George Allen, former Virginia congressman, governor and U.S. Senator, spoke at the Law School's Caplin Pavilion yesterday evening.
Allen, who completed his undergraduate education at the University in 1974 and graduated from the Law School in 1977, discussed his new book, "What Washington Can Learn From the World of Sports."
Virginia Law and Graduate Republicans and College Republicans co-sponsored the event - which drew an audience of about 50 people - with the Law School.
"He's polled well in Virginia for the last couple of decades," said Gary Lawkowski, president of Law and Graduate Republicans. "We wanted to get his thoughts on the current political situation."
The self-described "common sense, Jeffersonian conservative," whose father was a Hall of Fame coach in the National Football League, used sports analogies to frame his discussion of politics and governance in his book.
"When you think about Washington, there's hardly anything that anyone's cheering about," he said. "I thought, what are the principles of sports that could be applied to government?"
Allen "grew up in the world of sports," he said. As a University student, Allen played for both the football and rugby teams, which helped direct him to the overarching principle of his book - judging an individual's success based on "not equal results, but equal opportunity."
"Players came from all over the country, from different races and background, but none of that mattered," he said. "All that mattered was 'Can you do your job for the team?'"
Drawing from names of some of the book's chapters, such as "You never punt on first down" and "What gets measured, gets better," Allen spoke about issues ranging from health care to states' rights.
The University alumnus expressed his disapproval of President Obama's health care system in favor of a privatized "health savings account." He also voiced disapproval of the current administration's energy policy, arguing that the federal government needs to de-regulate carbon dioxide emissions through the Environmental Protection Agency. He advocated for the rights of states, calling them "laboratories of democracy."
"What's holding us back is not the American people but the political will to unleash creativity," he said.
Before he finished, Allen gave his opinion about the upcoming elections.
"The future of our country will be decided in the elections of 2010 and 2012," he said. "We'll either continue declining or start ascending"
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