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February 17, 2025 • 31 mins
Author Don Wilkie joined VERONICA LIVE to discuss his new book Freedom Revealed A Simple Elegant Experience. Hear what Wilkie shares on why Freedom is not a given and how
we must work to keep it. His unique book provides the blue print we need.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Vernica Live. And I'm here with an author
of a really interesting book. His name is Don Wilkie.
The book is called Freedom Revealed, a simple, elegant system.
So welcome to Veronica Live.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Don, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
And you said this is your first interview. So I'm
so excited. I thought, you know, reviewing the book, I
think it's great, and you you know, this is going
to be such a good interview because there's so much
to talk about here. And to start out with, what
is your background and why did you start writing a
book on freedom?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Well, I am a businessman Detroit area in the conveyor
business and automotive supplier, and several several years ago, I
realized that the government was my biggest competitor, and I said,
you know that that's not right, And so I asked
myself the question what is freedom? And that led me

(01:06):
on a twenty year journey. Freedom Revealed is the end
result of that journey. And what I discovered is that
freedom is not a philosophical concept. It is a mechanical system.
And if we look at it as a mechanical system,
all of a sudden everything becomes clear.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, I guess what was so interesting when you talk
about the mechanical system. I wanted to ask you because
on the cover of your book, which can be found
on Amazon, Freedom revealed you have a lock on the cover.
So I guess we're unlocking freedom, is what you're telling us.
And why is that that it's you know, mechanical, because

(01:51):
that most of us don't see it that way.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, uh, Freedom. I like to say, Freedom's been hiding
in plain sight for the last two hundred and fifty years,
and you know, perhaps give me just a second here,
I'll give you what actually got me to start thinking
of it as a mechanical system, and that is thinking
about nature. Nature, of course is mechanical. Nature of course

(02:18):
is science, and man's journey on Earth has been unlocking
the secrets of nature. So I said, how does nature work?

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Now?

Speaker 2 (02:27):
That sounds like a really daunting task because nature is
very complicated, all sorts of critters and creatures and plants
and animals. But Richard Feiman, the great scientist, led me
and he said nature has no business being as simple
as it is. So I looked for the simplicity of nature.

(02:49):
And I've heard the saying, you've heard the saying. There
is no waste in nature. Well, if there is no
waste in nature, what is it that drives waste out?
And the simple answer is, of course, competition drives waste out.
So if you compete, you're driving waste out. And this

(03:11):
is kind of what we've forgotten or missed for all
these years, is that competition and waste are connected. They're
like opposite ends of a seesaw. So if you can
picture a seesaw, put competition on one side and waste
on the other. And as competition goes up, waste goes down.
And as competition goes down, waste goes up. So those

(03:34):
were two of the foundations of nature I found. And
the other simple foundation, the third one is everything moves
to ease. So the best way to picture this is
that sign you see in all the national parks, do
not feed the animals. If you feed the animals, they'll
stop feeding themselves. So everything in nature moves to ease.

(03:57):
Now I'm not saying it's easy, which some people will confuse.
I'm saying we take the path of least resistance, the
easiest path, And that was what got me started. Where
I continued from there is what differentiates humankind from the

(04:17):
rest of all animals. Well, we have two great systems,
and the two great systems are the marketplace and government.
So I use those principles from nature, the foundations from nature,
and apply to the marketplace. And what do we find
about the marketplace. It's a competitive system. Just like nature.

(04:38):
People eliminate waste continually, and everybody within the marketplace always
moves to ease A couple simple examples. We're running errands
on Saturday. You don't say, hey, let's do this the
hardest way possible. You sit and think, what is the
easiest way. I'll go to A to B, two C
make it easier. It's easier that way. Simple example. Every

(05:02):
business that's in existence is in existence because it's making
someone's life easier. In other words, we won't buy anything
if it makes our life more difficult. That's just so obvious.
It's kind of painful. When you take those same principles
now and apply them to government, what you find is

(05:25):
that government is singular. So because it's singular, there is
no competition. And because there is no competition in government,
it has to waste. There's no mechanism to drive on
this so.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
True, which we are going to get into the government
with Doja Trump. But before we get into it, you
write that your I guess that you wrote the book.
Your gurus were Benjamin Franklin and Richard is it? How
do I say his name? Fine? Men? And I love
Ben Franklin because my favorite favorite quote that I always say,

(06:01):
if you want something done, ask a busy person, because
people are continually coming to me to get things done.
And then I was like, well, who's this Richard Feineman?
And I saw that he was like the daddy of
physics practically, so so talk about Ben Franklin, who you know,
lightning electricity. We loved him. And then and then this

(06:23):
Richard Feynman, which now I'm so educated, is you know,
mister physics himself. So why are these your gurus when
it comes to writing a book about freedom.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Well both were great scientists and both were great mechanics.
What people have to understand is that science is nothing
more than mechanics. Science is how do things work? And
both Franklin and Fineman asked that question continually. They said,
how do things work? Franklin? We don't understand Franklin's discovery

(06:56):
of electricity the way we should. He said, I've got electricity,
I've got sparks. It turns blue, it gives off an odor,
and he says, gosh, you know, lightning works the same way.
So he had to make a test to determine if
electricity and lightning were the same thing. Now, it's hard

(07:18):
to go back to Franklin's time, but at that time,
lightning was God's method of revenge and vengeance. It was fearful.
Everybody was terrified of lightning. And here here comes Franklin.
He discovers its electricity. He makes a lightning rod, and
he conducts lightning from the heaven like a piece of cake.

(07:40):
No problem. The people were the people were astounded. I mean,
they just couldn't believe it.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
And so your other guru, you know, tell me about him.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Well, Fimon had a wonderful sense of humor. And Fireman
also for the absolute simplest way of looking at things.
And he said, if you can explain it to a
twelve year old, you don't know what you're talking about.
And just for your listeners, a real simple explanation of

(08:17):
Fiman is Einstein was to the first half of the
twenty twentieth century as Fyman was to the second half
of the twentieth century. He was just that important. But
the bottom line actually Einstein too. All great scientists, they
get to the absolute fundamental, simplest way of explaining something

(08:37):
that they can And that's what I've accomplished, and freedom revealed.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
Well, and you say that freedom is the backbone of
the United States, you know, and people fight so hard
for freedom, you know. I know so many people that
have fled Cuba, My father in law fled Communism and Hungary,
and like they understand what freedom is. Why do most Americans,

(09:02):
even though freedom is the backbone of our country, why
do we take it for granted?

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Don Well, that is a good question, and I think
it's simply that they've never taken the time to learn
the foundations. And like I say, the foundations are competition, waste,
and ease. It's a mechanical system. And when you put

(09:28):
those concepts together with the marketplace in government, everything all
of a sudden makes sense. Now you're mentioning your relatives
and friends who left communists or dictatorial systems, Yes, well,
you will find universally that in those systems, government runs
everything correct, right, right, But there is no mechanism in

(09:53):
government to eliminate waste because government is singular, and so
in those systems that are dictatorial, what you get a
huge amount of waste, and because you have so much waste,
it becomes impoverished. And because you have an impoverishment, the
government works harder to get more out of you, and

(10:16):
it becomes a downward spiral. So it's just knowing the foundations.
If you have a government that is incapable of not wasting,
in other words, government has to waste because there's no
mechanism to eliminate waste. If you don't keep that government limited,
you're going to go into poverty. That's just it.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Well, you talk about there's no magic bullet I guess
for freedom, and then you talk you say something about
mechanics is what I know, Philosophy is what I think.
So is it mechanics is always right in philosophy, you
might be wrong? Is that the gist of kind of
behind the book on these two CONTs.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well, sure you can philosophize about anything for it, let's
just be silly and make simple examples. I philosophize that
I can go out in my car and fly, Well,
no you can't. You know, mechanics always always brings you
down to earth. This is your system, this is how
it works. You know, I have a video that I

(11:24):
wrote or did and it's called I'm going to buy
a car to knit a sweater. Well, no, you can't
buy a car and nit a sweater. It's ridiculous. The
point is we have to recognize what systems are meant
for and understand that a system can only do what
a system can do, and that is something we've missed.

(11:47):
You know, freedom. When I started, it was the idea
of singing patriotic songs and wrapping a flag around yourself
and getting goosebumps and feeling good. But it has really
nothing to do with freedom. It has nothing to do
with a non competitive government or a competitive marketplace. And

(12:08):
once you see that, you can't unsee it.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
So true? Well, why you know, again, I have these
relatives and I know tons of people that have fled
communism and they have such clarity. But then you have
like an aoc here in America that's pushing and a
Bernie that a lot of times they're pushing like this socialism,
socialism and the agenda that goes with it. Why why

(12:35):
do these people not have clarity that to be free.
I mean, you've got to have a democracy and everything
can't be free.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
Well, I think what it really boils down to is
no one has ever really understood the system. And Franklin
was close to understanding it. Feynman was close to understanding it.
But that really wasn't their point the system in a
marketplace that you have a competitive system, we are always improving. Okay,

(13:10):
it's the marketplace. You don't get stuff that is five
years old or ten years old. You want the latest,
the newest, because it's the best. It's the simplest, it's
the easiest. And people have made a mistake for well,
since Mars, we've made a mistake. We all think that
socialism is an economic system, but yet government runs socialism.

(13:38):
Socialism is a government system. Okay, that makes all the difference.
Socialism nationalizes companies in the marketplace, so the marketplace is
not allowed to work. And when the marketplace is not
allowed to work, you cannot eliminate waste, you cannot create prosperity.

(14:00):
So socialism is a market system, I'm sorry, a government system. Yeah,
sorry about that. The government could only waste and always,
you know, we always wonder why socialism goes to poverty. Well,
it's simple because the government can only waste. There's no

(14:22):
way to eliminate waste. Think think of your household. If
all you could do is waste and you collect rappers
and you collect garbage, and your just builds up and
build up. Pretty soon you're in a house full of
I can't even explain.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
It, but but I've been trying about to giggle this
whole time because every time you say waste, don I
giggle because you know, we've got amazing Elon Musk has
rolled into that US AID and there is just literally
millions and millions of dollars that been wasted all over

(15:01):
the world, you know, with inappropriate things that the government
has supported. And then you know, I was I'm a
retired twenty year Air Force officer and many times I
had to deal with government civilians that I could not
fire because it was a welfare system and it was
a waste because they were unproductive. So so what are

(15:23):
your thoughts as like, I, you know, poor Elon Musk,
he's been getting beat up left and right, but I
think it's glorious and really like the light is shining
on this wasteful government and we're getting back to business
cleaning that up. Is that not to me? This is
freedom to get rid of this dead weight in our government.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Well, of course, and my book is coming out as
such such a great time. I mean, if I needed
any proof to show people that government is going to waste,
Elon Musk is providing it on a daily basis, and
the old The only thing I would say to Elon
Musk and Trump and people who expect that at a

(16:04):
certain point in time DOJ's work will be over is
that no, as long as government is government right, it's
going to waste. I mean, it's the nature of the system.
This is what I'm trying to say. The system of government,
because it's non competitive, has to waste. And once we
understand that, we understand why the founders talked about limited government,

(16:29):
keeping it limited and letting the marketplace work. We all
too often think that the government and the marketplace are interchangeable.
The government is for law and order, the marketplace is
for goods and services. So that begs the question, why
do we have healthcare in the government. We shouldn't, That's true,

(16:53):
I mean, politician, exactly. People never think of what the
system is meant to do. Government is not meant to
provide goods and services because it's a wasteful system. I'm
not saying we don't need government. We do, but you
have to look at what it's meant for. It cannot

(17:14):
eliminate waste, so it cannot create prosperity. And for all
too long we've accepted the lie that government can make
us prosperous. It cannot.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Right, Well, what are your thoughts of Elon rolling in?
Because you know we saw this weekend the Education Office
they told all those people to stay home. They you know,
they have a guard at the door. Maxine Waters was
losing it, Oh my gosh. And next we know it's
going to be the defense the Pentagon, which we know

(17:46):
there's going to be waste there. How many times have
we paid, you know, one thousand dollars for a bolt
for something? So I mean, are you getting excited with
with Elon? I mean, I know we we're going to
have to always babysit, what the or the cleanup, But
I just think we've been out of control for years.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Every day I read the news with a smile on
my face. It's it's truly wonderful. But before Elon, I mean,
what we should teach every child coming through our school
is a system of freedom. You have a marketplace that
eliminates waste in a government that has to waste. It

(18:25):
has to waste. It's how the system is made. And
all we are doing now is demonstrating that we have
not eliminated waste for years and years and years, and
now we're getting big, thick, fat slabs of it and
hopefully it will disappear and will pair down the size
of government to a manageable size. Yeah, the system of

(18:49):
government is non competitive system. It has to waste. And
you know, this is just a glorious example, but unfortunately
it's a very very expensive, glorious example.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Well do you feel, you know, because the left now
is so angry and oh my gosh, how dare you
because they've been getting all these kickbacks. And that's part
of freedom is we've got to control the bad people
that don't want us to look at this because I
think to be a free society and a better government
and marketplace, there's got to be some cleanup involved since

(19:27):
we haven't done it for years. Is that how you
see it? As well?

Speaker 2 (19:32):
People are people? In my book, I didn't say people
have to change. I didn't say they have to be
like this. I said no, People are people, and people
always do what they think is in their own best interest.
And for years and years, government has been telling people

(19:54):
that big government is in their own best interest, and
you know, they just didn't know any better. The public
just didn't know any better. If you really look at
the last election, Trump against the Harris it was small government,
limited government versus big government, and thank god, limited government won.

(20:16):
That's really all the election was about.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah, it was definitely a miracle.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
My position, just to finish, is if we get the
understanding out that government is non competitive and everybody begins
to talk about that and understand that and that government
cannot bring prosperity, people will all of a sudden understand
that big government is not the answer. But they do

(20:44):
it because it's in their own best interests. So it's
an educational process. We have to show people that big
government is not in their own best interests and then
everything will change.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
So some of the notes that were sent over to
me about you, they said for Trump to succeed, he
needs the people to back him, not fifty percent, not
seventy percent, but eighty to ninety percent. So why is
that that we need America to back Trump this time
to do this?

Speaker 2 (21:17):
Well, in any system and any government, if you're a
bit of a historian, there have been those big, powerful governments.
But the demise of government always is when government when
the people stop supporting it. And as long as people
think big government is in their own best interest, they

(21:40):
will support big government. When they learn the truth, and
it's a simple truth, they will stop supporting big government.
So your friends who were in a communist system that
was big, arbitrary government, and they hated it. They didn't
know why, but they hated it. Now we can explain
why government is going to waste. Government is going big

(22:04):
government is going to lead to poverty, that's it. And
once the people know it's in their own best interest
to have limited government, who wouldn't support limited government. I mean,
at this point in time, I've had zero, absolutely zero
people able to argue with me. I say government is
going to waste because there's no competition that go I

(22:28):
don't know how to argue with that.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Well, I guess some of you know. I feel bad
for illegals, but we're trying to you know, right now,
the borders it's pretty lockdown, which is great, But it's
funny because a lot of people in these big cities
that are not living, you know, they're more at the
lower income level. You know, they've had to sacrifice for
the illegals, and I think they've had some clarity of why,

(22:56):
you know, big government paying for an illegal and not
me is given them some clarity because they've lost a
lot of their freedoms, you know. So are you are
you seeing that once we're able to secure the border
fully and take back our country, we can start to
focus on Americans.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
Well, I think historically, looking at America, it's been a
unique place. I mean, people have come to America for years,
and they did it for one reason and one reason only.
They thought it was in their own best interest. People
do things that they think is in their own best interests,

(23:38):
and in eighteen seventy they were coming to America because
of that, and today they're coming to America because of that.
And my belief is that once a system of freedom
is understood universally, any country anywhere can create a system
of freedom and there won't be any necessity to move.

(24:02):
I mean, they will have a functioning marketplace that creates
prosperity too. It's not just the United States. I mean,
the system is a natural system. It can be done anywhere.
And all I'm doing is educating, and I would like
the entire world. Malay down in Argentina is a great example.

(24:25):
He's doing everything right. He's limiting government. What you really
see with Malay is he's limiting government. He's not eliminating government.
He's limiting government. And Argentina is going to become prosperous
if they continue. But my problem with Malay, and I'm
trying to contact him now, is that if he goes away,

(24:48):
the next guy will come in, and if the people
don't have the understanding of why Malay programs have worked,
they'll go back to the old way. We have to
get a system of freedom out there so everybody understands
that limited government is necessary for prosperity because you have
to let the marketplace work. And that's as simple as

(25:10):
it gets.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
So if Ben Franklin was around today seeing what's happening
with how we got Trump back in and we've got
Elon trying to clean up the mess, what do you
think he would say?

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Well, Franklin, of course, was a systems guy. I mean
he always looked at systems, how do things work? And
he'd be ecstatic. In fact, he'd be appalled, I believe,
to see how the system was working prior to Trump
and must getting in. The system was broken. The lie
that we had sold to the public was that government

(25:47):
can take care of you and make you prosperous, and
it can't. So yeah, Franklin would be ecstatic, and so
would Finement.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
And then you have said that your book, like yours,
comes around once every two hundred years, and the stars
are aligned for your book, and it's a roadmap. So
why is it now your time? Is it because Trump
has gotten in and people are finally awake.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
Well, people are open to being awake. I mean, if
there isn't a better example than the billions of dollars
we're finding wasted, I don't know what it is. But
for example, if I propose these things under the Biden administration,
do you think anyone would listen. No, No one would
listen because they were all big government people, the government.

(26:40):
You know, they wanted to get into the one world government.
They wanted to have the government take care of you
from cradle to grave. They wanted government to protect you. Well,
safety is a slippery slope, and as Franklin said, those
who would give up liberty for temporary safety deserve neither.
So we have to keep an open marketplace for prosperity,

(27:04):
a limited government, because when you think about it, government
and the marketplace are everything. You know, if the government
gets big, where are they going to get big. They're
gonna get big in the marketplace. They're going to take
over the marketplace. And if they take over the marketplace
like in socialism, then you don't have competition. The competition
can't create. And because it can't create, you become poor

(27:28):
and you don't get prosperity. It's all tied together. It's
all a big circle.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Well, I love it. So what if we miss Dawn?
I mean I feel like, you know, with Trump back
in the office, we're going to get rid of the waste,
and that has been my dream.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Well Trump again. I would love to talk to Trump
for fifteen minutes because he doesn't understand the system. He's
doing everything right, he says, Man, we got a lot
of waste. Man, we got to get rid of it.
Things will work better. And here's here's really a great
thing with Trump is he is a businessman. Now, what

(28:07):
businessmen know is that running an operation is difficult and
the details are what get you. And for example, in
every business we have management, Well why do we need management,
because it's the details. They have to do it daily.
If they sit back and don't do anything, the details

(28:29):
will get them. Now, ask yourself, is a bureaucrat looking
out for details? Somebody sitting in a cubicle who's one
of thirty forty fifty people? Do they really care about
the details?

Speaker 1 (28:40):
No, no they don't. From home, I saw something on
X It's someone that was famous said, well, you know,
all the traffic because now all the people that have
been at home for four years had to drive in
to DC and go to work.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
You know.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
So that's the thing. And they've gotten away with that.
All the waste, it's just it's just been horrible and
now we're trying to walk it back and clean it up.
And it's a mess.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
Well like anything I'm trying to think of. You know,
your household, for example, if you just let it go,
it becomes a mess. You have to continually eliminate waste
and then you've got a nice, pristine living situation. But
if you just forget about it. Waste accumulates. If there's

(29:30):
no competition, how do you get rid of waste?

Speaker 1 (29:34):
So true as I had a Super Bowl party this
weekend and my husband said, if you cleaned more often
and organize, it wouldn't be so painful. And that is
the truth. So you know you have to have a
party to get rid of waste. Well, have we missed anything?
Don I mean, it's an excellent book. You know you're

(29:54):
trying to get America back on track. And to me,
freedom is what defines America. Have we missed anything? And
I adore Ben Franklin.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yes, and that is simply that these elements are self evident.
If your audience just remembers competition, waste and ease and
applies them to the marketplace, their everyday lives, the government,
they will get a clarity they've never expected before. Competition,

(30:24):
waste and ease are the foundations, and all you have
to do is use them, and everything is self evident.
I like to tell people, you know, the greatest skyscraper,
the most beautiful skyscraper, the most important part of that
building is the foundations, and you never see them. But
with competition, waste, and ease. You can figure it all

(30:47):
out on your own. You don't need to be a professor,
you don't need to be a graduate, you don't have
to have letters behind your name. You can figure it
all out with these self evident foundations.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
Well, Don, we've got to get you to President Trump's
you need to send him a copy of the book.
But we've been talking to Don Wilkie. The book is excellent.
It's called Freedom Revealed, a Simple elegant System. It's on
Amazon and Don, I thank you for joining VERONICALI. We
will definitely have you back.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
It was my pleasure. I enjoyed it.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Thank you.
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