Spread Great Ideas: The Podcast

Please welcome Mark Pulliam, an award-winning lawyer, writer, and activist living in East Tennessee. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the L.A. Times, the Federalist, and many other publications. He writes regularly at Misrule of Law and is also a contributing editor at Law and Liberty.

As a "political refugee" from blue Austin, TX, today he's joining me to discuss the ups and downs of building a grassroots conservative movement as a local activist in a supposedly "friendly" area. After all, the part of East Tennessee in which he lives, Blount County, voted by a 71% to 27% margin in 2020 for Donald Trump. Yet in building this grassroots movement which, you'd think, would be welcomed by the political establishment that purports to also be "conservative" he has run into the local version of "The Swamp" - a long-standing good ole boy network filled with RINOs that demonstrates the same clannish behavior which the original Scotch Irish settlers of East Tennessee brought with them.

Is it possible for an "outsider" to inject a sense of urgency into the local populace and wake them from their slumber to defend their values and way of life from local leaders who say one thing and do another? Let's find out.

“One person can't change the political direction of a county... It requires a movement, it requires broad-based community participation... I'm hoping that others will step up and pick up the baton also.” - Mark Pulliam

• The Misrule of Law blog
• The Misrule of Law on X
• Blount Patriot Facebook page
• Law & Liberty Mark Pulliam author profile

James Swanwick is an Australian-American entrepreneur who owns three successful businesses all designed to help people improve their lives, a former ESPN Sportscenter anchor, a fascinating conversationalist, and a well-rounded self-made man with a big heart.

Our chat ran the gamut. We covered relationships, politics (including Trump!), business, philosophy, self-help courses we recommend (and those we don’t), our thoughts on living in California and Bali, the best ways we’ve found for creating accountability, affirming the truth vs. becoming delusional, how to tailor your communication style for men and women, people’s quest for identity in a post-religious world, and what is (and isn’t) your responsibility.

This was a really fun, wide-ranging discussion.

Favorite Quote:

"I’m trying to avoid the pain of mediocrity, which is the most painful thing for me ever...I have an absolute disdain for knowing what I could be and am not."

James’ Links:

• Maximum Life Summit
• Swanwick Sleep
• The 30 Day No Alcohol Challenge
• Project 90
• @jamesswanwick on Instagram
• The James Swanwick Show Podcast

Other Relevant Links:

• Landmark Forum
• Mark Manson | What’s the Point of Self-Improvement Anyway?
• “We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” - Jim Rohn
• Peter Shallard | Commit Action
• Never Eat Alone | Keith Ferrazzi
• Ram Dass
• Tai Lopez
• Tim Ferriss and the 4-Hour Work Week
• Lynne E. Sheridan

P.S. If you liked the show, please leave a review on whichever podcast platform you listened to it on. Positive reviews help others find our work. And if you didn’t like the show, please send an email to podcast@spreadgreatideas.com to let us know why so that we can do better next time. Thanks!

Please welcome Guy Smith, a 25-year gun control policy researcher and the founder of the Gun Facts Project. He's also the author of "Guns and Control", has appeared on Fox News, AlJazeera America, and is a frequent talk radio and podcast guest where he shares his team's learnings from conducting data-based investigations into criminology, public safety, and constitutional law.

The slogan for the Gun Facts Project is “We are neither pro-gun nor anti-gun. We are pro-math and anti-BS.” And Guy personally is not "a member of any organization — not the NRA, not Everytown for Gun Safety, not the Second Amendment Foundation, not the Brady Campaign. Nada. Not even any political party. Someone once bought (him) a membership in the California Rifle and Pistol Association, and (he) immediately demanded to be removed from the membership roster.

Let's hear what Guy has to say.

“What I wish of any person in any field of political thinking is: be rationally skeptical. You don't have to be a denier. You don't have to be a disbeliever, you just have to go: What does the data really tell us?” - Guy Smith

• GunFacts.info
• Guns and Control: A Nonpartisan Guide to Understanding Mass Public Shootings, Gun Accidents, Crime, Public Carry, Suicides, Defensive Use, and More, Guy Smith

Andrei Ivanou, a Belarusian native, and I sit down to learn more about the fascinating, oft-forgotten country of Belarus. Belarus has the dubious honor of being the longest-running European dictatorship thanks to their leader, Alexander Lukashenko, who seized power in 1994 following the power vacuum that was created by the fall of the USSR. A military man, Lukashenko is often referred to as бацька (“dad”) by Belarusians because he oversees everything and dominates the country.

If you’re like me before this episode, you don’t much about Belarus - or even where it’s located. (Hint: It’s sandwiched predominantly between Russia, Poland, and Ukraine on the eastern edge of Europe.) Nor have you given it much thought in terms of what life is like there. Yet for Europeans, it’s often viewed as a bridge between East and West. And for Russia, it’s long been one of its closest allies because it serves as a critical land buffer between Moscow and the EU across the North European Plain.

Andrei and I discuss what’s changed since the fall of the USSR, what it’s like to live in a dictatorship (especially after having lived in the U.S.), what’s being smuggled into and out of the country, how much locals actually make and which surprising job is the best-paid, the sort of economic propaganda put forward by the press, why Belarusian women are known worldwide for their beauty, how to travel there (spoiler alert: It’s not that easy), and more.

Andrei is the CSPO at TechVice, one of the companies which my software company, CallerSmart, works with. If you’d like to learn more about Belarus and get a “boots on the ground” taste of what life is actually like under “daddy” in Europe’s last dictatorship, then this episode is for you.

Andrei’s Links:

• TechVice
• CallerSmart

Other Relevant Links:

• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
• “It’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes.”
• Digital Nomads: The best city you've never been to | Sovereign Man
• Chernobyl: The Wildlife Haven Created When People Left
• In Secretive Belarus, Chernobyl's Impact Is Breathtakingly Grim

P.S. If you liked the show, please leave a review on whichever podcast platform you listened to it on. Positive reviews help others find our work. And if you didn’t like the show, please send an email to podcast@spreadgreatideas.com to let us know why so that we can do better next time. Thanks!

Rodolfo Young spent two years in silent practice. He wasn’t sitting in some ashram somewhere. He was out in the world - and chose not to speak. We talk about what he learned during those two years, why he decided to do this (including the heartbreak that was the catalyst), and how others received him as they spoke to him and he didn’t reply.

In addition, we go into some fascinating mental models such as understanding the ego as an ice block, how an umbrella in the rain is useful for understanding our desire to share what we’ve learned whilst also not imposing ourselves on another, cultivating curiosity, and how true choice carries with it the burden of responsibility (and why that’s actually a good thing).

Rodolfo is ex-U.S. military (he served during the Iraq War doing PsyOps), a TedX speaker, an American expat, a fellow Ubudian, a motivational speaker, and an all-around thoughtful and inspiring guy. His goal is to touch a million hearts. Please have a listen and appreciate someone who has probably gone deeper into his own heart and psyche than most!

Rodolfo’s Links:

• Rodolfo Young TEDxUbud - The Art of Holding Space
• RodolfoYoung.com
• @rodolfo_young on Instagram
• Rodolfo Young on Youtube
• Rodolfo Young Almaflow Experience
• Rodolfo Young’s Books on Amazon

Other Relevant Links:

• Radio Free Europe
• American Sniper
• Vipassana Meditations
• Landmark Forum
• The Magic of Thinking Big
• Tony Robbins NLP
• The Slight Edge

P.S. If you liked the show, please leave a review on whichever podcast platform you listened to it on. Positive reviews help others find our work. And if you didn’t like the show, please send an email to podcast@spreadgreatideas.com to let us know why so that we can do better next time. Thanks!