Texas is Doubling the Rest of the Nation on Job Growth

One career politician dukes it out with another wannabe career politician. Meanwhile, a certain governor continues to build up the best actual record in the nation.

Since Perry became Texas Governor in December of 2000, Texas has added 1,078,600 net new jobs, while the other forty-nine states have lost 2,190,100 net jobs (1,111,500 lost net lost jobs, nationally). Looking at only the job-adding states over that time, 2,392,900 new jobs were created. 1,078,600 is 45.08% of 2,392,900.

In other words, since Perry has been Governor, Texas has added more than 45% of the entire nation’s net new jobs among job-adding states. Keep in mind that Texas has about 8.1% of the nation’s population. You could also say that Texas, during Rick Perry’s tenure as Governor, has added more jobs than the other 49 states combined.

There’s more at the link. Does Perry deserve credit for all of this job growth? No. But he does deserve credit for a great deal of it. When the economy tanked he could have gone the big government route. When the media and Democrats were making health care the crisis du jour, he could have done what Romney did and signed off on a massive expansion of government power. But he didn’t do either one. He keeps Texas’ government out of the way despite the never-ending push to expand the power of government. For a conservative, that’s a good thing.

One could argue that, well, Texas is big so of course it’s leading on job growth. Problem with that argument: California is bigger, and its jobs record is a whole lot worse than Texas’. Policy does matter.

I know, I know, Perry’s had some bad debates and a gaffe or two or three. That makes him a dicey prospect against Obama in the debates next year, unless he can improve that part of his candidacy. But unlike Cain, who has been great in the debates, Perry has an actual record in office, and it’s a very strong record. Unlike Romney and Gingrich, he also has a record of not chasing the latest policy fad (global warming, national health care mandates) and of standing his ground. His higher education reforms ought to become a national model. He has a record of helping turn the Democratic Party in Texas into a shell of its former self.

President Obama is so awful, dangerous and occasionally clueless that I’ll happily vote for whoever wins the GOP nomination. They will be a vast improvement just by not being Obama. I’ve always been a Republican, but Obama has made me a yellow dog Republican. But there is an idea floating around out there that I think is appropriate as we get closer to the first caucuses and primaries. A candidate who is weak at debating can become better at it, but no candidate who has a weak record or no record at all can go back and create a good record.