Rick Perry At CPAC - Red States vs. Blue States

Political Realities ^ | 03/08/14 | LD Jackson

[LD Jackson]

The major news in the conservative world this week has been the goings on at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee meeting in Washington, D. C. It seems to have become a sounding board for possible future presidential candidates to stretch their legs, testing the wind beneath their wings, so to speak. Many of the speakers may be in the running for the 2016 Republican nomination for President. Since I am nowhere close to deciding who my favorite will be, I have not listened to any of the speeches, before now. I suppose I have just not been in the mood for the coming battle to regain the White House. That was before I came across Rick Perry's speech at CPAC.

In 2012, Rick Perry was my early favorite in the Republican primaries. Maybe it was just his style, but I also like what he had to say. His flop in the primaries is well-known. What I didn't know then was that he was fighting severe back pain at the time. If anyone had an excuse for being off their game, it is anyone fighting that kind of pain. I know that from experience. It isn't really an excuse, but just a statement of fact. As I was reading through John Hayward's commentary about Rick Perry's speech, I was struck by just how true his words really are. Pay special attention to the last paragraph in the quote.

Human Events - Perry has a terrific campaign theme for 2016, simple and powerful: Voters can take a look at red states versus blue states, and decide which model of government gets better results. It’s no contest, and Rick Perry is here to tell you the score. Why, he might even mention the wee little red state he happens to preside over… a state that’s been pumping out a disproportionate share of the nation’s jobs during the Obama years.

The great division between red and blue states, in Perry’s telling, is that red states, “the freedom of the individual comes first.” He cited the achievements of Republican governors such as Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and Rick Scott of Florida – tossing in a great wisecrack about how it’s appropriate for Scott’s prospective opponent, Charlie Crist, to switch parties and become a Democrat, seeing as how he presided over the loss of 800,000 jobs the last time he nested in Tallahassee.

But even as opportunity flourishes in these prosperous red states, the big blues, such as New York and California, are bleeding population so fast that it’s hard to find moving trucks to facilitate escape. A remarkably experiment has been under way for the past decade, and the results are clear: in states where the government plays a growing role in the lives of its citizens, prosperity diminishes, and exodus soon follows. ”From east coast to west coast, no two states have lost more personal income to other states than New York and California,” Perry noted.

On the other hand, conservative policies have been so successful that the people of Wisconsin rallied behind their governor, Scott Walker, through multiple attempts by powerful union bosses and left-wing activists to remove him. ”What is the common denominator in these states?” Perry asked. ”It is conservative governors, who cut taxes, who control spending, who invest in jobs… It is conservative governors who trust the people more than the machinery of government. It’s conservative governors who know the freedom of the individual must come before the power of the State.”

This is an argument often made in the abstract by conservatives, portraying Big Government as a sign of distrust towards a dominated populace that can’t be trusted to manage their own affairs. But Perry is making the argument concrete, not abstract, citing impressive real-world results to show voters the advantages of trusting people over government machinery. That’s a sturdy platform for a presidential campaign. It’s long past time for the Democrat Party to be shamed, good and hard, for the mess they’ve made of states where they have power.

I know the Republicans have a fair amount of ammunition with which to go after the Obama administration and any possible successor the Democrats may come up with. The fight against ObamaCare is chief in that arsenal, as is the push for more government spending and higher taxes. However, Rick Perry raises a very important point about the differences in governing between red states and blue states. Those differences are on full display for all of America to see. Even though some of the governors he mentioned are possible opponents in the 2016 Republican primaries, should he decide to run, Perry had no qualms about citing their accomplishments.

I am not writing this post as an endorsement of Rick Perry for President. Rather, I am writing it as an endorsement of the campaign theme he espoused in his speech at CPAC. The differences between red states and blue states could not be more stark. Would you believe Oklahoma has actually been cutting taxes in the last few years? And yet, our tax revenues have grown. That sort of does away with the theory that the only way to get more revenue into the government coffers is to raise taxes or create fees with which to raise money. Other conservative states have also figured this out.

Not only do red states seem to be doing much better than their blue state counterparts, but the people who are living in blue states are leaving in droves, moving to states that are more conducive to conservative thinking. Simply put, individuals and businesses alike are moving to states that are more welcoming to individual freedoms and liberties. To those of us who champion those ideals, this comes as no surprise. I would humble suggest that no matter who becomes our presidential candidate in 2016, this concrete argument should be a part of their campaign arsenal. We have many examples we have of how conservative thinking and governing really works. Coupled with the examples of how liberals are ruining the states they control, as well as the failures of the Obama administration, I believe it can be a winning argument.

http://youtu.be/acoTrhWtQBM

[cripplecreek]

I hate the whole red vs blue thing. Which way the state voted for president in the last election doesn’t really say anything of value. Some of those states are solidly under GOP control with increasingly conservative policies.

All the red blue thing does is focuses the low info voters both left and right on targets while relieving them of the burden of thought.

[Diogenesis]

It is NOT red vs blue.

1. There are conservatives in whatever color the evil MSM
assigned. REMEMBER RED = COMMUNISM and therefore
it was changed by the evil MSM.

2. Perry should speak of conservative values.
Is he still for statism?

[Tupelo]

Right now, 2 1/2 years out, I could get excited about Perry, Walker and Palin. A couple of others I could vote for. But time will tell.

[Principled]

bttt

nice message and perry actually sounded grown up - praising the accomplishments of potential rivals on the same team

[SatinDoll]

Gov.Perry is a big supporter of the New World Order and of a North American Union, despite the fact that the majority of citizens of Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. are opposed to such a creation.

He ain’t exactly what he seems.

[Vigilanteman]

Perry turned me off when he showed more affection for illegal aliens than for U.S. citizens relatively early in the 2012 campaign. I am sorry, but this man would also lose a debate to Joe Biden.

[LD Jackson]

I thought Perry did a fair job of speaking about conservative values. Red states vs. blue states, conservative vs liberal, it’s the same message.

[tomkat]

One of the greatest failures of the GOPeunuchs in the past twenty years was allowing the enemy to get away with co-opting the red/blue identifiers.

It may seem a simple thing, but aside from being a bellwether of 'leadership' castration, it ranks with the left's having been allowed to purloin the classic definition of 'liberal' as understood by our Founders.

Both are prime examples of marxist bastardization in which the thing stated is almost invariably the polar opposite in reality.

Anyone still thinking that my oft posted 'american media domestic enemy' graphic is hyperbolic, need only understand that none of the above could have taken root w/o our seditious media's ceaseless drumbeat thereof.

eg:
             

[livius]

Excellent points!

[napscoordinator]

One thing Red States could improve on is their education. Seriously their K-12 education is dismal. No don’t throw money at it but perhaps show a little importance to it. Everytime I argue with a stupid liberal they throw education in my face and the fact that red states have the worst education. It is annoying.

[9YearLurker]

I agree. He’s also massively pro-amnesty even if he sometimes pretended otherwise.

We can do better.

(Not that I’m sure we will, but we can.)

[MuttTheHoople]

Actually, THAT'S a pile of crap. The Blue State Education flaw is that many of the Leftist States are racially homogenous (aka, mostly white like Vermont, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, etc.), don't allow blacks or Hispanics to populate any anywhere other than their urban areas. There's a lot of racial segregation in these areas and therefore the racial tension is in the societies at large, but not in their schools. An example of a Red State with excellent education is Utah, which is over 95% white.

In Conservative States, the races are more mixed together. Because of the horrid racism of lily-White Democrats in the past Century, they've had to deal with the issue of race for the past 50 years. In many black, Hispanic, and poor white communities, education is of very low importance.

I once read a Sociological report that, if you took 18 Delta counties out of Mississippi (there's 82 counties in the State), they'd be anywhere betweend 20th and 30th in all measurable rankings. That's because the Delta is 75-80% black and they've lived under Democrat rule for hundreds of years.

[TexasFreeper2009]

That's because red states have the highest percentage of minorities and in particular illegal immergrants who's first language isn't even English.

How is a child suppose to excel at school if they can't even speak the language.

[napscoordinator]

Well Maryland is not lilly white and is the number one state in education in the country. I still won’t send my kids to public school because I want them in Catholic School but Maryland does have incredible public schools.

[Bernard]

Maybe Rick Perry could debate Joe Biden on an episode of "The View". That would also be a competition to see who is the smartest person in the room.

From a conservative who does not have a heart, according to Rick Perry. Because I don't want to subsidize his favorite illegal aliens.

[napscoordinator]

The problem is that the blue areas are where the people live. Red areas are very low population in comparison.

[cripplecreek]

I’d really rather see conservative principles promoted and encouraged where ever they’re found rather than ignored or ridiculed because they exist in the “wrong color” state.

[randita]

Scott Walker has a solid record of accomplishment as well and he governs a Rat leaning state.

Walker has shown how to go up against powerful Rat allies and prevail.

I liked Perry last time around and was sorry to see him fizzle out so soon as I thought he carried a great message. He seems to be back on his game this time and will be a solid contender.

I hope Walker runs as well.

[central_va]

Right to work:

Geography is everything....