starting a new form of Freemasonry for the Millennium , a Masonry for Generation X , a progressive , modern interpretation of independent Freemasonry that embraced the internet and various business models , gaining success at being granted a Charter by the GOdF . It can however be seen as a failure , its brief and turbulent existence being dogged by infighting , endless attacks and ridicule on social media and ultimately the loss of its GOdF Charter , followed by disintegration . It did indeed live by the internet and it could be said it died by the internet . The gaining of the Charter was perhaps the zenith of the organisation , and the Halcyon court case win coming a close second , the wider media portraying the event as a David and Goliath case . Though these successes were short lived as the organisation itself imploded . There was a quote on an Ed King webpage that certainly was not lamenting the demise of GOUSA , but summed up the exercise ; paraphrased , it stated that if the men involved had spent half of their time , money and energy on their families or communities , the world would have been a better place . A similar sentiment came from Lane Startin , who said that ‘ Ultimately we came to the conclusion that our ideals were better promoted through other means , so we simply disbanded .’ Indeed , the project had taken its toll on all involved , and the experiment certainly has parallels with the Liverpool Masonic Rebellion and perhaps even reflects certain aspects of Preston ’ s Grand Lodge of England South of the River Trent . Masonic history certainly does seem to repeat itself on occasions .
Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
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David Tamayo certainly felt as though GOUSA could have been a highly successful Masonic organisation if it had been managed properly :
‘ GOUSA could have been an incredibly amazing organization if it weren ’ t for the few brethren in OH who took it over and crashed it . Those guys were very combative because they had fought the regular Grand Lodge of OH … They did something someone had never done and I think that got to their head .’
Today Jeff Peace is semi-retired and lives on the outskirts of Atlanta , where he still meets with a small number of his ex-GOUSA associates on occasions , but not in a Masonic context . Peace and his friends have a rich archive of material covering the period , including their Grand Lodge regalia and legal documents in regards to the Halcyon case . Slifko remained in California until his death and became quite active on social media promoting his brand of ‘ progressive ’ or ‘ Liberal ’ Freemasonry , working tirelessly for the Roosevelt Center . He passed away in August 2018 . Peavy has since retired from Freemasonry and concentrates on his software business , it was Peavy that supplied me with the early minutes , letters , the GOUSA Constitution , ritual and the few photos that exist of the UGLA / GOUSA meetings . Halcyon Lodge has not met for some time , though some members still meet socially . Peace is still very close to the Michalek brothers and Tom Coste . Lane Startin and Krispen Hartung are still