American Individualism: How a New Generation of Conservatives Can Save the Republican Party

Margaret Hoover has been a lifelong member of the Republican Party. She grew up a self-described “ditto head.” She worked in the White House for President George W. Bush. Today she is a political commentator for Fox News, where, as one of Bill O’Reilly’s Culture Warriors, she regularly champions the conservative cause. She also happens to be the great-granddaughter of the thirty-first president of the United States, Herbert Hoover. These impeccable conservative credentials underscore the gravity of her deep-seated concerns about the future of the Republican Party. Her party, she believes, has fallen dangerously out of step with the rising generation of young Americans.

   In American Individualism, Margaret Hoover chal-lenges the up-and-coming millennial generation to take another look at the Republican Party. Although millennials rarely identify themselves as Republicans, Hoover contends that these young men and women who helped elect President Barack Obama are sympathetic to the fundamental principles of conservatism. She makes a compelling case for how the GOP can right itself and capture the allegiance of this group. She believes that her party is uniquely positioned to offer solutions for the most pressing problems facing America—skyrocketing debt and deficits, crises in education and immigration, a war against Islamist supremacy—but that it is held back by the outsize influence within the party of social and religious conservatives. 

   American Individualism is Hoover’s call to action for Republicans to embrace a conservatism that emphasizes individual freedom both in economic policy and in the realm of social issues in order to appeal to the new generation of voters. The Republican Party, Hoover asserts, can win the support of the millennials while at the same time remaining faithful to conservative principles. In a journey that is both political and personal, Hoover rediscovers these bedrock conservative values in the writings of her great-grandfather, President Herbert Hoover, who emphasized the vital importance of individual freedom to the American way of life and who sought to strike a delicate balance in identifying the limited yet essential role the federal government should play in the lives of Americans. 

   Margaret Hoover advocates a conservatism that is fully consistent with the original impulses of the American conservative movement. It evokes her great-grandfather’s emphasis on the values of civic responsibility and service to others—instincts instilled in the millennial generation. She argues that the Republican Party today must evolve in order to achieve greatness, and that it can do so without compromising its tried-and-true fundamental principles. On the contrary, those enduring principles, if consistently applied, will enable the party to attract a younger following. 

   An impassioned and persuasive political manifesto grounded in twentieth-century history and targeted at

the most perplexing problems of the twenty-first century, Margaret Hoover’s American Individualism offers provocative ideas not just for reinvigorating the Republican Party but also for strengthening America in the decades ahead.

Praise for American Individualism:

“It is not her great grandfather’s Republican party anymore. And Margaret Hoover has written a book that old Herbert would enjoy. Sassy, opinionated, and smart, Ms. Hoover shakes up conventional GOP wisdom.” 

—Bill O’Reilly, Anchor, Fox News Channel

 

“Margaret Hoover, a fresh and brilliant young voice in the Republican Party, is bent on connecting the GOP to rising generations of the young. She has something to say to their elders, too. They'd best hear her.”

—Peggy Noonan, columnist, Wall Street Journal

“Margaret Hoover's American Individualism is a must read for every member of the Republican party—elected or otherwise—as a new generation of Republicans try to shine new light on who exactly we should be.”

—Meghan McCain, author of Dirty Sexy Politics

"Fox News political commentator Hoover is the great-granddaughter of Herbert Hoover, and this book is an attempt either to vindicate his presidency or to re-establish the conservative mores that served the 1930s. Her complete devotion to her grandfather is evident in the fact that she uses the same title as his 1922 book. Either way, she repeats the same Republican mantras as we head into the same sort of depression that her grandfather's politics heralded, encouraging the policy of 'no' as she tries to capture the votes of the 'millennials.' The former Bush (II) White House Staff member echoes the party lines about gay marriage, a decentralized federal government, the EPA, and illegal immigration. If you really want a picture of conservatism today, try a more informed read such as The Death of Conservatism by Sam Tanenhaus, which is not especially encouraging, but more informed. "
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MARGARET HOOVER has served on the staff at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and on two presidential campaigns. A Fox News contributor, she is a Culture Warrior on Bill O’Reilly’s top-rated show, The Factor. She serves on the advisory boards for the American Foundation for Equal Rights and GOProud. She is a member of the Board of Overseers at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and serves on the boards of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association and the Belgian American Educational Foundation. Hoover lives in New York City with her husband.