159. “It is perfectly natural for the human mind to seek to escape from its troubles by running away from present environments or by planning some change on the material plane”: Ibid., 12.
160. “You need take no part in the outer demonstration of relief from conditions”: Ibid.
161. “Inharmony cannot remain in any home where even one member daily practices [an] hour of the presence of God”: Ibid., 10.
162. “Unfortunately, my faith kept me in the relationship too long”: Osmundson, interview, July 13, 2015.
163. “I don’t know if it’s possible”: Osmundson, interview, July 13, 2015.
Going Diamond
1. Some call it a pyramid scheme: O’Donnell, “Multilevel Marketing or ‘Pyramid?’ Sales People Find It Hard to Earn Much.”
2. claimed transglobal sales of $9.5 billion: Martinez, “Amway’s 2015 Revenues Fall to Lowest Level in 5 Years.”
3. a second year of decline for Alticor, whose sales in 2014 totaled $10.8 billion: Coffey and de Jong, “Amway Billionaires Debut After Bad Year for Direct Seller.”
4. It is the biggest direct-selling company in the world: Coffey and de Jong, “Amway Billionaires Debut After Bad Year for Direct Seller.”
5. “selling” Amway products: Roth, “Dreams Incorporated.”
6. who then distribute Amway products to other distributors they sign up: Amway, Business Reference Guide.
7. multimillion-dollar lawsuits and other legal actions on almost every continent: Wikipedia, s.v. “Amway.”
8. After all, less than 1 percent of Amway distributors go Diamond: Amway, Business Reference Guide; Pyramid Scheme Alert, “Study of Ten Major MLMs and Amway/Quixtar.”
9. all yards are maintained by the Bayou Club’s landscapers: Realtor 1, interview, July 16, 2015.
10. when they commissioned him to write the first “official” history of the Amway Corporation: Cross, Choices with Clout, xi.
11. change negative self-talk into positive self-talk: Cross, Amway, 46.
12. if they can’t train them to be positive: Ibid., 100–102.
13. a central reason why Amway is so successful: Ibid., 99–103.
14. “a skill that has to be learned, practiced, and put into action”: Ibid., 99.
15. “practice the art . . . on a daily basis”: Ibid.
16. “Most people think the kitchen needs updating”: Realtor 1, interview, July 16, 2015.
17. Rich was fourteen: DeVos, Simply Rich, 31.
18. He was walking two miles through the snow to his high school: Ibid., 27.
19. “already being an enterprising type, I had an idea”: Ibid., 28.
20. “I thought a ride in this car would surely beat the bus, a streetcar, or walking”: Ibid.
21. running a pilot school: Ibid., 50.
22. comedy-of-errors trip on a sailboat: Ibid., 58–69.
23. for which Jay’s second cousin and his parents are already distributors: Ibid., 74.
24. “Until then, there had been no official government position on what type of claims could be made about dietary supplements”: Ibid., 85.
25. let nothing stand in your way, then success is guaranteed: Cross, Amway, 45.
26. Rich DeVos calls “Compassionate Capitalism”: DeVos, Compassionate Capitalism.
27. Amway’s first original product: DeVos, Simply Rich, 97.
28. investigation of Amway, by the Federal Trade Commission in 1975: Ibid., 126.
29. “misunderstanding of business principles and an attack on free enterprise”: Ibid., 131.
30. challenges free enterprise, and thus freedom itself: Cross, Amway, 94–99.
31. “I wish they would take responsibility for their own actions instead of trying to blame the business”: DeVos, Simply Rich, 130.
32. they lack faith in their ability to succeed, and thus the necessary determination: Cross, Amway, 86–87.
33. millions worldwide: DeVos, Simply Rich, 153–154.
34. YouTube video uploaded in 2011: “Amway Function,” YouTube video.
35. “All it took was the willingness to work hard to achieve a dream”: DeVos, Simply Rich, 87.
36. “This is Renata, my assistant”: Realtor 2, interview, August 8, 2015.
37. “This would make a good nursery”: Ibid.
38. “Listen to Alcimon and Marie-Chantale Colas”: Cross, Amway, 6.
39. “Listen to Sevgi Corapci”: Ibid., 3.
40. “I was a salaried man working in a company for eight years”: Ibid.
41. “they noticed I became more optimistic and more healthy”: Ibid.
42. Listen to Rosemarie and Otto Steiner-Lang: Ibid.
43. beating boredom and passivity, spending more time with family, and earning the admiration of others: Ibid., 5.
44. A housewife can do it: Ibid.
45. The physically enfeebled can do it: Ibid., 36.
46. pioneering move onto the World Wide Web: Ibid., 69–81.
47. “Amway Distributor Profile”: Ibid., 172–192.
48. “Bootstraps Philosophy”: Ibid., 13–33.
49. Amway’s foreign expansion strategy: Ibid., 135–153.
50. “sell products and keep on generating volume”: Ibid., 181.
51. Not in retail stores: Amway, Business Reference Guide, D-13–D-14.
52. Amway distributors can only sell their products directly to the public, or to other Amway distributors: Ibid., D-4.
53. in blind tests, Amway products often score poorly: O’Donnell, “Multilevel Marketing or ‘Pyramid?’”
54. “putting free enterprise in the hands of the common man and woman”: Cross, Amway, 8.
55. making any sacrifices necessary: Ibid., 113–115.
56. Amway was bigger than making money; it was a way to overhaul your lifestyle and live your dreams: Ibid., 121.
57. Yager, who didn’t let a stroke stop him: “Yager, Dexter & Birdie,” Unofficial Amway Wiki.
58. even as he was learning to walk and speak again: Cross, Amway 121–122.
59. “just performance”: Ibid., 108–110.
60. “Tastewise, it may not be your taste”: Realtor 3, interview, August 8, 2015.
61. “Money—and what it can buy—is the universally recognizable indicator of success”: Cross, Amway, 79.
62. Negativity causes failure: Cross, Amway, 91.
63. Cross spent the ten years after writing Commitment to Excellence researching the two men: Cross, Choices with Clout, xi.
64. “Are you ready now?”: Cross, Amway, 101–102.
65. yourself, family, community, free enterprise, America, and faith itself: Ibid., 86.
66. it doesn’t endorse a single religion: DeVos, Simply Rich, 217–218.
67. people of all races, political affiliations, and creeds succeeding in Amway: Ibid.
68. recruiting more distributors: Cross, Amway, 87.
69. persisting in The Business through every hardship: Ibid., 111–112.
70. Free enterprise is a blessing from God: DeVos, Simply Rich, 217.
71. In 2016, Forbes estimated Rich DeVos’s net worth to be $4.8 billion: “The World’s Billionaires,” Forbes.
73. $1 million renovation: “Welcome to The Bayou Club,” Bayou Club.
74. new roof: Dale, interview, July 16, 2015.
75. “even among the ultradwarf cultivars, there is no other grass capable of producing the incredible ball roll of a well-maintained Champion green”: “Champion: The Ultimate Bermudagrass Putting Surface,” Champion Turf Farms.
76. He tells us the club no longer has an initiation fee: Dale, interview, July 16, 2015.
77. lifetime charity donations of $1.2 billion: “America’s 50 Top Givers,” Forbes.
78. Most of that money has stayed in West Michigan: Martinez, “$1.2 Billion in Donations Puts DeVos Family in Forbes Top Philanthropy List.”
79. have bequeathed
a considerable portion of Grand Rapids: DeVos, Simply Rich, 221–231.
80. often credited for catalyzing the revitalization of downtown: Helderop, “Detroit Can Learn a Thing or Two from Grand Rapids.”
81. Much of it went to public schools and Grand Rapids–based hospitals, arts programs, and faith-based organizations providing services to the homeless: Martinez, “How and Why the DeVos Family Gives Away Billions.”
82. That same year over $4 million of DeVos money went to Hope College: “Where DeVos Family Donates Millions,” Mlive.com.
83. Reformed Church in America—in which Rich DeVos was raised: DeVos, Simply Rich, 213–214.
84. while $2.2 million went to Calvin College, associated with the Christian Reformed Church in North America: “Where DeVos Family Donates Millions,” Mlive.com.
85. 13 percent went to churches and faith-based organizations: Martinez, “How and Why the DeVos Family Gives Away Billions.”
86. $1.05 million to the Chicago-based Willow Creek Community: Where DeVos Family Donates Millions,” Mlive.com.
87. “The Christian church and Christian education are high on our list of giving”: DeVos, Simply Rich, 278.
88. “My giving it puts the money in better hands than the government’s”: Ibid.
89. Donors who meet at The Gathering dispense upwards of $1 billion a year in grants: Michaelson, “The $1-Billion-a-Year Right-Wing Conspiracy You Haven’t Heard Of.”
90. earning comparisons to the Kochs: Kroll, “Meet the New Kochs.”
91. candidates like Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum: Bennett, “The Ultra-Rich, Ultra-Conservative DeVos Family.”
92. Jeb Bush: Reens, “DeVos Family Goes All-In on Marco Rubio GOP Presidential Race.”
93. Scott Walker: Willis, “To Understand Scott Walker’s Strengths, Look at His Donors.”
94. Marco Rubio: Reens, “DeVos Family Goes All-In on Marco Rubio GOP Presidential Race.”
95. ultraconservative organizations like Focus on the Family: Bennett, “The Ultra-Rich, Ultra-Conservative DeVos Family.”
96. and the Family Research Council: Kroll, “Meet the New Kochs.”
97. Alliance Defending Freedom: Martinez, “How and Why the DeVos Family Gives Away Billions.”
98. the right’s preeminent legal defense fund: Michaelson, “The $1-Billion-a-Year Right-Wing Conspiracy You Haven’t Heard Of.”
99. the Heritage Foundation: “Where DeVos Family Donates Millions,” Mlive.com.
100. DeVos family donations accounted for over half of those made to the Michigan Republican Party: “DeVos Family Responsible for HALF of Campaign Contributions to Michigan House Republicans in Last Quarter of 2015,” Eclectablog.
101. made an unsuccessful run for Michigan governor in 2006: Bennett, “The Ultra-Rich, Ultra-Conservative DeVos Family.”
102. and now chairs the board of directors of the American Federation for Children: “About,” Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.
103. appointed DeVos as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee: DeVos, Simply Rich, 237–238.
104. “which is a pretty solid Christian principle”: Crawford, “What About NBA’s Homophobic Owner?”
105. “We also thought the ads might further help Amway distributors recognize the importance of free enterprise to their success”: DeVos, Simply Rich, 238.
106. Dexter Yager used Amway’s extensive voice mail system: Burstein and Lauerman, “She Did It Amway.”
107. “strong conservative”: Bradsher, “And One Who Tries to Work Things Out.”
108. Republican “infomercials” airing on televangelist Pat Robertson’s Family Channel: Burstein and Lauerman, “She Did It Amway.”
109. “Master Dream Builder”: Cross, Amway, 92.
111. “Yager System,” one of the first and most profitable motivational “tools” businesses run by Amway distributors: Kneale and Lambert, “Climb to the Top.”
112. the Yager Group is still today an Amway-approved training provider: “Amway Approved Provider—Yager Group,” Amway.
113. “Admirers speak of him with reverence, as if his next plateau of Amway achievement were sainthood itself”: Morrill and Stancill, “Amway the Yager Way.”
114. “We’re a longer course”: Dale, interview, July 16, 2015.
115. My parents more or less broke even in Amway: E. Gerard, interview, May 12, 2016.
116. She believed it was a cult: P. Gerard, interview, May 8, 2016.
117. “She wasn’t going to leave me”: E. Gerard, interview, May 12, 2016.
118. part of my parents’ strategy for “showing The Plan” was that they didn’t even tell people it was Amway: Ibid.
119. There’s an equestrian center, tennis courts, a concierge, and a gun club: “Windsor Fact Sheet,” Windsor.
120. the DeVoses, who own three houses here and spend eight weeks a year or more on the waterfront: Abkowitz, “A Resort With Less Glitz and No Kitsch.”
121. “Windsor is so different from the rest of Florida”: Ibid.
122. In 2010, Amway reached a settlement reportedly valued at $100 million in a California class action lawsuit: Grand Rapids Press Staff, “Lawyers Say Their $20 Million Payment Is Fair.”
123. more than doubling the number of professional trainers, such as the Yagers, across the country: Knape, “Amway Agrees to Pay $56 Million, Settle Case Alleging It Operates as a ‘Pyramid Scheme.’”
124. the CEO of Amway India was arrested for fraud: Stroud, “The Indian Express.”
125. the biggest Amway distributorship in the world: Berman, “Inside the Amway Sales Machine.”
126. Amway business owners make closer to $200 a month: Reynolds, “Amway’s Claims Are Malarkey, Distributors Say.”
The Mayor of Williams Park
1. “an imperfect church of imperfect people inviting other imperfect people to find the perfect love”: “What Is the Missio Dei?” Missio Dei.
2. “I identify as the hands and feet of Christ”: Rolle, interview, November 3, 2015.
3. In 2015, the state of Florida was home to an estimated 35,900 homeless people: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD 2015 Continuum of Care, 1.
4. It had the second-highest number of unsheltered homeless: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2015 AHAR: Part 1—PIT Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S.
5. It had the highest number of homeless veterans: Ibid.
6. 6,853 homeless people; 40 percent of them are children: Santa Lucia, Pinellas County Point in Time Homeless Report: 2015, 4.
7. Homeless Leadership Board: “Mission Statement,” Pinellas County Homeless Leadership Board.
8. “I wrote about it in my book”: Rolle, interview, November 3, 2015.
9. “Most of the people on the bottom aren’t intellectuals”: Rolle, interview, January 24, 2016.
10. St. Petersburg passed an ordinance banning the roadside sale of newspapers: Van Sickler, “St. Petersburg City Council Passes Street Solicitation Ban.”
11. Instead, G.W. spent a night in Los Angeles County jail: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept., Inmate Information Center, booking no. 4479724.
12. Convention Against Torture: National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading, 5.
13. lack of shelter space: Ibid., 11.
14. available services for families in crisis: Ibid., 12–14.
15. lack of affordable housing: Ibid., 7.
16. disproportionate representation of nonwhite and disabled people within the U.S. housing-unstable population: Ibid., 15–16.
17. local ordinances, such as those against panhandling and sleeping outside, which target unhoused people: Ibid., 6.
18. sharply on the rise since 2009: National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, No Safe Place.
19. this topic has been circulating throug
h the national conversation since 1999: Foscarinis, Cunningham-Bowers, and Brown, “Out of Sight—Out of Mind?”