Eighth Congressional District Candidate Forum at George Mason ... >
May 5, 2014 - Bruce Shuttleworth.

Opening Statement
Good evening good Democrats.  It's an honor to share time and space with you tonight.  I also have my family here.  My wife Divonne, our twin Shuttle fellows, Reece and pound for pound the pie-eating champion of Arlington County, Bowen.

I'm Bruce Shuttleworth.  My friends call me Shuttle.  Please call me that too.  I'm a vet.  I used to fly those cool looking jets off the pointy end of our aircraft carriers.  Scared the crap out of myself.  My take offs equal my landings only because we have the finest armed forces and defense contractors in the world.  There's no question about that.  Thank you.

But I have other questions.  Hard ones.  They're best asked by somebody that can't be called soft on defence.  One of those questions is what is our greatest national security threat?  I don't think it's Putin's Russia or China or terrorism.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that I think the greatest threat to national security is something that doesn't care that we spend three-quarters of a trillion dollars on national defense.  It doesn't care about shiny jet fighters or all the drones in the world.  It targets our cities, our countries and our entire food chain from plankton to your dinner plate, and we need to do something about it.

That threat is climate change.  If America can show the grit and determination in the 1960s to put man on the moon, there's no reason why we can't chart a course to a sustainable energy future today, and our military contractors can play a huge role.  What's at stake?  Perpetual energy security.  Climates, a climate that we can live in.  Clean air.  Better health. Massive health care savings and save lives.

This is very personal to me.  Both my parents died of lung cancer, both non-smokers.  But some people have had it worse.  Last year a ten-year old named Gabriella Miller died in Leesburg of brain cancer.  She implored Congress to better fund children's research.  She said, "Talk is bullshit. We need action."  Her words, not mine.  I wouldn't say that in public.  That's, the result of that was $127 million over ten years.  That's equal to one-twentieth of one F-35 fighter.  That sounds like a joke to me.  That's the best that Congress can do?  It makes no sense that we spend 150 times more on national defense than on NCI, yet we are thousands of times more likely to die of cancer than we are terrorism.  We can do so much better on prevention, detection, treatment, and some day, some day with the right investment and focus a cure.  And with that day in mind—whether that day is close in or far out—I'm running for Congress and I'd appreciate your support.
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