In the days following the election of 2016, I watched the media panic, wringing their hands vocally in unison claiming ‘this is the end of our democracy’ on every newscast and social commentary. I felt compelled to start a blog to explain to the millions of confused citizens what had happened. I called it The Great Republic, which seemed fitting because the election was a victory for the Republic through the Electoral College. The Great Republic was also the name of a clipper ship from the civil war era, and I fancied myself helping navigate the choppy waters of our newest civil conflict that was breaking apart the nation. The ‘forgotten men and women’ sandwiched between the two coastlines of America had banded together to reject the groomed and pre-selected political candidates put forward by powerful special interests, giving us the illusion of choice. The frustration over corruption and mismanagement of our resources reached a fevered pitch. Hillary Clinton, along with many of the Republican primary candidates, were appointed leaders of the DC establishment. In desperation, citizens looked at Donald Trump as an intelligent, no-nonsense, results-driven man able to accomplish and build things in the real world. They took a chance to elect a political newcomer with a fighting spirit and practical, problem solving skills. The media outcry was in part due to the fact that a significant portion of the population seemed to be learning for the first time that the United States was a Republic and not a straightforward democracy. The realization of this made modern day Americans on the left ready to abandon our system of government because the outcome had not been in their favor. In reality, our system worked as designed and the next four years would strain the nation, putting pressure on the courts and judiciary. The opening line of my blog went something like this….”The outcome of the 2016 election was not the end of Democracy as we know it, but instead, democracy at work with an undesired outcome.’ I wrote a lengthy first post, read it to my mother over the phone and then proceeded to delete my account and blog over the next few days. I deleted the blog because I was immediately gripped with fear for the impact it would potentially have on me, my budding business and my young family with two daughters, aged 2 and 6 months. The global media had dominion over American living rooms at this point and in coming years, those that opposed their message or narrative would be blacklisted from social media and ‘good’ society. The social shame for supporting Trump was already excruciating, which is why the presidential polls were all wildly inaccurate. I lived in Southern California and it was unsafe to freely practice my first amendment right. It wasn’t that I could not physically say what was on my mind and speak for myself. It is important for future generations to understand that the consequences of speaking your own mind and opinion became deadly to your livelihood. Say the wrong thing and your bank closed your accounts, you were fired from your job, people would no longer use your business, your friends could no longer be associated with you. This was how powerful the Democrat’s bullhorn had become. In 2016 these all-powerful media moguls were masters at shaping public opinion and by 2020, they had graduated to becoming guardians of truth and destroyers of ‘misinformation.’ This book is picking up where the blog left off. It is less about current events and more of a personal account of what it was like to experience the fierceness of the information war we have endured in the last decade and what it was like to watch The Greatest Awakening unfold. These are my thoughts and this is my story as I remember it and as I lived through a very difficult time in American history.