Freedom's Guardians

Freedom's Guardians relays author Richard (Rick) Van Wickler's lifetime of experience on what it means to be free and the kind of dogged intention it takes to actually secure this liberty. After releasing himself from his blue-collar origins and biases, early addiction, religion, and a propensity for aggression, Rick served his country in the US Army and was a county jail warden and an aggressive behavior management trainer and consultant. All of these experiences taught him a great deal about what it means to be free.

Rick sees our nation in tatters, like the flag on the ground that requires urgent action, and believes that this starts with freeing ourselves from confusion and ignorance to seeing our circumstances exactly the way they are. In these pages, he argues that we must resolve to work for our shared purpose beyond our disagreements to build back our civility, one independent thinker at a time. Further, he posits that we need to free ourselves from false narratives that threaten our nation's sovereignty more than nuclear bombs.

The premise of Freedom's Guardians is Rick's oath to defend our country, a commitment he intends to honor to his last dying breath. Each chapter describes what we need freedom from and exactly how we achieve that. His hope and intention is to engage critical, unbiased thinking and to inspire people to take action.