Why We Need a National ACE Campaign
63% of Americans Have ACE - Only 10% Know It.
As many of you know, I am championing the findings of the 1998 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study as a keystone issue that can change the course of our nation.
The Science of Childhood Trauma
In the mid-1990s, a landmark collaboration between Kaiser Permanente and the CDC surveyed over 17,000 adults. They looked at ten specific types of childhood trauma grouped into three categories: abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. For every type of trauma experienced, participants received a point, giving them a total ACE score from 0 to 10.
The researchers discovered that nearly two-thirds of American adults have experienced at least one ACE. More importantly, they proved a direct physical connection: as an ACE score rises, the risk for chronic illness, addiction, depression, and social failure skyrockets. Toxic stress physically alters a developing brain and body.
The Limits of the Clinic Door
In the decades since, health providers have done a remarkable job putting this data to use. If you take a child to a clinic today, clinicians are very good at diagnosing ACEs. They can spot the trauma, flag the risk, and map the symptoms. But the system stops at the clinic door, while the child returns to their home environment every night.
You can have the most brilliant pediatric intervention in the world, but it fails the moment that child is sent right back into a fractured, chaotic, or abusive household. The trauma you experience when you see a bear in the forest is multiplied endlessly when that bear comes home every single night.
True intervention cannot just be about the child. It must be directed at the adults and parents who are carrying their own unhealed, intergenerational ACEs.
Healing the household is the ultimate goal of the National ACE Campaign.
The Massive Awareness & Financial Gap
Right now, we are living in a massive awareness gap. While over 63% of adults have ACEs, evaluations by the RAND Corporation reveal that only about 10% of Americans even know what the acronym stands for. We are a nation suffering from collective wounds caused by the single greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation, yet fewer than one in five of us know it, or can even name it.
This gap carries a staggering financial penalty. Peer-reviewed research in JAMA Network Open indicates that adult health conditions and lost productivity stemming from ACEs generate a jaw-dropping 14.1 trillion dollar annual economic burden in the United States.
By shifting our focus upstream to heal the household, we introduce a direct fiscal mechanism capable of balancing the national budget simply by restoring human productivity and reducing the catastrophic government burden on our healthcare, welfare, and justice systems.
Three Non-Partisan Goals for a Generational Rescue Mission
We cannot rely on slow, passive clinical steps to fix a structural cultural collapse. The National ACE Campaign is a generational rescue mission built on three voluntary, non-partisan goals:
First, raise massive awareness. We must reach 80% awareness so that ACE literacy becomes as common as wearing a seat belt. Parents, coaches, and teachers should be able to explain ACEs in five minutes, completely without stigma. You cannot heal what you cannot name.
Second, encourage every American to know their ACE score. Taking the test should be as ordinary as knowing your blood pressure. This is entirely voluntary and private. It should never be a condition for employment, school enrollment, or government compliance. You take the test freely for yourself—to understand your own life, your marriage, and your parenting.
Third, ensure that top-of-the-line treatment is available. Awareness without treatment is cruelty. If an adult takes the questionnaire and discovers a high score, resources must be standing ready in the places they already trust—clinics, churches, veterans' groups, and community centers. No waiting lists, no lectures. We must build the infrastructure of help first, then invite people to take the test.
Building the Foundation of America
For millions of Americans, turning on the news feels like watching a house crumble. We see endless political fighting, deepening cultural division, and a sense that the country is on the wrong track and coming apart. But what if the true crisis facing our nation isn’t political at all? What if all this political maneuvering is just rearranging furniture in a house with a cracking foundation?
The National ACE Campaign is a civic effort to put awareness, a voluntary test, and ready help within reach of ordinary people so we can heal in the environment where trauma breeds. If you want to rescue the American experiment, let’s agree to stop relying on politics. Let’s start with the soul of America.
Visit freedom128.com to learn the science, discover your own ACE score, and join a movement to renew our nation from within.
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