In 1982 I met a man who later became my business mentor until he passed away.  He was always controversial, and challenged you to think.   That night he admonished several thousand people to be willing to face the challenges to freedom we might encounter.   I don’t know if the others listened, but his words struck me then, and have haunted me since.

He spoke of a time 30-40 years into the future when we might be living in totalitarianism, and he suggested we envision ourselves sitting in a chair with our grand-daughter on our knee, telling her of a time when we were free, and describing freedom.   The granddaughter needed her grandpa or grandma to tell her, since there was no mention of freedom times in her history books.  The grandparents were the last people who had lived free.  She could not originate a communication to friends or teachers without being spied on by intelligence/information officers, and neighbor citizens, to ascertain if she spoke the “approved thoughts.”  Her parents could not keep the money they earned.   It was taken instead by the state and parceled out, forcing everyone to share equally in poverty.  She could not even think a separate or different thought from the “approved thoughts” because technology had advanced to the point, it almost seemed like one could read her mind.   Her appreciation for art was controlled.  She had an “approved” diet.   She had “approved” exercise.  She lived in “approved housing.” “Alexa” was listening 24 hours a day.  Guilt related to crimes was determined by the state.   And accusation meant guilt.  The result:   a society where people dutifully went to work, organized bar-b-ques, played ball or video games, living what they thought were “normal” lives–all controlled by an all-present “Intelligence” apparatus.

And you, the grandparent, were describing the time of free thought, free speech, rule of law, and freedom to choose careers and life’s work.   You described a big, beautiful, diverse world with many countries and cultures.

When you paused to reflect upon the past you grew up in, your grand-daughter turned to you and asked, “Grandpa, where were you when freedom died?”

At that point my mentor challenged us to wake up, look around at what was happening in America, and to decide whether we were going to sit by drinking beer, watching games, going to church, building businesses, and let it happen because we were uninformed and ignorant, or whether we were going to open our eyes, and see something he saw.

For whatever reason, though mad that he was taking time in a business seminar to address this, I looked where he was looking, and when I did, I saw what he saw.  That changed the course and purpose of my life.

Those of you who have followed my Blogs know that I am the 8th generation descendant of a man who fought with George Washington, and who endured the unspeakable to form this country, and provide a chance for his progeny eight generations into the future.   My mentor had challenged me to look at the legacy I would leave the next generations.

Yesterday, though I was prospering and flourishing in my business and in my life, I chose to watch the Congressional Hearing about the alleged “Whistleblower.” It is a habit I developed years ago. My own dad took me every summer to Washington, DC to watch government in operation.   We would not only visit monuments and museums, we would sit for hours in the gallery listening to great Senators and Congressmen debate and execute the powers vested in them by the Constitution.  We would visit in person our Representative and our Senators, and my dad would tell them what he wanted them to do.  Washington, DC was not called “the Swamp” then. I was a small child, but I learned.

One of the things I learned–which I do to this day–is that I try to watch an actual speech or Congressional Hearing, or read an actual document as compared to excerpts or, worse yet, analyses by news media.   My dad gave me a great gift of freedom: a fine mind, and encouragement to think my own thoughts, and form my own opinions based upon facts, not raw emotion.   I am far from perfect on this, but I try.  I hold this a priority, however, even if I fall short.   And I remind myself that our country was formed by “imperfect” people.

And, yesterday, what I witnessed at first saddened me beyond measure.   It angered me also.   It was not the blatant inflammatory lie and presentation that the Chairman of the Committee opened with.   It was not the partisan carping.   It was not the disrespect for the witness, and for the American people. As the complaint by the whistleblower was read, and discussed, I was easily able to discern that it was written by lawyers–more than one.  Disclaimers, different writing styles.   It was like a lawyer’s brief, and I knew someone was deceiving our Congress, and deceiving us.

What I saw was something far more sinister, something I have written about in fiction for over a decade, and which I prayed I would not see  play out in a live demonstration.  What I saw were spies that have penetrated the White House, Political Campaigns, the Congress, and the Courts.   Actual Intelligence officers deployed to infiltrate the parts of government you and I think–apparently we are delusional–that we control.  After all, don’t we the people elect the President of the United States?   Don’t we the people elect our Congressmen and women, and Senators?  Don’t we the people rely upon the Judicial Branch to keep us safe and free?

It was not the content of the report that was most disturbing to me. It was the fact–apparently unnoticed by anyone–that there were CIA officers deployed into the White House.   They weren’t there to occupy some office near the laundry, playing card games.   No, this bunch was in the Situation Room, transcribing conversations between heads of state.   And worse, leaking those conversations.  Their transcription may be accurate, but the leak was not.   That, my friends, is the essence of Disinformation.  So, the transcript is now confirmed by the two heads of state, and the “whistleblower” charge with the hearsay, leaked material is not.  The Intelligence Community that did this does not care about any of this.   They care about confusion and chaos, and mistrust.   And, boy, did they create that!

Back to my questions about “we the people” and who elects the President of the United States.  I was taught we did.   I, like you, have lived my life honorably, honoring our system.   I had no idea that somewhere along the way–LONG BEFORE DONALD J. TRUMP–another group of non-elected people within the Intelligence and Law Enforcement Community decided we were ignorant, stupid, beneath them and not to be trusted with power.  So, if we get it wrong with our vote, they will set it right, since they “know best.”  They use every criminal method imaginable to frame people, destroy people, create conflict amongst friends, and to blackmail and extort into submission anyone who acts as if freedom is ours.

To them, the only freedom we have is the one they will allow.   Confident that this will culminate in the next 20 years in the disintegration of our union, and the collapse of our culture and American Dream as we know it, they wait–gathering information, or planting false information to knock out anyone who might challenge them. ( In my opinion, that is why the grenade known as Donald Trump is so threatening to them. I doubt he had any idea what he was stepping into.  His plans and agenda, however, directly threaten to undermine theirs.   That’s all.)

We have already lost more freedom than you can imagine.   This has been going on for decades as we enjoy the surface trappings of freedom.   Underneath, the surveillance operation has set traps.

And when Rule of Law breaks down, anarchy ensues.   When anarchy occurs, totalitarianism is embraced as a solution.  I wrote novels to show that our enemies know the only way to take the United States down is to persuade the American people to take it down themselves. These guys are ready.   They are waiting for us to destroy ourselves based upon the false data they planted, the true data they have hidden, and the misinterpretations they have brainwashed us with.   America seems to be right on target for the loss of freedom because we will be too corrupt, and ignorant to govern ourselves.

It was 37 years ago that my mentor Bill Britt painted that haunting picture.   We are, today, now in the time frame he spoke about.  And I believe we should all stop, take a deep breath, look at our “neighbor” and ask ourselves:   Did freedom die? Did we miss it?  And then ask ourselves the follow up question our grandchildren will ask, “Grandpa, where were you when freedom died?”

In the interest of full transparency here, I don’t have children or grandchildren.   But I love yours.  I am grateful the man forced me to “look,” oh so many years ago.   I have been fighting ever since.  Freedom may die.  No government like ours was ever formed before in history, and no democracies have survived more than 200 years or so, if I remember my history correctly.

I am no longer angry at insane, obsessed politicians.   I am no longer angry at a devious, conspiratorial Media.  I have my eyes clearly on the target now–the rogue, elite, Intelligence community that got too big for its britches, and thinks itself superior to all of us.  My third book, “White King and the Battle of America: the Endgame” is playing out for real, right now.   For behind those Intelligence pipsqueaks like former CIA director John Brennan, lies their funding.  In my novel, we win and America survives.   The world survives.  But only because my heroes identify WHO is actually financing, and placing the “spies” in our midst.  WHO intends to run the world.  In my fiction, we win–because of “you the people.”

Freedom does not die on my watch.  For the sake of your children and grandchildren, will you make sure it doesn’t die on yours?

You may ask, what can I do?

I exhort you.   Send this into your newspapers as an Op-Ed Submission.   Send it into the Editorial pages for inclusion.  You have to attribute it to me, but you can send it.   Post it on Facebook.   Forward this on Social Media.   Use your communication lines.  Call into Radio Talk Shows.   Forward it in emails to the top Talk Show hosts’ websites.   Send it to the White House.   Send it to both of your Senators, and Congressperson.   Understand the full meaning of the title of my last book, and know the urgency.