Gibson - Rally point: five tasks to unite the country and revitalize the American Dream

Gibson in Baghdad, Iraq, serving as Commander of the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne, in December 2004.

For the majority of Americans, the 2016 presidential campaign was not a positive experience. Both major candidates were deeply unpopular, with unfavorable ratings well above 50 percent. That is unprecedented in American politics. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were widely viewed as divisive and dismissive of large swaths of the electorate. Given the results of this election, Americans are deeply divided and uncertain about the direction of the country and wonder w hether we can come together to tackle our significant challenges.

Donald Trump won the presidency, and for conservatives that presents opportunities and challenges. First, however, we must recognize this stark reality: We are not only a nation dividedas Republicans we are also a party divided. I am not interested in pointing fingers and assigning blame. The purpose of this book is to unify and grow our conservative ranks so that we rally the nation around our principles, consistently win elections, and earn the trust of the American people to stay the course with our solutions.

The United States was an exceptional nation at birth, different from the rest of the world because we believed in God-given natural rights and were bold enough to establish a government that protected those rights with the citizen in charge. Today we are still that exceptional nation, and I am confident that if we find our voice and rally the American people, we will bring forward the solutions required to restore the American dream and revitalize our republic. The key is focus, and for that we need leadership.

As conservatives, we must lay out a positive vision for America. That plan must accomplish five essential tasks:

Strengthen our national security

Restore founding principles

Promote a flourishing life

Keep faith

Unify and grow the movement

Over the next five chapters, I address those challenges. In chapter one, I make the case for a peace through strength grand strategy that restores deterrence, defeats terrorists, and advances U.S. interests through diplomacy and a thriving economy. In chapter two, I define the Spirit of Philadelphia demonstrating how that founding and its covenants and compromises helped facilitate peace and prosperity at home and eventually elevated us to a world superpower. I also show how deviating from founding principles over time caused significant challenges and national disunity, before concluding with recommendations for revitalizing our democracy. In chapter three, I lay out a plan to unleash economic growth so that all Americans can enjoy the American Dream. In chapter four, I explain why keeping faith in God, ourselves, our family, friends, and community is so central to a flourishing American future. Chapter five provides a political blueprint for unifying and growing the conservative movement so that we can rally and lift up the country. I conclude the book with analysis of the 2016 presidential election, President Trump, and the future of the GOP, invoking our first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, to tackle the formidable challenges ahead.

We are all products of our experiences. I am no different. This book reflects over fifty years of experience from the School of Hard Knocks. I grew up in a working-class family in upstate New York, the oldest of a family of four children raised in the Irish Catholic tradition. Not surprisingly given our background, my parents were Democrats. All of our family had been Democrats since arriving from the old countryI was the first Republican, for reasons I will explain later.

I enlisted as a private in the infantry of the New York Army National Guard in 1981 at the age of seventeen, motivated to protect and defend this cherished way of life. I made the transition from enlisted man to officer through the ROTC program at nearby Siena College (a small Catholic college), and went on to serve twenty-four more years in the regular Army. Like nearly everyone in the military over that period, I served multiple combat tours (four to be exact) in the Middle East, a NATO peace enforcement deployment in the Balkans, a humanitarian relief operation in Haiti, and a counterdrug operation in the southwestern United States.

Two great Americans, battle-hardened paratroopers Sergeant Chris Pusateri and Staff Sergeant Zachary Wobler, were killed in Iraq while serving under my command in the 82nd Airborne Division. I will tell their story of courage and sacrifice in these pages. Dozens more were wounded in action, including some grievously. I was wounded myself (fortunately not seriously) while leading these brave paratroopers. Like our brothers and sisters before us in previous wars, none of us who served over there came home the same person. We were fundamentally changed by these experiences. Our country is still coming to grips with this reality in the midst of extensive efforts to help our veterans make the transition.

In some ways, my military experience reinforced who I was from childhood. I am deeply spiritual and reflective. I believe fervently in American exceptionalism, and I remain gratefulthankful that I was born American. I feel as if I won the lottery, by birthright a recipient of the American dream. I have lived that dream.

My combat experience also informed, and significantly influenced, my actions for six years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Throughout that time I was a committed and passionate voice for reform. I am not wearing rose-tinted glasses. I see the problems that exist in our country today. As a U.S. representative, I listened carefully to my constituents. I understand their concerns and know their deep desire for change. Many Americans feel that our political system is rigged for moneyed interests and those with political connections to the nations elite. Ordinary American citizens believe this system no longer works for them.