The Game-Changer From Texas
Election '12: Bypassing Iowa may have consequences for his candidacy, but Rick Perry's entry into the race will change everything. Will the public and his party be willing to put another Texas governor in the White House?
In what the chattering class perceives as a deliberate snub, Perry decided to forgo the chance to stand between Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul in Iowa, preferring to announce his candidacy for the White House in South Carolina. Why, they ask, would he try to steal the thunder from the Ames straw poll?
Perhaps because he feels he doesn't need it. The RealClearPolitics.com average of polls showed Perry in second place with 15.4%, trailing the presumed front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, by five points. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who hasn't announced a candidacy, places third, in a near-tie with Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, an announced candidate who polls fourth.
Perry, the longest-serving governor in the history of Texas, the nation's second-largest state, brings a lot to the table. He was a self-proclaimed "10th Amendment conservative" before the Tea Party existed and has led the fight against ObamaCare and EPA regulations as violations of state powers under the U.S. Constitution.
Between 2001 and last June, Texas, a right-to-work state that taxes neither personal income nor capital gains, added more jobs than the other 49 states combined. In the last two years, Perry's Texas has created 37% of America's net new jobs.
Perry may have chosen South Carolina as his entry into the race because it's a right-to-work state embroiled in a battle with the National Labor Relations Board over aircraft giant Boeing's plans to expand and create jobs there. It's a battle Perry relishes.
Tort reforms, including medical malpractice, signed into law by Perry have helped make Texas a business-friendly state. Perry has also battled the administration on the pivotal issue of illegal immigration, decrying a "porous" border that can let in potential terrorists as well as illegal aliens.
Critics say that the governor of Texas really doesn't have all that much power and influence, that the state kind of runs itself and that in any event it was the rise in oil prices that fueled its boom. Yet it happened on Perry's watch and under his leadership, and he's prepared to make the argument for and show the benefits of low taxes, less regulation, limited government and the development of domestic energy.
He is unabashedly pro-life and recently signed a law requiring women seeking abortions to be shown sonograms of their unborn children, a law that does not sit well with those who tolerate the new graphic warnings on cigarette packs. It will appeal, however, to a broad swath of social conservatives.
On the subject of entitlements, Perry favors the Galveston plan for Social Security reform. Before 1983, when Congress shut the door, cities and municipalities were allowed to opt out of Social Security, which Galveston and two other Texas counties did in 1981.
Their creation of personal retirement accounts has avoided the fiscal train wreck that faces this nation due to runaway entitlements and their unfunded liabilities. Over the last decade, the accounts have earned 3.75% to 5.75% each year, with an average around 5%.
A middle-income worker making $51,200 would get about $1,540 monthly from Social Security, but $3,600 under the Galveston plan. Contributions are in an account with the worker's name on it, and the entire amount is considered part of the estate that can be passed on to heirs.
The rabid left will no doubt attack Perry on this and the other stuff, but it's a debate Perry is ready for and America needs to have. America is tired of the community organizer from Chicago. It could be we are ready for a no-nonsense conservative from Paint Creek, Texas.