Rick Perry proposes to make Washington inconsequential

The central question Republicans must consider in this election is whether we will settle for something less than we want, and something less than America needs.

I have great respect for my fellow Republican candidates. Each is sincere in the belief that Washington is broken, and any one of them would be an improvement upon our current president.

But if we replace a Democratic insider with a Republican insider, what will truly change in Washington besides the party in power?

This election, we don't have to settle for Washington and Wall Street insiders who supported the bailouts and the Obamacare individual mandate. We don't have to passively accept the edicts of an establishment that gave us earmarks, deficits, and a limitless debt ceiling. We don't have to elect a candidate who would allow Iran to be armed at the expense of Israel, and ultimately America.

I offer voters a clear choice. I am the limited-government conservative in this campaign that will give Washington the complete overhaul it needs.

It starts by creating a part-time, citizen Congress like our founders intended. We should cut their pay in half, cut their time in Washington in half, and send them home to get jobs like everyone else. It's time for members of Congress to start living under the laws they pass with the people they represent. And because a president must lead by example, we should also cut the president's pay in half until the federal budget is balanced.

I will break Washington's spending addiction and balance the budget with real spending reductions. My plan permanently bans corporate bailouts, because taxpayers should not have to pay exorbitant bonuses to the Wall Street executives who defrauded them. And it will get rid of earmarks, which have become the crack-cocaine of Congress.

Last week, President Obama provided a clear-cut example of Washington's dysfunctional mentality. Five months after the disastrous debt ceiling hike, he asked Congress to raise the ceiling by another $1.2 trillion. And make no mistake: Some of our own leaders will view this as nothing more than another horse to trade.

This is why we cannot ask an insider to overhaul Washington — because insiders are born of a corrupt establishment culture.

Republicans can choose among various insiders who have spent 63 years in Congress driving up the debt and voting for earmarks, or pick a governor who has signed six balanced budgets, cut state spending, and worked with private sector leaders to create one million jobs.

I offer voters a chance not only to vote their conservative values, but to vote for a candidate with a proven record of putting those values to work in public office. I am a fiscal conservative who has cut state spending, passed sweeping lawsuit reforms, and worked to create the best job creation environment in the country. And I am a social conservative who has defended traditional marriage and protected unborn children, including signing a budget that defunded Planned Parenthood and shut down 12 of their clinics in Texas.

As an Air Force veteran, I know America is an exceptional land. Despite our present economic circumstances, I truly believe our best days are yet to come — if we elect the right leadership.

I am a conservative of conviction, not of convenience. The values that guide me are the same values I learned growing up on the family farm. I won't back down from a fight, and I am not afraid to step on a few toes in order to overhaul Washington.

I will be the anti-establishment outsider who goes to Washington with a sense of purpose, and that purpose is to make Washington as inconsequential in your lives as I possibly can.

Rick Perry on Congressional Insider Trading [:24]

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Nov. 13, 2011: “Pelosi fires back at ‘60 Minutes’ report on ‘soft corruption’”

“Pelosi and her husband participated in an initial public offering of Visa in 2008, according to CBS. They bought 5,000 shares at the initial price of $44; two days later, shares were trading at $64, CBS said.”.......... Source

Pelosi Bashes Catholics: 'They Have This Conscience Thing'... “After having some of her behind the scenes shenanigans exposed, Nancy Pelosi has turned to her friends in the MSM to help her with damage control. The effect is something akin to watching what scrambles out after you overturn a large rock.

Pelosi sought to defend herself from allegations that she and her husband made millions from insider trading in what the Washington Post calls a wide ranging interview…….."

Perry’s govt reform speech "This is not red meat. This is raw meat, still steaming from the cow"

The Vetoes of Rick Perry - As Texas governor, he broke records and earned conservative support.

November 16, 2011

Dear Leader Pelosi,

After reading about House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer’s outburst over my “Overhauling Washington” plan, I wonder if his obstructionism reflects your own opposition and that of the Democratic Caucus to urgent reforms the American people so vehemently demand.

After increasing the debt by $4 trillion in less than three years, no one can believe that Americans are satisfied with business as usual, and that a permanent political class in Washington can get us out of the mess you and your colleagues have created.

A part-time Congress with half the pay would still make $38,000 a year more than the average American family. Do you truly oppose lawmakers spending more time in their districts? Is it so important for the Washington power brokers to build their fiefdoms of influence, including providing bailouts to Wall Street while businesses on Main Street are being boarded up every day?

Here is the fundamental question: do you believe Washington is broken? Before answering that question, consider these facts:

1) the Washington Metro area is now the most affluent metropolitan area in the country because lobbyists, contractors, elected officials and bureaucrats have been insulated from the economic ruin prevalent in the private sector;
2) Congressional office budgets have doubled since 2000 while employers all across America are laying off workers;
3) Our nation’s total debt is nearing the size of our nation’s economy, increasing our dependence on competitors like China;
4) The number of Americans out of work has increased by more than two million since January 2009, despite the massive stimulus package Democratic leaders promised would revive the economy, and;
5) on top of the job-killing spending policies of the previous Congress, employers are faced with a staggering $1.1 trillion in costs related to federal regulatory compliance.

Do you truly believe the answer to massive debt, over-regulation and bloated big-government policies is to continue to protect the status quo, which enriches and empowers Washington insiders at the expense of the American People?

My plan would overhaul Washington, eliminating certain agencies and reducing the size and scope of others. It will force Congress to make the tough decisions to balance the budget or require a further reduction in their pay. It would end lifetime appointments to future appointees to the federal bench. I don’t want to tinker around the edges when the American People demand a complete overhaul of Washington.

Let me conclude with an invitation: I am in Washington Monday and would love to engage you in a public debate about my Overhaul Washington plan versus the congressional status quo. I think it would be a tremendous service to the American public to see a public airing of these differences. Let the people decide. If Monday doesn’t work, perhaps we could find a time in Iowa over the course of the next month to discuss these issues in front of the people of America’s heartland.

Should you choose not to respond or engage in such a healthy discussion, I will take it to mean you will continue your obstructionist ways in the face of much needed Washington reform.

Sincerely,

Rick Perry
Governor of Texas

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