Rick Perry

By request I decided to jump into seeing how conservative Governor Rick Perry is and how he would stack up against known conservatives that have already declared. Most positions are well known for the current crop of GOP contenders.

Paul is more libertarian than I am, and he came in second to Michelle Bachmann yesterday in the Iowa straw poll. That is essentially the first pre-season football game to get a look at the teams. I don't know what it is but Bachmann just turns me off politically, she doesn't have the warmth or charm of a Sarah Palin.

I've been pretty vocal for a long time about my dislike of Romney. Gingrich, a lot of times I don't know where he stands anymore while I used to be a huge supporter of his. He's a thinker and a conservative that could get a lot done as he is very familiar with how Washington works. Maybe that's the problem. His campaign is in turmoil though and his personal baggage would be a distraction in the general election.

Santorum and Pawlenty round out the field of also rans while my personal favorite Herman Cain is the direction that I hope and pray America takes in 2012! A business man and not a professional politician. He reminds me more of a Ransom Stoddard (look it up) than any of the current contenders. A little out of his depth but he knows exactly what he doesn't know and isn't too proud to admit that while a lot of people would make something up to sound good.

Now that Governor Rick Perry has made his announcement official we'll focus upon him for a few minutes. Fiscally he's about as conservative as you can get from the articles I've found and read about his record. Socially he is around ninety percent conservative. That's not bad.

I differ with him when he issued a an executive order for forced inoculations of all girls entering the sixth grade for human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer. No politician ever should mandate something like this. It was eventually overturned but it shows a disturbing moment in his career where he really overstepped what a conservative should be about and that's keeping government out of people's lives.

I don't care if it's the cure for cancer, flu, and the common cold rolled up into one. No politician should mandate such a thing. That said I don't know why people wouldn't be standing in line for days on end if such a product were ever created.

Secondly his stance on immigration can be a bit McCainesque. We have current immigration laws in this country, we want and love immigrants as we are a nation of immigrants. We also want and would love you to do it the right way and quit sneaking into our backyard. Governor Perry signed a version of the dream act in 2001 that allowed undocumented students in state tuition. While I understand that the children of illegals had nothing to do with their status as illegals it is also money that could have been used to educate citizens.

The biggest problem that Rick Perry will have in the election cycle is that he is the governor of Texas where W was also governor. People will link the two either fair or unfairly. Yes I greatly admired many of the things Bush did while in office I also didn't like many of the things such as his big spending ways.

Yes they were mostly spurred by two wars, Katrina, the Indonesian tsunami, Florida being repeatedly lashed by hurricanes, and the number one event of his presidency 9/11. He had both houses of Congress and could have really scaled back the size of government and didn't do that.

I'd support Rick Perry if Herman Cain and Ron Paul are not the GOP nominees. I realize my ticket is just a dream for myself to alone enjoy but that is what I feel Washington needs, a breath of very fresh and clean air to blow away the institutional corruption that his taken root. A professional politician is the last thing we need as Americans and I believe that is what Rick Perry has become. Conservative yes, a few troubling moments in his Governorship but someone I could support given no alternative against Obama.