OPINION: Why Allen is the better choice for United States Senate

Former Governor Allen in a debate against former Governor Kaine (Photo courtesy of Giarc80HC)

As George Allen recently said in his debate against Tim Kaine, “will we continue to decline, or ascend again?” These are words which frequently resonate in the heads of concerned Americans. The national debt has been rising at a historic rate and unemployment has been high for the last few years. Speaking as a college student, I feel that it is important to look at the state of our economy as we will soon be searching through the job market. However, in this economy, one out of every two college graduates is unable to find a job or can only find one that is underpaying and unrelated to their degree. Washington D.C. needs more people in the United States Congress who are innovators and proven job creators. These individuals will help improve the condition of our economy by creating legislation that promotes economic growth and stability. Tim Kaine, in my opinion, does not meet those necessary criteria. One individual who does is the great American patriot George Allen.

As governor, Allen helped create 310,000 new jobs in the Commonwealth and unemployment dropped from 5% to 2.9% under his tenure. As a United States Senator, he was a strong advocate for small business, gun rights and reforming the tax code.

The upcoming Senate election is extremely important. Allen and Kaine, who are running for U.S. Senate in Virginia, have two fundamentally different visions for the future of our country. Kaine’s vision for America is one of increased spending, higher taxes and more government control in our lives. With a national debt nearly topping $16 trillion dollars, increased spending is something that cannot be afforded.  Allen’s vision for America is one that promotes economic growth by decreasing spending, lowering taxes and eliminating regulations that hurt small businesses, which are the backbone of the economy. With lesser regulations, this vision will lead to more job growth and a larger job market. Additionally, Allen will vote to repeal the more costly portions of the Affordable Care Act; however, he will vote to keep the more popular provisions of the act that are helpful and necessary to us Americans, specifically college students, such as the provision that allows children to stay on their parents’ healthcare plans until they are 26.

In this election, Virginia’s importance cannot be overstated. It is an important battle ground state that must be won by the Republican presidential ticket. However, to ensure their victory, we must work from the state level—grassroots up. It is imperative that George Allen wins as, if he wins, Mitt Romney will likely win Virginia along with a first class ticket to the White House.

Opinions expressed in this column are solely the beliefs of the writer. 

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