It's the 5th of July: Join Us In The Flyover Coalition!

I am introducing The Flyover Coalition today with a “soft“ launch but with a hard conviction: We can’t be flown over in Flyover Country anymore.

Indeed, the goal of the Flyover Coalition is to strengthen Flyover Country from a view ... to a voice.

The Flyover Coalition is a new not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization with a clear purpose: to advance the prospects of the region between the Appalachians and the Rockies, the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. That's the part of America often derisively called "Flyover Country," the part that usually gets dismissed by the cognoscenti on the coasts, often with derision.

But it's also the part of America where the future actually lies -- with we who live, work, raise families and build companies here. The aim of The Flyover Coalition is to advance, tirelessly and creatively, the economy, culture, businesses and, most important, the people of America's heartland. Please look around this  site, FlyoverCoalition.org, for information about our activities, our principles, our agenda and our story.

The date for launching this organization formally is no accident. For The Flyover Coalition, the good of the country will always come first, just as July 4 always comes before July 5. But the interests of Flyover Country should be almost as important -- just as the future prosperity of our heartland is crucial not only for its residents but also for the United States of America.

Some of you may know that I've been laying groundwork for The Flyover Coalition for a while, but there's no better time for this organization to really take flight than now. The Flyover Coalition is gaining support from individuals, companies, economic-development organizations and other entities who also want to advance the interests of the heart of America, and who believe that cooperation on a broad regional level is the best way to do it.

And in the post-Covid-19 world, Flyover Country will need this kind of unity more than ever. In fact, I believe the pandemic and its aftermath will represent a dramatic opportunity for a reboot that will put more control of our own economic future in the hands of the residents of Flyover Country.

We must grasp that chance to bootstrap our own destiny in Flyover Country, not relying on how the landscape may be reshaped nor depending on the coastal interests that continue to control the future of the country.

We can all agree that Flyover Country still isn't being represented nationally in ways that are helpful to our economies and our growth, and we need to be. Even the pundits who were stunned at the results of the 2016 elections because the presidential race essentially was decided in the Midwest have conveniently forgotten about us -- until now, when key states in Flyover Country figure again to play heavily in the results of this November's election.

We must create a sense of regional economic purpose and identity, on top of our allegiance to the smaller entities that make up Flyover Country, because while we love to compete with one another in and for business, we're also in a much larger competition, on an even bigger stage, with the coasts.

For the coasts have all the power centers -- Silicon Valley and its Seattle extensions, Hollywood, New York and Washington, D.C. They control the technology arena, increasingly the retailing arena, definitely America's culture-shaping machine, the financial and marketing worlds and, of course, the levers of political and media power.

Every economic-development official and consultant, and many CEOs and other business decision makers, will tell you there's a high level where decisions are made on factories, offices, labs and warehouses, decisions on where hundreds and thousands of jobs at a time will be created, that cut all of us out in Flyover Country, as a region.

So while Indianapolis leaders may be competing with Green Bay, may be competing with Omaha, may be competing with Little Rock and Detroit and Columbus and Orlando for a plant expansion, many times all of those places have been eliminated from site decisions before any have a chance to compete with one another -- simply because they're in Flyover Country.

The Flyover Coalition can help create a sense of unity, purpose and positive identity for Flyover Country, and advance and defend America's heartland, while also highlighting what individual companies, people and entities are doing throughout our region.

We can be the glue that optimizes what we can accomplish together for the benefit of all of us, and for individual states and cities across Flyover Country.

Among our first activities will be organizing a series of virtual conferences around vital economic topics that will give business leaders, ranging from Fortune 500 CEOs to the freshest tech entrepreneurs, opportunities to share ideas and best practices.

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Soon, the Flyover Coalition also will publish the Flyover Report online, which will be a great vehicle for supporting Flyover Country, and our people, and for reaching them with branded content and advertising. And as we grow, we intend to be an unavoidable presence in national media that still -- amazingly -- are largely ignoring us, or berating us.

I've received IRS approval of the group's not-for-profit status and am awaiting approval of tax-exempt status, for those who may want to support The Flyover Coalition.

Meantime, we're still working out some of the kinks in our web site. Likewise on Twitter and Facebook. Please look us up!

But there's enough for you to get the idea: The Flyover Coalition is here to represent you. We're gaining altitude. And we'd like you to support us.

FlyoverCoalition.org is still in beta mode, so pardon us for a while!