Rick Perry And The Texas "Miracle"

There has been a lot of talk lately about the need for a new candidate in the Republican presidential race -- and a lot of that talk is centering around Texas governor Rick Perry. The Republicans like the governor because he has helped the state to institute most of the policies that Republicans love -- trickle-down corporate friendly economic policy, an extremely regressive tax policy, and a harsh denial to put sufficient money into social programs. They like to point to Texas as having an ongoing economic "miracle" in the midst of the recession being suffered across the nation.

As a Texan I would love for this to be true, but it's not -- not even close. While Texas may be a haven for corporations and the richest among us, it is becoming a harder and harder place for regular folks to live. Consider the following facts:

* Texas had one of the largest budget deficits in the nation (about $27 billion for the next biennium). This was fixed by slashing government services for the poor, the elderly, and children.

* Texas has an extremely regressive tax system, meaning the poor, working and middle classes pay a much higher percentage of their income in taxes than the rich do (or the corporations).

* Texas already funded its schools less on a per pupil ratio than any other state, and they just cut another $4 to $5 billion in education funding.The legislative remedy for this was to increase class sizes and make it easier to fire teachers.

* Texas has the highest drop-out percentage from high schools than any other state (about 30%).

* Texas is among the state leaders in teen pregnancies -- and leads the nation in second pregnancies for teens.

* Texas has the highest percentage of its citizens without health care insurance coverage in the nation.

* Texas is a "right-to-work" anti-union state, which means most workers are not unionized and have very little protection.

* Texas leads the nation in the amount of pollution it produces (and if it was a country, it would be the 7th biggest polluter of any of the world's countries).

* Texas has just approved the placing of a corporate-owned radioactive waste storage facility over one of the country's biggest fresh-water aquifers (the Ogallala Aquifer), which provides water not only to most of West Texas and the Panhandle, but also to large portions of seven other states.

* Texas has just cut funds for rural fire-fighting departments (in the middle of a drought and nearly statewide fires).

* Texas leads the nation in both the number and percentage of minimum wage jobs.

* Texas had the number of minimum wage jobs grow from 221,000 to 555,000 between the years 2007 and 2010 (a growth of about 150%).

* Texas had less job growth between 2008 and 2010 than Massachusetts did.

* Texas has an unemployment rate of 8%. While this is slightly less than the national average of about 9%, at least 23 other states have a lower unemployment percentage (including New York).

* Texas has a median hourly wage of $11.20 for workers (while the median national wage is $12.50 an hour).

The sad fact is that Texas has been able to keep its unemployment rate down by creating a lot of minimum wage no-benefit jobs that will not support a family decently. But the Republicans don't really care about that. The "miracle" they are talking about is the low-tax, no-union, lax environmental rules, and taxpayer-subsidized home for corporations. And the Republicans would like for the whole nation to be just like Texas.

That is why many of them are wanting Rick Perry, Texas governor, to enter the presidential race. With the incompetent governor in the White House, they could continue the destruction of the American economy that was started under George Bush (and make no mistake, there is no difference between the policies of George Bush and Rick Perry). After destroying the nation's economy, they could then finish installing the corporate-controlled government they really want.

Is this what the American voters really want? Do they want to turn the nation into a carbon copy of Texas? I hope not. If we are lucky the nation's voters will reject any right-wing Republican running for president next year, especially Rick Perry. Do we really want a clone of George Bush in the White House (after the disastrous eight years of that administration)?

Interestingly enough, even Republicans in Texas are not that crazy. A recent Texas Lyceum Poll (conducted May 24th through May 31st) shows that a Rick Perry presidential candidacy has the support of less than 10% of Texas Republicans. Here are those numbers:

Mitt Romney...............16%
Sarah Palin...............14%
Ron Paul...............10%
Rick Perry...............9%
Herman Cain...............8%
Tim Pawlenty...............7%
Newt Gingrich...............4%
Michele Bachmann...............4%
Rick Santorum...............4%
Mitch Daniels...............1%
Jon Huntsman...............0%
No opinion...............22%

Hopefully, Republican voters outside this state will pay heed and avoid Rick Perry as though he carried the plague. He has been a terrible governor and would make an even worse president.

In closing, let me say this -- if you're looking for some great food (chicken-fried steak, barbeque, mexican food, chili), then Texas is a great place to come. But if you're looking for a presidential candidate, Texas is the absolute worst place to look.