It was a sunny summer evening in Michigan, with a light breeze checking the heat and Aretha Franklin playing in the background. Chatting with my wife, I started thinking about the world in which the Queen of Soul was living. It was 1967; our nation was at war, our government divided, and several violent protests across the country cut to the very heart of who we claimed to be as a nation.
And in that moment, something struck a chord. I realized that Aretha’s world didn’t seem much different from what we’ve been experiencing the last few years.
History repeats itself. People argue, disagree, scapegoat, and go to war. Yet despite the challenges and the chaos, America prospers. It prospers because it was founded upon a set of fundamental values that cut through the disagreements and rise above the division.
The framework of America affords us the opportunity to risk, err, recover, and repeat. Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan come to mind as political leaders we admire for guiding our nation during its foundation and through some of its toughest challenges, and for leaving a blueprint for future generations.
While our historic political leaders were engaged in the affairs of the State, America’s cultural leaders and entrepreneurs shaped our nation through their creativity and determination. These “household names” of history, including Franklin, Edison, Bell, George Washington Carver, Earhart, Ford, Whitman, Allcott, Salk, Billy Graham, and Dr. Martin Luther King, were active in both preserving and enriching the American way of life.
The success equation is clear: When national and local leaders focus on preserving and promoting America’s founding fundamental values, innovators flourish and cultural leaders shine.
But a blueprint is useless to the man who can’t, or won’t, read it.
When we turn our gaze upon today’s Washington, we see a different place than the one our founders built. Instead of liberty and justice for all, we see an inner circle of self-aggrandizement, designed to benefit a select few.
As the debt grows by trillions each year and our dollar loses its purchasing power, our nation is falling behind in every conceivable metric: education, health, security, and energy. Wages across the nation stagnate while the four richest counties in America thrive, huddled inside the protective bubble of the Washington Beltway. Not in California, not in New York, but Washington.
So, why are you reading this? Why should you care? And what can be done?
Just as our parents and grandparents worked to preserve America for future generations, it is our sacred duty to do
the same. This is not the America that was given to us, and it cannot be the America we pass on to the next generation.
After much thought, prayer, and consultation, I’m raising my hand to participate in restoring our
republic as Michigan’s next U.S. Senator.
My name is Michael Robert Hoover. I’m a born and raised Michigander. My grandchildren represent the 7th generation of Hoovers who call Michigan home. I married my high school sweetheart from small town Brooklyn, MI, and we’ve spent our lives raising four amazing children. We’re blessed with eight grandchildren, with number nine on the way.
I’m a Christian, a husband, a dad and grandfather, a coach, a friend, and a small business owner. Much of my life experience has involved building communities and businesses through innovation, determination, and working with great people. Government needs an outsider, some healthy creativity, and a serious reduction in size.
My mission and message are simple: Trust, Liberty, and Happiness.
We need to restore trust in our government and our elected leaders. Without trust, we’re left with a despondent, divided, and disinterested America. And without trust, the promises of liberty from Pennsylvania Ave. ring hollow. During the past political seasons, our increasingly centralized government has destroyed healthcare, mandated an increasingly Marxist form of educational indoctrination, devalued our currency, and displaced American free enterprise. The federal government is the largest and fastest growing employer in the U.S., feeding off the freedom of the people.
Who is serving whom here?
Happiness and the liberty to pursue it. That’s what we all want: for our children and grandchildren, for our friends, and ourselves. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Every man’s happiness is his own responsibility.” And America has always allowed for the free, rollicking, diverse and divergent pursuit of happiness. But in these last days, our government has overstepped its boundaries and overplayed its hand. Our political leaders have become so narcissistic that they believe they’re responsible for defining and manufacturing happiness for us. Is this the America we want to leave to our children and grandchildren?
This is my message to Washington on behalf of the people of the great state of Michigan: Trust. Liberty. Happiness. My goal is to earn your trust, your confidence, and your vote through an open, honest, and balanced approach to politics and policy, driven by optimism and a belief that the restoration of trust and liberty will lead to greater happiness and unity among our people.
Above all, I see this role as an opportunity to be of service to the people of Michigan: I am accountable to you, not Washington. I’ll use my relentless drive, resourcefulness, and leadership experience to develop the solutions that will provide you with a government you can trust and one that honors your inalienable right to liberty, so you can pursue happiness as you see fit. I have great hope. I’m looking forward to meeting you, learning from you, and pursuing our common cause together. I thank you ahead of time for your willingness to give me a chance.
Please visit www.hooverforsenate.com and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to learn more about me, where I stand on the issues, and to join me in taking the first steps toward rebuilding the soul of our nation.