Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 8/5/2009 7:55:00 AMhttp://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=632544 WASHINGTON, DC - The general chairman of the group American Solutions for Winning the Future gave a rousing speech on economy within government at the 31st Young America's Foundation's Conservative Student Conference.
Seen as a hero and leader of the conservative movement, Newt Gingrich approached the podium to loud applause Tuesday afternoon at the conference, which is being hosted this week on the campus of George Washington University. He had much to say about what he calls the out-of-control tax-and-spend policies of the Obama administration.
Gingrich said that while the Republicans failed to control government spending since the mid 1990s, the spending habits of the Obama administration make the Republicans look like angels. Gingrich says one of the problems the current administration is struggling with is the concept that 2-plus-2-equals-4.
The former House speaker contends that Obama's penchant for social-program spending is creating a society where people rely too much on the government.
"And that's going to be a real argument about what kind of a country we're going to be," he cautioned, "because a country in which you rely on somebody else to give you everything is a country in which you just gave power over your life to somebody else."
According to Gingrich, a government that can give its citizens everything can also take everything away. "And a country where you are self-reliant and you are capable of having a work ethic, and you are capable of learning, and you're capable of controlling your own money, is a country where you have dramatically more freedom."
While a major topic of discussion on Capitol Hill has been the administration's healthcare reform proposal -- which could add trillions to an already exploding deficit -- another administration program could take trillions in taxes from people across America. OneNewsNow asked Gingrich how he felt about the Waxman-Markey energy bill -- often referred to as "cap and trade" -- that recently passed the House and could be picked up for debate in the Senate as early as September.
"Well, first of all I'm deeply opposed to an energy tax," he responded. "I think that it is destructive of America. I don't think it does anything to help the environment. I think all it does is ship jobs to China and India -- and so increasing carbon production in China and India doesn't strike me as a net advantage for the environment or the human race."
And what about alleged "manmade global warming"?
"I'm not at all convinced on climate change," said Gingrich. "I do think there is some evidence on increased carbon load in the atmosphere, and I'm willing to be prudent about it -- but I'm not willing to do things which are economically destructive. I think that there is no evidence right now that justifies crippling the American economy on behalf of a theory."
During the question-and-answer segment of the speech, one student drew chuckles from the audience when he asked Gingrich if he had any vacation plans to visit Iowa or New Hampshire in 2012. The conservative Republican also laughed and said he would have to think about that more in January of 2011.