Jim Hightower

More Perry Tales

It's bedtime, children, so put on your jammies, scootch under the covers, and I'll tell you another "Perry Tale."

Once again, the Texas-governor-who-wants-to-be-your-president is flitting hither, thither and yon — spreading little "Perry Tales" about his record. The bonny prince is trying to make it to the big White House in Washington. It's a bit of a strange quest, because he calls the Capital City "a seedy place," and he tells the commoners in the land that he hates — nay, deeply loathes! — the very government that he wants to head.

With his tea party hat carefully positioned atop his bounteous crop of perfectly coifed hair, Prince Rick warns the commoners that big government is bad, bad, bad — because it intrudes into their lives, forcing things like Social Security and Medicare on them.


Strangest of all, though, this prancing prince of privilege would not be where he is without the steady "intrusion" of big government into his life. From first grade through college, his education was paid for by local, state and federal taxpayers. He was even a cheerleader for the government-run college he attended. Also, as cotton farmers, he and his family were supported with tens of thousands of dollars in crop subsidies from the pockets of national taxpayers — a big government "intrusion" into his pocketbook that he wisely avoided condemning at the time.

Then, after a brief stint in the federal government's Air Force, the perfidious prince hit the mother load of government largesse: political office. He's been hunkered down there for 27 years and counting. In addition to drawing more than a quarter-century's worth of monthly paychecks from Texas taxpayers, including $150,000 a year as governor, Prince Rick also receives full health coverage and a generous pension from the state.

Wait, there's more — he gets $10,000 a month to cover the rent on a luxury suburban home, a flock of personal aides and even a state-paid subscription to Food & Wine magazine... read rest of article from original source