Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced his run to become the 45th President of the United States earlier today at the RedState Gathering in Charleston, SC. The full text of Gov. Perry’s speech is here. And here is video of the speech.
Perry’s speech sets up a race of strong contrasts. Barack Obama promised gauzy hope and change in 2008 but has delivered a government that has sought to “spread the wealth around” and insert itself ever more deeply into the lives of Americans. Obama’s agenda is stifling the American economy and has led to higher unemployment. Obama’s lack of leadership has led to the first ever downgrade of US credit in our history. Perry, by contrast, has presided over a Texas whose credit has gone up as its economy has fought the national economy’s strong headwinds. He announced in very clear terms that he does not seek the presidency to empower Washington. He would use the presidency to empower Americans themselves.
It is time to get America working again. And that’s why, with the support of my family, and an unwavering belief in the goodness of America, I declare to you today as a candidate for President of the United States.
It’s time for America to believe again. It’s time to believe that the promise of our future is far greater than even our best days behind us. It’s time to believe again in the potential of private enterprise, set free from the shackles of overbearing federal government. And it’s time to truly restore our standing in the world, and renew our faith in freedom as the best hope for peace in this world that’s beset with strife.
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 – 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. That’s what we do. We roll up our sleeves. We go to work. We fix things.
We stand up and proudly proclaim that Washington is not our caretaker and we reject the state that, in Margaret Thatcher’s words, she said a state that takes too much from us in order to do too much for us. We will not stand for that any longer.
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In America, the people are not subjects of government. The government is subject to the people. And it is up to us, to this present generation of Americans, to take a stand for freedom, to send a message to Washington that we’re taking our future back from the grips of central planners who would control our healthcare, who would spend our treasure, who downgrade our future and micro-manage our lives.
It is time to limit and simplify the taxes in this country. We have to quit spending money we don’t have. We need to get our fiscal house in order and restore our good credit. And we will repeal this President’s misguided, one-size-fits-all government healthcare plan immediately.
We’ll create jobs. We’ll get America working again. We’ll create jobs and we’ll build wealth, we’ll truly educate and innovate in science, and in technology, engineering and math. We’ll create the jobs and the progress needed to get America working again.
And I’ll promise you this: I’ll work every day to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential in your life as I can. And at the same time, we’ll be freeing our families and small businesses and states from the burdensome and costly federal government so those groups can create, innovate and succeed.
Those are Reaganesque words. Barack Obama cannot even say those words without the irony overwhelming him. But Rick Perry can, and did today, and now the race is really on.
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