My father was a 32 degree freemason and a knight templar, and the only thing I can tell you for sure about them is they do in fact control the government at all levels. It is not unlike a military command structure where the further up the ladder you go the more power you have and the more you are allowed to know. At some point my father became disillusioned with their local lodge here in this small town because he said it was operating in contradiction to the general purpose of the Freemason organization, and shortly afterword he died.
One of the things he told me is that if i were ever in trouble here to get in contact with his old lodge in upstate new york, he said these folks here in NE Texas were corrupt to the point where I needed that protection and that they could give it.
All of his words turned out to be true