How Freedom Dies in Silence… The Last Asset Standing

This morning, I walked down to Seaport Village in San Diego to buy some fish. The breeze off the water was soft, the harbor still. From the outside, everything looked peaceful. Inside, something was stirring. A quiet ache. A reflection on what I have come to learn over these past five years. I did not want to see it. I did not want to know. But once you wake up, you cannot go back to sleep.

When I was twelve years old, I wrote to the Canadian government and requested a copy of the Constitution. In 1982, Canada was in the process of repatriating its Constitution. It was a proud time. The government encouraged young Canadians to learn about their rights, and if you asked, they would send you a personal copy. I remember the day mine arrived. I held it in my hands and felt proud. I believed that those words meant something. I believed I lived in a country that would protect those rights no matter what.

That belief died during the lockdowns.

I found myself stuck in San Diego, far from my country, watching from across the border as Canada turned into something unrecognizable. A place where individuals were denied access to restaurants, travel, and even family gatherings if they did not have a QR code showing proof of medical compliance. A place where the Constitution I had once held with pride seemed to vanish overnight. Rights that I believed were guaranteed were erased by policy and justified by fear. What shocked me more than the policies was how quickly most Canadians accepted them.

Stay informed. Stay protected. Subscribe to It Starts With Gold™ on Substack to get the latest article straight to your inbox. 👉 SUBSCRIBE HERE

I chose not to take part in the global medical experiment. That was my decision. I also spoke out. I supported the Canadian Truckers in the winter of 2022. Not because I agreed with every sign or slogan, but because they stood up when almost no one else would. They gave everything they had for the simple right to say no. For that support, I lost friends. Members of my own family stopped speaking to me. Individuals I had loved for decades distanced themselves, not because I harmed them, but because I would not stay silent.

Since then, I have tried to understand how this happened. I have read history, studied propaganda, explored psychology, and gone deep into the world of finance and power. Not to argue. Just to understand. What I came to realize is that I had ignored what was always there. The system was not suddenly broken. It had always been built this way.

In our book It Starts With Gold, Adrian C. Spitters and I wrote about the Financial Industrial Complex. Between us, we have spent over seventy years working within that system. We have seen how it operates. It is not just banks. It is central banks, global regulators, multinational insurance companies, asset managers, unelected bureaucrats, and organizations like the World Economic Forum and the International Monetary Fund. This system does not exist to serve individuals. It exists to control them. It offers convenience, digital access, and the illusion of safety… while quietly removing independence, privacy, and free thought.

The goal of the system is not simply to monitor you. It is to shape your behavior. It does this by rewarding obedience and punishing resistance. And over time, most individuals choose the easier path. They conform. They stay silent. They nod along when they know something is wrong, just to avoid standing alone.

This is how you lose your soul.

Back in 1951, a psychologist named Solomon Asch conducted a study that should have shaken the world. Participants were asked to look at a set of lines on a card and choose the one that matched the original. The answer was obvious. But in each group, actors were planted to choose the wrong answer with confidence. What happened was disturbing. Seventy-five percent of the real participants went along with the wrong answer at least once. Not because they believed it… but because they feared being the only one who saw the truth.

They did not want to stand out. They did not want to seem difficult. So they silenced their own judgment to blend in with the crowd.

That is how it begins. First you stay silent to keep the peace. Then you start to repeat things you do not believe. Over time, you forget what you once knew. You give up your voice. Then your courage. Then your integrity. And finally… your soul. Not all at once. Piece by piece. Until there is nothing left that truly belongs to you.

In It Starts With Gold, we also wrote about the Sleoples individuals who sleepwalk through life. Some are useful idiots. They repeat what they are told without thinking. Others are useful tools. They know the truth, but they stay quiet to protect themselves. Both are driven by fear. Not because they are bad. Not because they are unintelligent. Because they are scared to be left out. Scared to be labeled. Scared to be alone.

I understand that fear. I lived it. I stayed silent longer than I should have. I told myself that being quiet was wise. That it was humble. That it was kind. I now know that was a lie. And it cost me more than I thought it would.

In our upcoming book The Last Asset Standing, we ask a simple question… what do you truly own when everything else is gone?

Not your job. Not your house. Not your bank account. Not your reputation.

The last asset standing is your soul.

And that is what this system ultimately wants. Not your money. Not your gold. It wants your agreement. Your submission. Your silence. It wants you to surrender the one thing no one can take from you unless you choose to give it away.

I am not writing this from a place of judgment. I am writing it from sorrow. I wish I could still believe what I once believed. I wish I did not have to learn these lessons the hard way. I wish I could go back to the moment when I held that Constitution in my hands and believed it would always protect me.

But I cannot. And maybe… neither can you.

If you are still reading this, maybe something inside you is stirring too. Maybe you are beginning to wake up. Maybe you are tired of pretending everything is fine.

We invite you to walk with us.

Go to ItStartsWithGold.com and download It Starts With Gold. There is no cost. No catch. Just the truth as we have come to know it.

Because at the end of the day, this is not just about gold. It is not about money. It is about who you are when the pressure rises. It is about whether you will stand… or whether you will fall silent.

And it is about the one thing that still belongs to you. The one thing they cannot take.

Let your soul be the last asset standing.

There Is Still Hope, But Only If We Act

We are not powerless.

We must expose what is happening, prepare for what is coming, and reclaim our right to own, save, and pass on what we have earned.

Speak. Organize. Prepare. Own what is real. Draw your line now, or there may be no line left to draw.

At our firm, we assist clients in structuring wealth by Owning Assets in Order of Asset Security. We prioritize the most secure assets and safeguard those that are most vulnerable.

Book your complimentary review to learn how to structure for the shifts ahead.

We explore these urgent themes in greater depth in our #1 international best-selling book, It Starts With Gold™, co-authored by Peter J. Merrick, TEP® and Adrian C. Spitters, CFP®.

In the book, we reveal how ownership of tangible assets, particularly physical gold, can protect you from the rising wave of financial control and taxation. We break down how to preserve wealth across generations, reduce your vulnerability to policy shocks, and restore financial sovereignty in a world that increasingly seeks to take it away. Visit www.ItStartsWithGold.com.

To find out more, order your own copy of It Starts With Gold™ from Amazon today. CLICK HERE

Peter J. Merrick,