Gov. Perry: Federal Government Protecting The General Welfare Of Americans Is Socialist

“This is an administration hell-bent toward taking American towards a socialist country," Texas Gov. Rick Perry remarked, while speaking at luncheon for a conservative audience at the Midland Country Club on Wednesday.

Gov. Perry also called for doubling the size of Texas tea parties to tell Washington that Texas does not want any more of President Obama's socialist federal money and programs.

Gov. Perry says Texas just will not stand for the federal government promoting the general welfare of Americans -- That's just plain socialism!

The Preamble of The Constitution of the United States of America, "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Back in late July we posted that Gov. Perry, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator John Cornyn, Congressman Sam Johnson and every Republican elected official in Texas made headlines for months pronouncing that President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) socalist economic stimulus plan was unneeded and unwelcome in Texas.

Gov. Perry, the top Republican in Texas, proclaimed that federal money from Washington is so onerous to "all" Texans that Texans might rise up in revolt and secede from the United States, by invoking the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, rather than accept "Washington money."

In March, Gov. Perry rejected $555 million in federal stimulus funds to fund unemployment benefits. By July, Perry was forced to ask the federal government for a $170 million loan to cover unemployment insurance. The state is expected to request a total of $650 million to fund unemployment insurance, around $100 million more than Perry originally rejected.

In Texas, the ARRA stimulas is expected to save or create 269,000 jobs over the next two years. The plan also includes provisions to help both employed and unemployed Texans. Nearly 8.2 million workers will receive the Making Work Pay tax cut of up to $1,000, and 677,000 unemployed workers will receive an additional $100 in unemployment benefits per month. In addition, the plan includes funding to help unemployed workers pay for COBRA coverage. [Monster.com]

Gov. Perry's Texas Transportation Commission is also ready to get Texans to work by approving construction and maintenance projects to be funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. TxDOT has been working for months with its local and regional transportation planning officials to identify projects eligible for this funding.

Texas was appropriated approximately $2.6 billion for transportation projects, which will create 69,000 new jobs, 23,000 of them a direct result of the funding. Half of the funds must be dedicated within 120 days and the rest within 12 months. Obligations to Metropolitan Planning Organizations must also be made within 12 months. [Taken directly from the TxDOT website.]

On the issue of health insurance reform Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) also threatens 10th Amendment secession. [Star-Telegram] Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator John Cornyn, Congressman Sam Johnson and every Republican elected official in Texas have again lined up with Gov. Perry to reject the idea that Texans need health insurance reform.

According to facts given in a The Dallas Morning News article, Texas may need health insurance reform more than any other state:

"[Even after removing illegal immigrants from the numbers] Texas virtually leads the nation in percentage of residents without health insurance, according to both conservative and liberal researchers.

Only 49.5 percent of [Texas] residents were covered by employer-sponsored insurance, in a two-year average ending in 2008, compared with 58.5 percent nationwide, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated this month. Between 1996 and 2006, the cost of family coverage for private sector workers in Texas increased 86 percent, while incomes increased by less than 9 percent, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which finances health care research and supports universal health coverage.

Compared with the rest of the nation, the Texas economy relies heavily on small businesses and relatively low wages. So although most of the state's uninsured live in households with people who work, fewer employers offer coverage, and fewer employees can afford it.

The Texas Democratic Party recently put out -- the "Top Ten Rick Perry Failures." Here they are:

1. What Recession?
2. Perry: A Bad Prescription for Children's Health
3. Perry's Political Cover-UP Compromises Texas Criminal Justice System
4. Perry Education Report Card: F
5. Perry's Stimulus Hypocrisy Costs Texans
6. Perry Prices Texans Out of a College Education
7. Perry Taking a Toll on Texans
8. Utility Rates Out of Control
9. Homeowner's Insurance Rates Skyrocket During Perry's Tenure
10. Health Insurance Premiums Increase 91.6%

A least one more failure should be added to Gov. Perry's list; With Perry's steadfast insistence on abstinence-only sex education programs in Texas public schools, more of that socialist federal government money has been spent on the cause of sexual abstinence-only education in Texas than any other state, but Texas' teen birth rate has climbed to the third-highest in the country, the percentage of teen mothers giving birth more than once in Texas is the highest in the country and rates of sexually transmitted diseases among Texas' teens are rising. Teen childbearing (teens 19 and younger) now costs Texas taxpayers (federal, state, and local) at least $1 billion annually for social programs supporting teen mothers and their children. Of course, the official Texas Republican Party platform and every Republican elected to represent the people of Texas also oppose any sex education other than abstinence-only.

Rachel Maddow called out Gov. Perry for his states’ rights comments on health care in this MSNBC program aired in July 2009.
Maddow, "Governor Rick, you’ve been governor for nine years. How are you doing finding a solution for Texas’ health care problem, Governor? You’ve got the most expensive health care markets in the country, and the least number of people insured. And you’re worried the federal government is going to screw up the good thing you’ve got going on in Texas? You need to protect Texas’ health care system that you’re doing such an awesome job with, from people you think might really screw it up? Let the states find their own solution? You’ve had nine years, Governor. You’re the worst in the country. How are you doing with that?"