About Rick Perry

From a Place Called Paint Creek

On August 13, 2011, Rick Perry announced his candidacy for President of the United States, declaring “It’s time to get America working again… The change we seek will never emanate out of Washington, D.C. It will come from the windswept prairies of Middle America, the farms and factories across this great land, from the hearts and minds of the goodhearted Americans who will accept not a future that is less than our past…patriots who will not be consigned to a fate of less freedom in exchange for more government. We do not have to accept our current circumstances. We will change them. We are Americans.”

The 47th governor of Texas, Rick Perry grew up in the small community of Paint Creek, located along the rolling plains of West Texas. Rick Perry is the son of Ray Perry, a World War II tailgunner who flew 35 missions over war-torn Europe, and Amelia Perry, who provided a loving, nurturing home for Rick and his older sister Amelia. Ray and Amelia Perry started out as tenant farmers, providing a modest upbringing for their children. Rick Perry grew up without indoor plumbing the first five years of his life, wore clothes hand-sewn by his mother, and was even bathed in a number 2 washtub as a young boy. Perry was one of 13 students in the Paint Creek Rural School’s Class of 1968.  He played six-man football, worked on his family farm, and devoted himself to the Boy Scouts, earning the rank of Eagle while in his teens.

Perry was among the first generation in his family to attend college, enrolling at Texas A&M University in the fall of 1968.  He joined the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets and was elected twice to serve as an Aggie Yell Leader.  Perry graduated in August 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science.

Upon graduation, Perry took a commission in the United States Air Force, flying C-130 tactical aircraft to destinations around the globe, including South America, Europe and the Middle East. In 1977, Perry was honorably discharged from the Air Force with the rank of Captain, and he returned home to the family farm, where they grew dryland cotton, milo and wheat.  During the next few years, Perry would become one of millions of conservative Reagan Democrats, and marry his high school sweetheart, Anita Thigpen, 16 years after their first date.

In 1983, Rick and Anita Perry welcomed a son, Griffin, and their daughter Sydney arrived in 1986.  It was in 1984 that Perry set his sights on public office, running to represent his rural neighbors in the Texas House.  Perry would serve three terms in the House, ultimately switching to the Republican Party toward the end of his final term, before taking the bold step of running statewide for Agriculture Commissioner against a popular Democrat incumbent.  Perry scored an upset in 1990 and easily won re-election in 1994.

Four years later, Perry won a close election to become the first Republican Lieutenant Governor in more than a century. He became Governor in December 2000 when George W. Bush resigned the office to become President. Since then, Perry has won three full terms as governor.

The Prosperity Agenda: Jobs, Tax Relief, Spending Cuts

A staunch fiscal and social conservative, Rick Perry has controlled spending and taxes in Texas.  Perry has signed into law state budgets that have invested billions of dollars more in education, and he has successfully advocated for landmark lawsuit reforms.

In the most recent 2011 regular legislative session, Perry set a conservative, fiscally responsible course. He insisted on no new taxes, worked with legislators to cut spending by $15 billion, and protected the “Rainy Day Fund,” which set aside at least $6 billion for future needs.

Perry is the only governor since World War II to reduce state general revenue spending. Perry also signed a historic property tax cut, and a tax cut for small businesses with less than $1 million in gross receipts.

Perry has a strong record on job creation.  His support for low taxes, reasonable regulations, a predictable civil litigation system and an educated workforce has produced a business climate consistently ranked among the best in the nation.  Perry has actively encouraged employers to relocate to Texas or expand their operations in the state. Since June 2009, more than 40 percent of the net new jobs created in America have been created in Texas, and today, the Lone Star State is a magnet for corporate relocations. For nine straight years, Texas has led the nation in exports to foreign countries among the 50 states.

With a strong record of job creation, restrained spending and tax cuts, Rick Perry is a committed conservative with the right vision for creating opportunity and prosperity.  He has signed into law comprehensive reforms that have made Texas a leader in the fight against lawsuit abuse.  These reforms include a recent loser pay law that will cut down on frivolous lawsuits.  His medical liability reforms have increased the number of physicians practicing in the state by the thousands, improving patient access to medical specialists.

The Perry record also includes a significant commitment to border security to stop the in-flow of illegal immigrants, weapons and drugs. Perry has ordered border surge operations that have reduced illegal crossings, and allocated hundreds of millions of dollars for border security operations that put more boots on the ground and utilize technology to detect, track and deter the criminal element.

Liberty, Security, Prosperity

A candidate for the Republican nomination in 2012, Rick Perry not only has a record of conservative reform, but a vision for America based on greater liberty, security and prosperity.

Perry will lead the effort to repeal Obama-care, the greatest intrusion on individual freedom in a generation.  This budget-busting, government takeover of health care will rob half a trillion dollars from Medicare and saddle America with massive tax hikes and higher costs in the long term.

Recognizing that rising deficits, record debt and failed stimulus spending have jeopardized the future of our country, Perry will take his proven budget-cutting record to Washington.  He will reform entitlements and require all federal agencies to engage in a top-to-bottom review to identify and eliminate federal waste by justifying every program and every taxpayer dollar spent.

To stimulate the economy, Perry will take America on a very different course than that pursued by the Obama Administration. Instead of wasting tax dollars on massive spending bills that bloat the federal bureaucracy and slowly deliver funds to a few handpicked industries, Perry will cut taxes.  Perry’s pro-growth agenda, combined with real spending reductions, will lead to a new era of economic growth that will get America working again.

Perry’s economic policies stand in stark contrast to the Obama Administration, and his Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner who declared taxes must increase for small businesses, “so the administration does not have to ‘shrink the overall size of government programs.’” (CNSNews.com, 6/23/11,http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/geithner-taxes-small-business-must-rise). Not only has Perry cut taxes for small businesses, but his economic policies will unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of small employers so they can hire and grow again.

Perry will invest in border security and stop the federal intrusion upon states by runaway agencies like the EPA.  He will stand for the sanctity of life and the protection of the unborn.  He will return our country to constitutional principles, including a renewed respect for the 10^th Amendment to the United States Constitution and state sovereignty.

Perry is a national leader in the effort to restore the primacy of the 10^th Amendment, and wrote the book, “Fed Up” to rally Americans to restore the proper, constitutional balance between the federal government and the states. Perry’s first book, “On My Honor” defended the values of the Boy Scouts from assaults by the liberal elite.

Believe Again

A Reagan Republican, Rick Perry will restore confidence in the American Dream and American Exceptionalism.  He will advocate for economic policies that get our country moving again.  He will work to ensure all Americans believe again in the promise of America.

Rick Perry will revive our economy, create jobs and protect America’s place as the world’s economic leader.  He will offer a clear vision for our foreign policy that is based on American interests and a profound respect for the men and women who wear the uniform of our country.

It’s time for a leader who will allow us to believe again – to believe that America’s best days are ahead, that we are not consigned to a fate of high unemployment and rising prices, and that our place in the world can once again be secure with a policy of peace through strength.

That leader is Rick Perry.  And his time is now.

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