Start a community organization to help with the problem of pornography
53. Visit people in a convalescent home
54. Learn a new skill
55. Commit to ongoing education, attend seminars, read at least a book a month
56. Babysit for friends so they can go on a date as a couple
57. Forgive a debt
58. Smile and laugh more
59. Do the estate planning that you’ve been putting off, make a will and trust
60. Stop to help someone who is stranded on the freeway
61. Start a garden
62. Put together a one-year supply of food and water
63. Homeschool a child who is struggling in school
64. Make a concerted effort to listen to others better
65. Help someone move
66. Commit to not watch movies, read books, or visit websites that excessively portray violence or sexuality
67. Spend more time in nature
68. Commit to spending at least a half hour every day of quiet, introspective, and reflective time
69. Develop more patience
70. The next time you’e tempted to engage in road rage, even a little bit, don’t
71. Keep the speed limit
72. Study the Federal Reserve (I highly recommend The Creature From Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin)
73. Do a material resources purge: go through your house and find all of the stuff you don’t use anymore and donate it to a thrift store
74. If you’re considering a divorce, try marriage counseling instead
75. Read biographies of great men and women (Recommendations: The Real George Washington, Up From Slavery, And There Was Light)
76. Start an emergency fund by saving 10% of your income
77. If you’re in a job that you hate, quit and find something that you love to do
78. Volunteer to go shopping for someone who is aged or disabled
79. Visit a developing country
80. Plant a tree
81. Start a family blog that brings your immediate and extended families closer together
82. Start a “Citizen’s Journalist” blog: write about one positive thing you observe in your community every day
83. Write down how you would like to be remembered in detail and share it with everyone you know so they can hold you accountable to bringing it to pass
84. Commit to not duplicating or using music or movies that were not purchased legally
85. Write a letter to yourself
86. Keep your word: if you tell anyone you’ll do anything at any time, do it no matter what
87. Post what your grateful for at World Gratitude Journal
88. Remove graffiti in your community
89. Organize a community concert to benefit a cause
90. Organize a local food drive
91. Volunteer to be a Big Brother/Sister
92. Clean up a local cemetery
93. Help out with an Eagle Scout project
94. Organize a neighborhood garage sale and donate the proceeds to charity
95. Get CPR certified
96. Sponsor a scholarship for a child to attend school
97. Adopt a child
98. Do your genealogy
99. Consistently write in a journal to be used for posterity
100. Adopt a senior that has no family nearby. Take them for rides, shopping, and lunch or a special dinner.
101. Help a single mother with home repairs

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Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.

Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.

Connect With Stephen:

Email: spalmer [at] kgaps [dot] com

These are lofty and admirable goals and desires. But what are the potential costs?

Many conservatives point to the actual fiscal costs of accomplishing these goals — it will result in a higher tax burden and therefore a slower economy (because we know it’s all about an “efficient” economy).

Others say that if government gets involved in providing everything for everyone, it takes away self-reliance, which is almost a god to be worshiped by many conservatives.

18th century philosophers and economists argued that because the government receives its power from the people, the government can’t do anything that people can’t do.

Therefore, because an individual cannot forcibly take money from one person and give it to another, the government should not be able to forcibly tax people and give the money as handouts to others.

Liberals say, “But taxes aren’t forcibly taking money; we’ve agreed as a society run things this way.” Just try not paying your taxes and see how much force lies therein.

All of these points have some validity, but none of them are strong enough or philosophically fundamental enough to sway me.

They don’t address the fundamental problem with government-mediated wealth redistribution or provision for all needs from cradle-to-grave.

The fundamental problem has to do with agency and freedom.

“Make Us Your Slaves, But Feed Us”

In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov, the Russian author paints a stark picture of socialism.

In the story, Ivan Karamazov is the intellectual and agnostic (if not atheistic) brother who is talking to his younger brother Alexei (in training in a monastery) about a poem.

Ivan entitled the poem “The Grand Inquisitor.”

The Grand Inquisitor describes an interaction between the Grand Inquisitor during the Spanish Inquisition and Jesus Christ himself.

Christ appears in a small town and performs a miracle, is revered and recognized by the common people, but is also recognized by the Inquisitor who takes Him into custody for questioning.

The rest of the poem is an interrogation and accusation of Christ by the Inquisitor.

Initially the Inquisitor tell Christ that if He comes about now performing miracles, He will take away that freedom of faith that He so powerfully protected while on the earth.

“The freedom of their faith was dearer to Thee than anything else in those days fifteen hundred years ago. Didst Thou not often say then: ‘I will make you free’?…For fifteen centuries we have been wrestling with Thy freedom, but now it is ended and over for good…

“Let me tell Thee that now, today, people are more persuaded than ever that they have perfect freedom, yet they have brought their freedom to us and laid it humbly at our feet. But that has been our doing. Was this what Thou didst? Was this Thy freedom?”

Ivan attacks the idea that only through large institutions of force could mankind be happy; and that they could only be happy by giving away their freedom to a few who could handle that freedom (i.e. the Vanguard of the proleteriat).

Alexei asks “And what’s the meaning of ‘no lack of warnings’”?

Ivan responds, “Why, that’s the chief part of what the old man (the Inquisitor) must say.”

Ivan then describes the situation surrounding the three temptations of Christ by Satan in the desert. He sets it up by stating, through the Inquisitor:

“Judge Thyself who was right — Thou or he (Satan) who questioned Thee then? Remember the first question. Its meaning was this: ‘Thou wouldst go into the world, and are going with empty hands, with some promise of freedom which men in their simplicity and their natural unruliness cannot even understand, which they fear and dread — for nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom.’

“But seest Thou these stones in this parched and barren wilderness? Turn them into bread, and mankind will run after Thee like a flock of sheep, grateful and obedient, though forever trembling, lest Thou withdraw Thy hand and deny them Thy bread…

“But Thou wouldst not deprive man of freedom and didst reject the offer, thinking, what is that freedom worth, if obedience (or political loyalty) is brought by bread alone?

“Dost Thou know that the ages will pass, and humanity will proclaim by the lips of their sages that there is no crime (we are at this point), and therefore no sin; there is only hunger?

“‘Feed men, and then ask of them virtue!’ that’s what they’ll write on the banner, which they will raise against Thee, and with which they will destroy Thy temple.”

The Inquisitor continues:

“In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us: ‘Make us your slaves, but feed us.’

“They will understand at last, that freedom and bread enough for all are inconceivable together. They will be convinced, too, that they can never be free, for they are weak, vicious, worthless and rebellious…

“Choosing ‘bread’ Thou wouldst have satisfied the universal and everlasting craving of humanity — to find someone to worship. So long as man remains free he strives for nothing so incessantly and so painfully as to find someone to worship…

“But Thou didst reject the one infallible banner which was offered Thee to make all men bow down to Thee alone — the banner of earthly bread. And Thou hast rejected it for the sake of freedom and the bread of Heaven.”

Humans will need to choose between freedom and bread — unless we share bread and care for each other independent of government. If we depend on an institution of force for our bread, we will necessarily give up freedom.

Voluntary Charity

So how do we solve the real problems of poverty and inequity and hunger? We cannot give to government the job belonging to individuals, families, and communities.

We must voluntarily care for others and freely follow the teachings of charity that permeate all religions and culture.

If we are compelled to do give to others, not only does government take increasing control of our lives where it doesn’t belong, but we resent our surplus being taken from us and given to others and we lose the opportunity to interact personally and give and the opportunity to comprehend the dire situations that others sometimes face.

When we receive that assistance, that “bread,” from an institution, we lose the personal appreciation and gratitude that should be expressed to those who have given that we might eat.

Also contributing to the problem is the false view of human nature and human capacity. Humans aren’t naturally wicked, just naturally weak.

If we assume that humans are naturally wicked, what follows is a need to use force in order to “make” us be good.

The Inquisitor misunderstood human capacity: it’s not hunger that makes man unable to exert his free will; it is lack of knowledge and submission to surrounding situations.

Widespread real education (not just the job training that occurs in most schools, but learning to think and reason and be moral and virtuous) and recognition that we have free will and power to exert to act and not to be acted upon allow us to maintain our freedom even in the face of hunger, poverty, and oppression.

****************

Mike Wilson received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Brigham Young University and pursued graduate work at the University of California, San Diego, where he earned a M.S. degree in Biomedical Sciences prior to obtaining his M.D. at the UCSD School of Medicine.

He lives in Cedar City, Utah with his wife Jenni and their six children and practices emergency medicine in St. George, Utah while working on a Ph.D. in Constitutional Law at George Wythe University. He is also an Associate Mentor at GWU.

Mike’s passion is promoting idea that the common man has power and capacity to affect grand change in the world through true principles of love, goodness, and virtue. Because of his Jeffersonian trust in the common man, he considers himself a “little d” democrat (an ideal, not a political party).

He’s also the author of Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine their Potential.

He starts his article by taking issue with the term “nonprofit”:

“Even on the basis of the modern understanding of profit, the nonprofit sector suffers from the distinction of being the only sector whose name begins with a negative…It apologizes for itself before it begins. It communicates only what it is against and is silent about what it is for.”

He then asks if there’s a better term, and highlights a few alternate terms currently being used, such as the “third” sector, the “independent” sector, the “voluntary” sector, and the “social” sector.”

Rejecting each of these terms in turn, he then calls on the “nonprofit” to break free from that unfortunate word choice:

“But let us not resign ourselves to this little universe. Let’s embrace truth — embrace our dreams, our real motivations — our souls, even…The word ‘charity’ comes from the Greek ‘charos,’ for grace. It’s tender. It’s beautiful. The word ‘philanthropy’ comes from an equally honest elucidation — the Latin ‘philos’ and ‘anthropos’ for ‘love of humanity.’ Love. Grace. Humanity. Now we’re getting somewhere.

“…What brings us to this work is our humanity.”

Click here to read the full article — it’s assuredly worth your time.

As one who makes a living from words, I’m 100% with him. A strategic word change could help to propel the “nonprofit” sector to a much greater standing, particularly with hard-line “capitalists” who have a visceral aversion to anything non-profit in nature.

In addition, changes to the legal code could help market perception toward the role and viability of non-profit organizations.

For example, the state of Utah has recently adopted a new business entity called a “Low-Profit Limited Liability Company,” or LPLLC, which, as I understand it, is a hybrid between a non-profit and a traditional LLC.

What do you think? Should/could the non-profit sector be more strategic in its marketing efforts? Does it matter? Why or why not?

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Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.

Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.

Connect With Stephen:

Email: spalmer [at] kgaps [dot] com

Alex, skilled and energetic, wants to jump as high as he can and perform tricks.

Libby, unaware of her surroundings, jumps wildly, often upending Avery.

Avery has a good time, yet she’s at risk from her older, heavier, more capable siblings.

Much of the time was spent cautioning Alex and Libby to be careful with Avery. In fact, the experience revolved around catering to Avery, the youngest, weakest, and least capable in our family.

One adult and three kids on a trampoline — a microchosm of society, or at least what it should be. The following are the lessons I identified:

1. Cater to the weakest.

Just as we cared for baby Avery on the trampoline, in the ideal society, individuals voluntarily serve and uplift the weak, the poor, the aged, the disabled.

Competition and cooperation go hand-in-hand; competition increases quality while cooperation ensures peace and stability. Competition should never create ill feeling; cooperation should never create dependency.

The goal of this ideal isn’t to take the strongest down to the level of the weakest; rather it is to uplift the weak to increased capacity, thus raising all of society without creating wide discrepancies in social status and/or wealth distribution.

2. Create outlets for all skill levels and interests.

While the ideal caters to the weakest, it also allows for full expression of every individual, including the most talented and capable.

The disease of socialism is that it tends toward mediocrity, tearing down the able in the name of “helping” the weak.

In the ideal, catering to the weak is never done at the expense of the strong.

In the case of our trampoline experience, we took turns so that each child could do what they wanted and grow on their terms. Alex took a turn alone, doing flips and aerials. Libby did her crazy thing. Then, I held Avery in my arms and we all jumped together.

No desires were sacrificed, Avery was protected and made to enjoy the experience at a higher level than she could alone.

Think of this concept in a public school setting. Inevitably, in a class of 25 or more students, the “slow” learners get left behind, while the “fast” learners quickly become bored. Both the weak and the strong suffer.

Imagine a setting where each individual is allowed to learn and progress on their own terms, at their own speed. Then, having grown, they help others to do the same.

3. Protect rights.

Just as my youngest daughter needed to be protected from physical danger posed by her siblings, the ideal society has a strong institution that protects the rights of every individual.

Keeping individuals safe from harm from others is not the same as giving every individual the same material goods.

4. The ideal is for all of this to happen at the level of family and community.

Politicians and bureaucrats in Washington have no intimate knowledge of, nor a relationship with, the members of our communities.

While families and community members voluntarily serve each other, the federal government relies solely upon force to institute “goodwill.”

Top-down, removed-from-the-source charity always tends toward bureaucracy, wastes money and misemploys resources, and depends upon force as its animating factor.

Ideal charity is animated by voluntary love, is based on intimate relationships, makes the most productive use of resources as possible, and creates independence from dependence, and interdependence from independence.

Conclusion

So who cares? There’s no startling revelation here. What matters is what we do with this knowledge, not what we sit and ponder on.

Be a bridge-builder: Identify where society is, where it should be, then quietly and powerfully insert yourself in the middle.

Find people that need to be served and serve them. Help the unemployed develop skills and find employment. Help addicts find freedom.

Care for your aged parents in your own home instead of sending them to a retirement center. Be active in your community. Be true to your spouse and loving to your children. Teach your children the importance of service, especially through your example.

Remove the need for federal government force by replacing it with family and community-centered voluntary charity.

The next time you’re disgusted with federal government waste, deception, and/or force, turn that disgust into positive action by building your family and community.

The stronger our families and communities, the less involved and smaller the government can be.

And spend some time jumping on a trampoline with your children — there’s no telling what you’ll learn.

*****************************

Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.

Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.

Connect With Stephen:

Email: spalmer [at] kgaps [dot] com

Bill Gates gave the Harvard commencement speech in 2007. Stating that “reducing inequity is the highest human achievement,” Mr. Gates continues by sharing the challenges he and his wife have faced in using their resources to do the most good in the world.

After reading an article about the “millions of children who were dying every year in poor countries from diseases that we had long ago made harmless in this country,” they were shocked to learn that there were interventions that could save lives but weren’t being used.

Mr. Gates says:

“If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: ‘This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving.’

“So we began our work in the same way anyone here would begin it. We asked: ‘How could the world let these children die?’

“The answer is simple, and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments did not subsidize it. So the children died because their mothers and their fathers had no power in the market and no voice in the system.”

He goes on to share his hope that there are solutions. What comes next is the most poignant part of his speech:

“I am optimistic that we can do this, but I talk to skeptics who claim there is no hope. They say: ‘Inequity has been with us since the beginning, and will be with us till the end –- because people just … don’t … care.’ I completely disagree.

“I believe we have more caring than we know what to do with.

“All of us here in this Yard, at one time or another, have seen human tragedies that broke our hearts, and yet we did nothing –- not because we didn’t care, but because we didn’t know what to do. If we had known how to help, we would have acted.

“The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity.

“To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution, and see the impact. But complexity blocks all three steps.” [emphasis added]

This is precisely why social leadership is so desperately needed. It’s the answer to the complexity conundrum.

As millions of “common citizens” begin addressing simple problems they see with passion, dedication and perseverance, slowly but surely enough momentum will be built to inspire real, sustainable and positive change.

No individual can handle complexity alone, but millions can handle tiny parts of the complexity simultaneously.

So stop dreaming of grandiose accomplishments and instead get in the trenches of simple service.

What do you see today that could and should be improved, and what can you do about it?

*****************************

Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership, and the New York Times best-selling co-author of Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the “non-traditional business school” Wizard Academy.

Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.

Connect With Stephen:

Email: spalmer [at] kgaps [dot] com