Intel & Articles | Joel Rakow

From Quarantine to Creation: The Birth of 'Life in Woke America'

A Personal Manifesto on Truth, Betrayal, and Storytelling.

In 2020, I quarantined on my wife’s ranch in the Texas Panhandle—where Mad Cow was a bigger threat than COVID. Watching Trump’s daily YouTube briefings, I saw a leader doing the best any human could under fire. Exactly what I would have done. Yet the media and my party condemned him relentlessly, offering only heat—no light.

I sensed they had a deeper agenda than helping American citizens through this health crisis. The Party was at odds with both Trump and me. Yes, I said Trump and me.

"I could no longer let the Party claim me as a member. Their betrayal ran too deep, and was too apparent."

I’m Joel Rakow: Harvard post-doc, Vistage CEO Chair, advisor to the U.S. Secret Service on electronic threats, founder of software ventures sold for a modest fortune. I built businesses on the back of code that taught end users, and security strategies that mitigated other people's risk. I advocate for foster kids in courts of law, and mentor those same kids through chaos and triumph.

But the Party’s pivot to governmental overreach and the destruction of important democratic guardrails left me unmoored.

Then, on June 16, 2024, I woke up knowing I had an important story that had to be told. Not a treatise. Not an exposé. A coming-of-age thriller—with intertwining plots, dialogue, and an unapologetic pulse. One that would entertain, inform, and inspire.

I’d spent decades in Silicon Valley’s political correctness and even longer in the least-woke corner of America—the Texas Panhandle, home to the U.S. repair center for our nuclear warheads. That morning, Life in Woke America: A Hero’s Journey began.

It’s fiction, a novel—Ripped from headlines that never appeared in the mainstream media. It revolves around biolab horrors uncovered in Reedley, California, investigated by Congress, and then suppressed based on misapplication of a minor technicality. Yes, powerful people did not want this story released—They chose to protect China instead.

This is the story of an orphan-turned soldier, Xavier, the story's centerpiece. A young man like no other, this is his manifesto.

PRE-ORDER THE NOVEL →

With unyielding resolve,
Joel Rakow

I Walked Away from the Democratic Party After 50 Years

I was a Democrat for more than 50 years, having voted for the last two, Obama and Hillary Clinton. I will not vote for Biden. I do not support many of the current Democratic Party’s shenanigans and am greatly disturbed by the Party’s leadership.

I am most offended by the following, in no particular order:

The Departure from ValuesI experienced the Democratic Party moving too far away from my 50 year commitment to society that is socially liberal, fiscally conservative, increasingly strong middle class, and no government involvement limiting legal speech.

Misguided Covid FocusMisguided focus on Covid “cases” without sufficient regard for mortality rate, number of hospitalizations, tests per capita, improved treatments, and unintended consequences relating to child welfare and family economics. Case counts are meaningless outside of such discussion and context.

A Candidate Hidden from ViewWay too weak a candidate. If the Democrats deserve to win the election in November, they should produce a candidate they are proud enough of that they encourage him or her to be widely available to the public. Hiding the candidate until very late in the campaign speaks poorly of everything democracy means.

Half-Baked PlatformThe lack of standards for immigration, the avoidance of the complexities of law enforcement, justice, and global politics are unacceptable. The illegal acts of race-based decision-making combined with the vague nature of social justice are the basis of more illegalities on the part of the government.

Silence on LawlessnessFailure to speak out against lawlessness in the cities and the destruction of property. The failure of the entire party to speak out against this is appalling. Innocent people have died so the Democratic party can improve its chance of regaining political power. This silence is criminal.

Hubris & OverconfidenceOverconfidence and narrow understanding with simplistic solutions for such issues as global warming, poverty, racial divide, etc. Political party foundations for solutions to complex problems is a formula for failures that play out over several decades.

Abdication of DutyDefunding police and changing gun laws. It is an abdication of duty for any party to promote both the defunding or reduction in police and a reduction in the rights of citizens to protect themselves from criminals.

In short, the Democratic Party has failed me and is actively and aggressively failing other citizens of this country. Yes, for all his flaws, I will vote for Trump. I will also consider myself to be much less a Democrat than I have at any time over the last 50 years.

Respectfully submitted,
Joel Rakow