Is Rick Perry Too European to Be a U.S. President?: Ezra Klein

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- You wouldn’t think that the governorof Texas, the most conservative of the viable candidates in theRepublican presidential field, would want to make the U.S. morelike Europe. Unless, of course, you have read Rick Perry’s book.

“Fed Up,” Perry’s 2010 cri de coeur (yes, that’s French),can be summed up in one sentence: The federal government isunconstitutional. Not all of it, of course. Just most of it. Inparticular, the parts that include Medicare, Medicaid, SocialSecurity, education policy, banking regulations, environmentalprotection, gun control and a few other things I’m doubtlesslyforgetting. And he doesn’t mince words on the subject. SocialSecurity, Perry writes, is an example of the federal government“violently tossing aside any respect for our foundingprinciples of federalism and limited government.”