Texas Democratic Party

 

I had planned to write you about the regressive flat tax proposal that Governor Rick Perry will unveil later today. We thought that sounded like red meat for GOP primary voters – but then, over the weekend, the Governor took it a step further and reached out to those in his party with a very tenuous grip on reality.

In an interview, Perry flirted with birtherism with all the grace of a lumbering elephant and then – I wish we were joking – invoked Donald Trump as the inspiration of his insane assertion. Evidently the two had a meeting of the minds over dinner recently.

As Texans, we have more than enough experience with Rick Perry’s approach to policy. We know he’s long on pandering rhetoric and very, very short on ideas to address anything most people care about – like an actual plan to create jobs and restore economic security for the middle class. That brings us back to his flat tax proposal. It will raise taxes on middle and working class people while treating Wall Street types to massive tax breaks. About the plan, people like Steve Forbes say “People’s mouths will water.” That should give you an idea of who stands to benefit here. Meanwhile, the other Republican contenders continue to offer up the same bad ideas that got us into this economic mess.

Fortunately, our President has a plan. This week, he began a new effort to urge Congress to act on the American Jobs Act, one piece after another, to get Americans working again and grow our economy. President Obama needs our help to tell Congress that “We Can’t Wait” to pass the plan. Visit the American Jobs Act website to get up to speed on the details and add your name to the petition. Then, you can share it via email, Facebook or Twitter.

Together, we can put into effect the meaningful reforms we want to see, while seeing that politicians like Rick Perry get a hard dose of reality on the national stage. Thank you so much for being part of that effort.

Thank you,

Boyd L. Richie
Chairman of your Texas Democratic Party