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Foreign policy dominates congressional debate

Posted January 15, 2008 10:00 pm

Beranrd Schoenburg

Good communication and continuing foreign trade is going to keep the world safer, Republican candidates for the U.S. House from the 18th Congressional District said during a 90-minute debate Tuesday that included some light moments.

State Rep. Aaron Schock of Peoria, former Peoria City Council member John Morris and Jim McConoughey, head of a Peoria-based business umbrella group, dealt with questions of war and the economy, but also of polls and campaigning in the forum at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

At one point, moderator Chris Mooney, a political studies professor at UIS, asked the candidates about endorsements.

In addition to his family and the hundreds of people who have contributed or volunteered for him, Morris said, "I also wanted to announce that Aaron Schock is endorsing me," adding later that it was "actually Jim McConoughey."

"That's a joke, too," he said.

"A little levity in politics is not a bad thing," he said, noting later the large number of forums - more than a dozen already - but also saying he takes issues like national security with the "utmost seriousness."

He was encouraged by Mooney to "leave the jokes to the emcee."

"I can assure you that endorsements don't vote," Schock said, but added he was proud of those he's gotten from party and public officials and the Sangamon County GOP. McConoughey said he is "not a professional politician," but looked on endorsers, including Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis and former Springfield Mayor Mike Houston, as advisers.

Mooney asked the candidates what they considered America's greatest foreign-policy threat after terrorism.

McConoughey cited something political scientists call "authoritarian capitalism," which he said is practiced in countries such as Russia and China, where there are "extraordinary economies growing at a very high rate" but they also are "controlled in many ways by authoritarian regimes. And that doesn't let a lot of democracy occur."

To negotiate with such countries, he said, America has to "band together with freedom-loving democracies and try very hard to negotiate based on the issues, not on the ideology."

Schock said America needs to do a better job communicating directly with people - instead of leaders - of countries where democracy could spread. He said the U.S. government has not done a good job of "communicating what America stands for."

"I believe that our ambassadors throughout the world need to take a much more proactive approach of engaging the people of the country - going on their talk radio stations, going on their television stations," Schock said. "Our embassies ought to have their own blogs to encourage communications with the people."

While Morris said "the war on terror is the new foreign policy of this country, and all else surrounds it," he added that any backsliding on free trade would be a secondary threat.

"Free trade must be a way of the future," Morris said. "We cannot go backwards," which he said could mean "we will lose hold of all the developing economies that free trade has helped us build and the friendships that have resulted."

UIS and The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce co-sponsored the debate.

Democrats do not have a candidate on the Feb. 5 primary election ballot to replace U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, who is not running for re-election, but party officials can select a nominee later.

Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at (217) 788-1540.

Also discussed were:

Congressional earmarks

All three candidates said projects approved by Congress should result from a more transparent process, and not be quietly inserted into the federal budget.

Schock said he supported the tax cuts of President Bush, but Republicans who controlled Congress for a time under Bush were "flawed" in not controlling domestic spending and allowing "runaway earmarks."

Morris said there should be legislation to ensure "we know who puts it in, how much it is and exactly the moment it goes in" to avoid "colossal waste" of federal dollars.

McConoughey said names of sponsors of earmarks must be public, and there should be an "ample amount of time" for review of appropriations.

Social Security

Morris said there needs to be a "revolution" in the system, with a shift to private savings accounts as well as health savings accounts.

"I haven't zeroed in on a proposal," he said later, but eventually, "It would be nice to see a private system where people are individually accountable."

Schock said the focus needs to be on making sure the Social Security Trust Fund is not used for other purposes. He said later he would support "immediate add-on accounts" that would allow employees without work-based savings plans to voluntarily ask that additional money be set aside for retirement.

McConoughey said later that while he thinks in the future there should be some privatization of Social Security, "for some folks, you still have to have a … government-backed safety net."

China vs. Taiwan

Schock reiterated he overstated a former proposal that included the possibility of selling nuclear arms to Taiwan if China didn't back more sanctions to urge Iran not to develop an atomic arsenal. He said again that bringing up the issue is "beating a dead horse to pulp." But he said he doesn't think he overstated the threat posed by Iran.

McConoughey said Schock's proposal, even though the nuclear part has been taken back, showed a policy of using "aggression to help enforce our diplomatic" aims. "I fundamentally believe that we need to build coalitions of freedom-loving democracies," he said, and under the Bush administration, "we have lost some of our long-time allies, and we need to restore that faith."

Morris said Schock can speak for himself, but Morris re-emphasized the threat of terrorism.

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