It’s no wonder that Texas Gov. Rick Perry has recently been the focus of speculation about whether he might run for president in 2012. Texas has been on an economic roll since 2001, creating far more new jobs than any other state in the nation even as its population increased to 25 million. Love him or hate him, Perry is in his fourth term in Austin and thus deserves a big chunk of the credit for many of the good things happening in the Lone Star State. Texas also has implemented some of the nation’s most significant state-level reforms aimed...