Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington, by Rick Perry

Will he run for president?  Sure looks like it.  Can he win?  I don't know.  Many people outside of Texas will see him as Bush 2 (or Bush 3, depending on how you view Bush 2's presidency as a sequel to Bush 1's).  Personally, I'd rather see the other Texan presidential hopeful, Ron Paul, in the White House.

In spite of people's perception, Perry's book Fed Up demonstrates Perry's differences with Bush.  Granted, they're not black and white, but Bush is more Washington than Austin.  Perry differs with Bush on several points where Bush tends toward federal government solutions.  His book is a clarion call to Americans to pay close attention to that crucial tenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, so often ignored or forgotten by Washington:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Perry's not just a states' rights zealot; he argues that a great strength of this amendment is the ability for states to serve as laboratories of public policy.  Why not try things 50 different ways?  The best policies will be noticed by the other states and imitated and adapted for their particular state's needs, a much more efficient means of shaping policy.  Witness the huge bureaucracies that have been created in response to Obamacare, when we have no idea how health care will look on a nation-wide basis?

Whether or not he decides to run, and whether he not he can win the nomination, much less the presidency, I hope Perry's message of less regulation, lower taxes, and less control over our lives and communities by the federal government will continue to find a hearing in the halls of power.  But I'm not holding my breath.