Former U.S. senator George Allen of Virginia, who is running to recapture the Senate seat he lost to Jim Webb in 2006, addressed a group of George Mason University students on Feb. 15.
Allen echoed many of the concerns voiced in recent months by conservatives and Tea Party activists concerned with President Obama's healthcare initiative and the ballooning national debt.
"Bad, onerous legislation"
Allen directed most of his criticism at the large amount of money being spent by the Congress and expressed a general desire to limit the reach of the federal government.
“I think more decisions should be made by the people in the
states," Allen said. "But the federal government is making so many decisions that affect us,
and every vote counts.”
Allen said that deficit spending was a threat to the U.S.'s long-term security.
“The federal government should not be starting new programs
now when there’s so much debt," Allen said. "The fact that China owns more of our bonds than
do Americans is not a good position for us to be in. What the federal
government needs to do is get its house in order and operate the way families
and businesses do. They have to curtail spending when they don’t have revenues
coming in. [The programs being eliminated] may be nice programs, but we can’t
afford them.”
Reducing the government's role
Allen had strong words for a federal government that he said had "exceeded its powers" by implementing "initiative-sapping measures."
The former senator spoke out against pork-barrel spending, a problem that he said could be resolved by giving the president a line-item veto by way of an amendment to the Constitution.
"That way, even a Supreme Court justice could understand it," Allen quipped.
"Cock-eyed energy policy"
Allen lambasted the "sanctimonious social engineers in Washington" who he said viewed the U.S.'s reserves of coal, natural gas, and shale oil as "a curse rather than the blessing they are."
The former senator said that the U.S.'s energy dependence on other countries amounted to a national security risk.
"CO2 regulations will cause skyrocketing electricity, food, and fuel costs," he said. "It would be economic unilateral disarmament. China, Brazil, and India are not going to impose those regulations on themselves."
"That way, even a Supreme Court justice could understand it," Allen quipped.
"Cock-eyed energy policy"
Allen lambasted the "sanctimonious social engineers in Washington" who he said viewed the U.S.'s reserves of coal, natural gas, and shale oil as "a curse rather than the blessing they are."
The former senator said that the U.S.'s energy dependence on other countries amounted to a national security risk.
He also alleged that the federal government was restricting domestic energy extraction.
“We have a counterproductive, cock-eyed energy policy,” Allen said. "Preventing our country from developing its resources makes
no sense. The extraction of coal and natural gas creates American jobs and doesn't involve billions and trillions of dollars going overseas.”
He also slammed proposed carbon dioxide caps.
"CO2 regulations will cause skyrocketing electricity, food, and fuel costs," he said. "It would be economic unilateral disarmament. China, Brazil, and India are not going to impose those regulations on themselves."
Allen cited the ongoing unrest in the Middle East as one more reason for the United States to invest in domestic energy and said that Americans could learn from the example of France.
"The French get 70 percent of their energy from nuclear production, and they do it much more safely and efficiently than we do," Allen elaborated, noting that the French dispose of their nuclear waste through the process of vitrification, or encasement in glass. "I know darned well that if the French can do it, so can Americans."
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