Maria Schowengerdt's Letter to The Heritage Foundation

On April 3, 2026, artist Maria Schowengerdt (the daughter of 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason Richard Neal Schowengerdt, the trailblazing inventor featured so prominently in my 2015 book, CHAMELEO) sent the following letter to the far right-wing Heritage Foundation...

The Heritage Foundation and MAGA are trying to steal the entire legacy of The United States of America from the Freemasons without any knowledge, respect or understanding that:

1) All the Founding Fathers were Freemasons

2) Ben Franklin, a Freemason, influenced the younger Founding Fathers (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, et al., all Freemasons) to the governmental concepts of Montesquieu, a French lawyer--and a Freemason--who devised the concept of the Separation of Powers (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary)

3) The architect who laid out and designed Washington, D C., Pierre L'Enfant, was a Freemason who designed the city according to SPECIFIC Masonic geometric concepts 

4) George Washington laid the cornerstone of the Capitol Bldg. in 1793 performing a strict, Masonic Ritual wearing full Masonic regalia; the White House and all of the other original government buildings in D.C. had cornerstones laid by Freemasons performing a strict Masonic Ritual

5) The Masonic Brotherhood believes that all men are equal regardless of Race, Creed or Religion and these are the PRIMARY TENETS which The Brotherhood specifically built in to The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution

6) 53 of the 55 men who signed The Declaration of Independence
were Freemasons

There are *countless other examples* of Masonic doctrine and influence related to the founding of The United States of America, but know this: you erroneously believe you are creating a "new" vision of America based supposedly on "traditional American values" but the values you are espousing only go back to the 1950s. 

None of you, Russell Vought included, knows anything about The Founding Fathers or American history otherwise your organization wouldn't say, do, or write and disseminate the erroneous ideas it propounds, and do know this: Donald J. Trump, the 34 times convicted felon and adjudicated rapist, would NEVER be approved to be a Freemason in The Brotherhood--ever.

The Supreme Council 33° is watching everything.

I'd like to offer a special tip of the hat to Maria Schowengerdt for allowing me to post her illuminating missive here. By the way, you can see the ofrenda Maria created for her late father in honor of Dia de los Muertos in this 2022 CryptoPost. If you want to check out Maria's paintings, visit her website by clicking HERE. 

Maria's letter is an appropriate companion piece to my latest EVERGREEN REVIEW article, "One Nation Under G: Celebrating 250 Years of the Revolutionary Spirit," which examines the Masonic roots of the American Experiment (written to commemorate the Semiquincentennial of the United States). If you want to read the article, then simply click HERE.