Paul Perry writes a weekly opinion column for his local daily paper. Following is a sampling of those articles. All were originally published in the Waxahachie Daily Light, although some were subsequently published elsewhere, such as in DallasBlog.com.

Paul D. Perry

Published on June 1, 2008

We the People

It is no secret that I am concerned about the state of the Republican Party. Although at times some party loyalists may have considered me somewhat of a maverick, I am ideologically a Republican who was comfortable with the rhetoric of Ronald Reagan. To me the Republican Party is at its best when it is a party of ideals - ideals based on our constitutional liberties, bedrocked by what we in western civilization refer to as natural law.

Reagan wasn't perfect, especially for a small government-type conservative. He made campaign promises he could have kept but didn't. For example, he promised to do away with entire cabinet departments that had no function but that consumed tax dollars, such as the Federal Department of Education. That never happened. However, on balance he lowered taxes and an argument can be made that he slowed the rate of domestic government spending. His most important accomplishment is that he kept an aggressive and capable enemy at bay long enough for that enemy to start imploding from the flaws of its own system and morally flawed ideology. The Soviet Empire began to collapse under Reagan's watch; at the same time Reagan and his administration maneuvered us through those times and bought us that victory without involving America in a general war - quite an accomplishment.

In Reagan's farewell address, he referred to an American sailor on the carrier Midway during the early '80s, at the height of the boat people's exodus from South Vietnam and Cambodia. The sailor spied a "leaky little boat" crowded with people seeking relief from communist oppression. President Reagan recounted that one of the refugees stood up and yelled out to the sailor, "Hello sailor. Hello, freedom man."

I maintain the Republican Party at its best is NOT about big public projects. It is certainly NOT about what is being called "public private partnerships" such as the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, a project that gives a foreign corporation the power of Government so it can enrich itself at the expense of Texas taxpayers and trod over our recognized rights to protection from trespass and our normal right to due process. The Republican Party is at its best when it protects the small and large property holder alike. The Republican Party is at its best when it recognizes that although our nation has its enemies in the world, we must not - to paraphrase Colin Powell - become less American in order to fight them. The Republican Party is at its best when the torch of liberty is used to cast a light upon the concerns of our state, our nation and our world. Every American and most certainly every Republican should be a "freedom man" or woman.

Many have used the term "ordered liberty" to describe the American concept of government. I agree with the description. A society worthy of the name will have enough order to secure voting rights and provide such things as reasonable protection from those who would prey on others, but - while some would err on the side of order - as Americans and certainly as Republicans, I think we must err on the side of liberty.

During Reagan's time in office, we faced a well-financed and dedicated nemesis that financed terrorist surrogates in a manner that Al-Qaeda could only dream of. Reagan did not stoop to institutionalizing the mass intelligence gathering on American citizens. We did not have the Patriot Act or the Military Commissions Act. American citizens remained under civilian law unlike today, as conservative legal analyst and former Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano has explained in several publications.

President Reagan referred to one economist who stated in 1982 that "the engines of economic growth have shut down here, and they're likely to stay that way for years to come." By the time Reagan gave his farewell address in 1989, it had become obvious that economist had proven why economics has been nicknamed the dismal science. Reagan maneuvered the lowering of tax rates through our Congress. Our national economy responded by growing its way out of a deep recession. Many of us in states that were more dependent on oil and gas production did not feel the economy respond as fast, but it eventually did.

Although President Clinton and, before him, President Herbert Walker Bush tinkered with the momentum of President Reagan's tax policies, both kept President Reagan's methodology of lower marginal rates largely in place. Lower tax rate policy results in people being willing to work longer, harder and much of the time smarter because a dollar earned is often a dollar kept by the enterprising. At higher tax rates, ironically referred to as more progressive, people often are reluctant to be as productive, as a larger proportion of each extra dollar is kept by the government. Reagan's direction in tax policy has become a pattern around the world and is only now being really being challenged seriously by Senator Obama and his ilk.

However, I see the extremely high payroll tax that we all pay on wages in order to fund social security benefits as a challenge to the incentive to earn more money in our tax system, while the so-called Alternative Minimum Tax, a sneaky parallel tax once designed to tax only a few wealthy families, is another challenge to the middle class. The Republican Party must address both.

In a free country, people are allowed to fail economically. Bluntly I believe failure often builds stronger, wiser and more successful people in the long run. However, I think it is our duty as a party to see that people do not fail from over-regulation and the burden of high taxation. Grassroots Republicans know this. It is also interesting that study after study show Republicans give generously to charities for those who are in need.

One paragraph near the middle of Reagan's address puts much of the intent of our nation's founding documents in modern perspective. President Reagan reminded us of "three little words: 'We the People.' 'We the People' tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us. 'We the People' are the driver; the government is the car," he said. Notice in Reagan's view, the government was not the nanny telling the kids what to do, or the back seat driver instructing or even nagging the driver.

Jefferson is reported to have said that government is to be restrained by the chains of the constitution.

I think Presidents Reagan and Jefferson were telling us much the same thing, even though separated by centuries.
 
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