"We must work from within mainstream Freemasonry to fix it" has been the plea of men such as Chris Hodapp and Edward King, and groups like the Knights of the North, while all along the looting of Masonic funds and real estate continues from within. The latest news from New York is that another Grand officer has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. This is just one in a long and growing list of similar events throughout mainstream Freemasonry.
Just a few years ago two Master Masons under the Grand Lodge of Kentucky were expelled by the Grand Master for questioning the finances at the Kentucky Masonic Home. The Boston Herald reported that up to $1.5 million dollars had been embezzled from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. Multiple Arkansas Masons have been expelled in a purge by the Grand Lodge, after questioning financial and real estate dealings. (This issue is now in court.) The Orlando Sentinel reported financial misconduct at the headquarters of the Shrine in Tampa. Then there was the seizing of a lodge and all its assets in New Jersey reported by Bro. Fred Milliken. This is just a short list of some of the events that have been made public. How much else lies hidden away? How many other Masons have been expelled for asking questions, and then just left without saying a word?
The intelligent Mason might start to ask some reasonable questions at this point. "Are those who tell us to work from within a part of a larger cover-up of corruption?"
I have first hand experience dealing with the corruption. Our lodge was almost the victim of a corrupt real estate scheme by high ranking Masons. It's a very real and damaging problem for American Freemasonry.
If we objectively look at what's taking place in the Craft we see that there are a handful of Internet Masons that rail against those brothers who come forward to report the corruption. They use character assassination and mis-information to derail any meaningful discussion of the problem. We all know who they are but do we know and understand their motives? They claim to be working in the best interest of Masonry, but how is covering up fraud, collusion, extortion, and embezzlement helping preserve Freemasonry? How does silencing the discussion when good brothers are expelled for asking questions about the finances benefit American Freemasonry?
Have we allowed all the good moral men and Masons to be expelled or declared "clandestine" by those who are at the heart of the corruption?
It seems to me that following Ed King, Chris Hodapp and the Knights of the North has only accelerated the corruption. They try to stop us from asking the hard and necessary questions, and openly attack those who do.
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"Well ain't it a shame 'bout our short little memory
We never seem to learn the lessons of history
We keep making the same mistakes - over and over and over and over again
And then we wonder why we're in the shape we're in"
- The Eagles, Long Road Out of Eden
