These are challenging times for our country. We are threatened by terrorism, concerned about a difficult war, stuck in traffic, dissatisfied with how our children are educated; and too often our culture seems more interested in the latest doings of tabloid celebrities than the debates that could decide our country’s future.
Of course, serious problems and crises are nothing new for America.
But today, I’m sorry to say, we also find too often that our leaders just aren’t up to the challenge.
America has a lot of work to do, and doesn’t have the right leaders to do it.
It would be easy to be disheartened.
But you know something?
There are a lot of causes for hope, too.
We are the greatest country in the world not because of our politicians but because of our people and our great institutions. And as far as I can see, our institutions are very much intact and can be built upon.
These institutions instill in every American a sense of fair play, a desire for equal justice, economic opportunity and a deep love for a land of liberty called the United States of America.
We haven’t lost what’s down deep in all of us, and what really keeps us together despite all the problems that seem to have descended on us of late.
The kind of leaders we need would build on these strengths, rather than add to our troubles.
I’m running for the United State Senate from Virginia because I want to be one of those leaders who call on the spirit that is common in all of us, and use it to restore our country for the benefit of our people and in the eyes of the world.
I’m a veteran, having served our country in Army counter-intelligence; and I’m a former law enforcement official.
I can offer Virginians unparalleled experience and a strong and steady hand in the United States Senate.
I was Governor of Virginia when our nation was struck on September 11th, and I helped Virginia deal with the aftermath of the attack on the Pentagon.
It was a time of great challenge. It was also a time when Virginia and America came together to work for the common good.
That is the type of leadership we need today to address the vital issues facing the citizens of our Commonwealth, issues like national security, transportation, education and immigration.
On all these issues, our leaders have let us down, and we badly need new hands at the wheel.
And in the last year, we have unfortunately seen that these failures are not unique to just one political party.
It’s time for a change! We can do better, and we have to.
Virginia’s legacy of solid principles and values is ingrained in me: family, patriotism, justice, free enterprise, defense of our nation.
These are Virginia values: the ideals of my youth, and the hope of our future.
I’m not going to be about labels, and “us against them”.
I’m about applying these great principles for the good of Virginia, and the good of the nation.
That’s who I am, and that’s why I’m running to represent Virginians, all of them, in the United States Senate.