Ideals ???

When did the ideal get lost or was it always just the 'public face' of the fraternity?

From I am Freemasonry

"I hark to the orphans’ cry, the widows’ tears, the pain of the old and destitute. I am not church, nor party, nor school, yet my sons bear a full share of the responsibility to God, to country, to neighbour and themselves. They are freemen, tenacious of their liberties and alert to lurking danger.

Oh dear the brethren in Devon are only looking out for each other - certainly not me. The authorities here certainly don't care what 'lurking danger' I face :(