This week I was invited by Chancellor Middle School to be the keynote speaker at their annual Veterans Day ceremony about “The Price of Freedom.”  I shared with the students, many of them about our youngest daughter’s age, my thoughts about the price of Freedom, as well as the value of Freedom, a concept that was impressed upon me by my mother, who grew up in Tunisia during World War II.  Her father – my grandfather – was incarcerated by the Nazis, and so I am especially grateful for the Veterans of that War – the Greatest Generation.  Without them, my mother wouldn’t be here and neither would I.  Our veterans should know that America will stand with them always and that their sacrifices will be always remembered and appreciated. We enjoy our liberty today because of the brave men and women willing to stand strong for Freedom before us.  And we should always remember that America is the land of the free, because we are truly the home of the brave.

Started off the day at the Fredericksburg Christian School Leadership Institute where I addressed more than 400 high school students and parents about what leadership is – some of the lessons I learned from my father, who was a great leader; and some of the lessons I’ve learned through life and through my own political experiences. I spoke about the importance of staying true to guiding principle…s, being motivated by an idea, assembling the best possible team, attracting others to the cause, and keeping promises and producing results.

Thank you to Larry Root, President & CEO of SimVentions, Inc. for giving me a tour of their facility this morning. I was able to meet with employees and learned how their small business uses their expertise and experience as a competitive advantage.

Allen pays a visit to defense contractor

Fredericksburg.com

By Chelyen Davis

July 28, 2011

Republican Senate candidate George Allen said a visit to a Spotsylvania County defense contractor gave him insights into what small businesses need from the federal government.

Allen, a former Virginia governor, is vying for the Republican nomination for next year’s U.S. Senate race, seeking the seat he lost in 2006.

Yesterday, he toured Sim Ventions, a small business that does systems and software engineering for Department of Defense programs.

There, company President Larry Root told Allen that the government must maintain programs that award a percentage of defense contracts to small businesses.

Such programs help businesses like SimVentions compete against larger contractors, said Root and other employees at the company.

The employees also told Allen that when Congress delays approving appropriations for contracts, it hurts small contractors more than the larger ones.

“It reinforced what I knew and have heard and thought was right,” Allen said later.

He said he had heard similar things from other small-business groups, and believes keeping small businesses in the contracting mix encourages more creativity and more innovation because it provides more competition.

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