A Servant Leader to the Core
I’ve been looking forward to interviewing Mike Clancy since I first heard him speak back in January at the Loudoun County Republican Committee. While not a veteran himself, what caught my attention was that Mike grew up in a military family. His dad retired from the United States Air Force as a Master Sergeant. As many of you know, I am a die-hard supporter of the enlisted community, both past, and present. So often in politics, when you hear about someone being a veteran or connected to the military in some way, it’s generally an officer or a special operator. So I was excited to sit with a candidate whose background in the military is one growing up in an enlisted family.
Suppose you are familiar with growing up in the military. In that case, you know that the military’s values tend to rub off on the entire family. This is more than evident with Mike. You always miss things from time to time after retiring — the constant presence of men and women in uniform always makes me feel proud and safe. Also, the feeling of a close-knit community all working towards the same mission and vision. You feel like your family has joined an even larger family when you live on military bases. Mike remembers the same feeling and absorbed the same drive, commitment to something larger than himself, and personal discipline that has helped him throughout his whole life.
Veterans and veteran family members always astonish people with how much we can accomplish and juggle while maintaining our sanity. Every veteran is unique, but many of us get back into our busy lifestyles after retirement because we are programmed to enjoy work and service. I am 4 months post my official retirement and six months since my terminal leave started. I am told regularly to ‘enjoy my time,’ ‘relax; you’ve earned it,’ and other goodwill expressions urging me to enjoy a slower pace. However, anyone that knows me knows in no way does that sound appealing or even comfortable. As my husband would say, I’m very much like a shark; I must be swimming or else I might die!
When you look at Mike’s background, you can see this same desire to constantly work on himself, serve his community, and provide for his family. A fellow lifelong learner, Mike made his way up to Eagle Scout as a young man, paid his way through college at Notre Dame as a construction laborer and painter, and then received his law degree from my alma mater, George Washington University. He didn’t stop there, however. He continued to build on his knowledge and abilities by studying cybersecurity, healthcare, and bioethics. This makes Mike stand out in a very crowded field full of highly qualified and dedicated Republican candidates. Mike’s breadth and depth of knowledge and relatable experience with everyday Americans and how government should work make him a formidable opponent to any candidate.
It’s no secret that the cancel culture wars and equity movement are what I consider red herrings meant to impose control and suppress our freedoms. The war on freedom of speech and thought has found its way into every facet of our lives. You see it in our public school system, higher education system, military, social media, corporate America, and even our sports. Mike’s background as a lawyer and specifically in constitutional law gives him a unique ability to fight these issues head-on. Whether it’s voting rights, social media censorship, or college campuses refusing conservative speakers and thus suppressing conservative voices, these are all constitutional issues.
While there are many outside threats to our country, from Russia to China, one of the biggest threats to our national security, in my opinion, is the suppression of free thought and the intentional intellectual and financial crippling of the next generation of Americans. Americans are pressured to incur significant amounts of debt to pay for education more concerned with controlling young minds and maintaining a veneer of diversity, equity, and inclusion than educating the next generation of innovators, leaders, scientists, and problem solvers.
Mike intends to push for a mandate that any higher education institution that receives federal grant money has to commit to being a free-speech campus. This means allowing conservative speakers to come to campuses and speak free from the threat of censorship and harassment. Mike referred to colleges and universities as a place that should be an “…open marketplace of ideas.” Unfortunately, I fear my children will not find that at many colleges and universities. However, perhaps there is hope for academia in the form of public servants like Mike.
There is more than one way to serve your community and country. While Mike didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps, he has been a stalwart servant leader dedicating his life to serving his community. From food pantries and Habitat for Humanity to crisis pregnancy centers and Wounded Warrior programs, Mike has been dedicated to serving his community through compassion for over 30 years. His support for non-profit organizations dedicated to mentoring at-risk youth speaks to me on a very personal level. I spent many years volunteering as a youth mentor, tutor, public speaker, and non-profit organizer specifically focused on changing the narrative for at-risk youth. Now especially, the need for these organizations is critical. When you grow up in a world filled with destructive generational norms and a media machine pumping a narrative that you can only be a victim of your circumstance, it can feel overwhelming. Mike supports local organizations specifically geared at seeking these kids out, mentoring them, providing them access to options they never knew were available, and even helping them get set up with a post-high school career in the trade industries and even on to college if they so choose.
While Mike has a comprehensive, well-rounded depth and breadth of experience, one thing he is not is a career politician. Like many other candidates in the field, he is not coming from a political background. Mike believes that a big part of why D.C. is so broken is due to the prevalence of career politicians. One specific example he gave is the omnibus budget that passed with 4,000 earmarks. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle decided to fund thousands of projects within their states. They could claim they accomplished ‘this’ or ‘that’ even though ‘this’ and or ‘that’ are not federal government issues. This sort of flagrant runaway government spending is damaging to our country. It will leave our children and grandchildren with a fiscal calamity that we can no longer ignore.
Many politicians like to claim they will get the budget back on track; however, many don’t provide straightforward ways in which they would go about that feat. Mike, however, does have an uncomplicated common-sense plan for if he gets elected. He plans to push against earmarks and focus on what the federal government should be spending money on. There needs to be a concerted effort to reset to where we were pre COVID versus operating as if COVID spending should be the new baseline for our budget. Like most Republicans, Mike believes the 10th Amendment is meant to help delineate what should be done at the state versus the federal level. It will take a serious analytical mind to force a conversation on what genuinely critical federal programs need funding and what don’t. Dare I say it will take the same sort of discipline Mike learned from his time growing up around the military and throughout his life. Discipline that, as he put it and as I agree, is missing in D.C. from both parties.
Our country is facing serious problems and attacks, both external and internal, that threaten the very definition of what our country is and will continue to be. These issues require serious leaders who can come together with open dialogue and debate to come up with serious answers. Mike is undoubtedly a serious man more than capable of serious thought and open discussion. He may be the man for the job here in Virginia’s 10th. I wish him the best of luck in the upcoming primary election.
While we have many challenges ahead of us, one thing is clear; we have many dedicated men and women eager to step up to these challenges. It’s a great time to be a Republican and an even better time to be a Republican in Virginia. I’ve met and sat with almost every candidate in the 10th, and I genuinely believe there isn’t a bad one in the mix. If you live in the 10th congressional district and are unsure of who you want to represent you in Congress, I implore you to get involved, get out and meet these candidates, educate yourself on who they are and what they believe. I guarantee you will find at least one that speaks to your beliefs and concerns. We can’t afford to be passive participants in our government. We must be active with our engagement, open with our discussions, and critical in our thinking.
The future of our country depends on our engagement today.
