Rick Perry's Controversial Beliefs

The governor of Texas is considered to be the favorite for the Republican presidential nomination, but his suggestions for reform could cost him votes. Perry is captivating the religious base of the party.

Washington – Rick Perry has thrown his hat in the ring as the last of the present Republican presidential candidates. Just a week and a half later, he is well on the way toward becoming the favorite.

According to a recent poll by the Democrat-affiliated Institute of Public Policy Polling, in conservative Iowa, Perry is ahead with 22 percent; the previously favored Mitt Romney has 19 percent, and the strong outsider, Michele Bachmann, 18 percent. The first “caucus” will take place in Iowa in February next year. This is an internal Republican primary to select the challenger to President Barack Obama in November 2012.

Perry is captivating the religious base of the party through evangelical mass prayers and the fiscal conservative wing through his economically friendly policies. Perry, who has been governor for 10 years, has indeed produced impressive economic results. Thirty-seven percent of all new jobs in the United States since 2009 have originated in the southern state of Texas, which has no income tax. In the past decade, Texas also recorded the strongest population growth.

However, this data will be examined closely and critically in the primary campaign. Perry’s opponents both from within and outside of his party say that new job creation in Texas concerned mainly nickel-and-dime jobs. In addition, Perry is confronted with more challenging beliefs, which he formulated last year in what was a moderately acclaimed book entitled, “Fed Up.”

Social Security a “Mistake”*

In his book, the 61-year-old governor described the public pension insurance that was introduced in 1935 as a “mistake.”* He believes that Social Security functions as an “illegal Ponzi scheme.” Perry also called into question the constitutionality of Washington’s legislation on food safety, the minimum wage, environmental protection and child labor.

He also wrote that the income tax, introduced nationwide in 1913, is a “great milestone on the road to serfdom” of the people under the power of central government. Perry has repeatedly called for the restriction of Washington’s rights and more extensive power for the 50 states that intend to compete for the influx of companies and citizens through competing laws.

The politician even questions Medicare. Now the governor’s staff must reassure voters that a President Perry would not touch current pensioner’s benefits. However, he wanted to raise the retirement age for younger Americans, which currently stands at 67, and make the overstretched social system efficient through further reforms. These are tasks that any president will have to tackle. Such brave proposals can quickly become a burden in the election campaign.

Controversial among economists is Perry’s demand to shift authority from Washington to the states in the campaign against the “big government.” Supporters of the tea party movement approve of this, but this slogan was not well-received among leading figures in commerce and industry.

“ … rather have to deal with one federal regulation”

Michael Greve of the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute told The Los Angeles Times that the taxes and regulations of individual states in particular have “exploded” in the past three decades. “The Chamber of Commerce would rather have to deal with one federal regulation than regulations from 50 states,” said Greve.

Perry, who is rarely embarrassed about his opinion, will certainly have to explain his beliefs in more detail.

*Editor’s Note: While this quote, accurately translated, could not be verified, Perry was quoted as referring to Social Security as a “failure.”