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Follow TURFPerry for Prez? Just say 'No'
Texans thought they sent a message to politicians of all political stripes last November — we’re fed-up (no mistake that was the title of Perry's latest book) with out of control taxation, debt, spending, and big government and politicians who proceed on that course do so at their own peril. While Governor Rick Perry tried to convince tea partiers and grassroots conservatives that he took up the mantle of limited government and low taxes, there’s plenty of evidence that the Governor's promises are nothing more than empty rhetoric.
Apparently, Texas is for sale since the Texas Legislature is drinking Rick Perry's Kool-Aid to sell-off virtually everything not nailed down using controversial public private partnerships (PPPs). Perry's priorities are not what the grassroots have been demanding like ending diversions of road taxes to non-road uses. It’s not cleaning up the highway department. It’s not getting all of Texans’ gas taxes back to Texas. It’s not reining-in the $31 billion in road debt (most of it used to subsidize toll roads, a DOUBLE TAX, and they just added $3 billion more in Prop 12 road debt to the budget). It’s selling off Texas to the highest bidder (with PPPs), which is the MOST expensive (75 cents a mile in tolls, like adding $15 to every gallon of gas you buy kind of expensive), anti-taxpayer method of funding infrastructure. Yet he'll tell you with a straight face he's balanced the budget without raising taxes.
PPPs represent eminent domain for private gain, which is what caused much of the backlash to the Trans Texas Corridor, where PPPs were the financing mechanism that grants these private entities the control of not just the facility, but the right of way/surrounding property where private companies make a killing on concessions. Texans hold private property rights sacred, and PPPs throw gasoline on the Trans Texas Corridor fire that Perry is attempting to convince Texans has been extinguished.
A repeal of the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) finally passed, yet through a bill just enacted 15 Texas road projects can be sold-off to foreign companies for a half century giving those entities the ability to cash-in and effectively own and control all the hotels, restaurants, and gas stations along those tollways, Perry got his Trans Texas Corridor piece by piece without the radioactive TTC name attached.
So while Perry trapses all over the country with his limited government, lower taxes rhetoric, he and his party are basically granting government a blank check to trample on property rights and pick winners and losers — who will lose their land to benefit another, not for matters of public necessity. If the government can steal your land, it’s tantamount to stealing your wealth. Who said Republicans aren’t socialists? PPPs are just the sort of wealth redistribution they like — giveaways to their cronies and special interest friends. Steer clear of Rick Perry. He's hazardous to your wallet and your freedom!