Rick Perry

Rick Perry wants everyone to adhere to Federalists ideas, but his model of a fed. gov't resembles the views of Anti-Federalists. He wants a loose confederacy of independently run states with strictly limited authority to tax, little authority to enforce national laws, and primarily responsible for waging wars. His reasoning behind hating the fed. gov't is because he feels as if Washington has shamelessly abandoned trying to respect the Constitution. Perry is lumping together parts of the Federalists Papers that emphasizes the powers of the states. Whenever Perry is confronted by a historical event that challenges his constitutional fundamentalism, he ignores it.
On the Civil War, he seems equally desperate to oppose slavery and to minimize its transformational impact. He seems to believe that Lincoln’s actions to end slavery were justified. However he says nothing about how Lincoln violated the Constitution in doing so. It makes no sense for him to support Lincoln because in his book, that kind of disregard for the Constitution is tyranny, no matter how necessary it is. He acts as if he hated violators of the Constitution; however, he spares the executive branch, the main culprits. George Bush and Obama have both violated the Constitution if you think about it. Perry is a man who hates the gov't and his historical viewpoints are inconsistent. We cannot trust the gov't being in his hands.

1. What does Rick Perry think is wrong with the federal government?

 Washington has shamelessly abandoned any pretense of respecting the Constitution.

2. What is wrong with the way that Rick Perry is quoting the Federalist Papers?

 He is lumping together early constitutional debaters and quoting the people on the losing side.

3. Why would Perry be so supportive of the Tenth Amendment?

 It gives the states more power and that's what he wants

4. Why is Perry's support of Lincoln during the civil war strange?

 Lincoln declared an end to slavery didn't allow secession. He did this without explicit constitutional authority, and in Perry’s book, that kind of disregard for the Constitution amounts to tyranny, no matter how morally necessary.

5. What is Perry's biggest problem with the federal government?

 He thinks Washington has shamelessly stopped trying to respect the Constitution.

6. What criticisms of Bush and Obama does the author make?

 Bush’s administration argued that the executive branch has the authority to spy on American citizens w/o a warrant, to hold and torture P.O.W.'s w/o charge, and to hand captives over to unsavory foreign torturers. And Obama has not only protected Bush officials from prosecution but also has launched wars w/o congressional approval, to assassinate American citizens w/o charge, and to persecute whistleblowers who have tried to reveal serious wrongdoings by their superiors.

7. What does Perry feel should be at the top of the public agenda?

 repealing a health-care policy passed by a democratically elected legislature

8. What is Perry's attitude toward America's military?

 He loves it. He actually asserts that the U.S. seriously underspends on national defense

9. After reading his book, what does the author end up thinking about Rick Perry?

 We might be asking too much of Perry if we expect his arguments to be consistent and for him to actually have a legit historical viewpoint on things. We also can't trust him in office since he hates the gov't so much. He might even try to do something crazy like attempt to get rid of it.

10. After reading the article, what do you think about Perry's chances of becoming the Republican Party nominee for president?

They are definitely slim to none because he made a good point by saying that he hates the gov't so why should we trust it in his hands.