What I meant was this: sticking to your word is the true test.
It’s not enough to speak conservative principles during a campaign. It’s not enough to push a conservative political agenda when you know it will score points.
Before I support Rick Perry, I want to see evidence from his record that he did the right thing when nobody was looking.
I understood your point. My point to you was that (if you truly are seeking to be persuaded), you should check his record yourself, keep an open mind, you may find that he has met that test. Moreover, I was trying to point out to you that if you held a strict standard like that on the greaest conservaive president in our lifetime, even he would fail. If it was 1980 right now, you’d be saying that, when Reagan was called to take a stand against abortion, he folded like a cheap suit and voted for the therapeutic abortion act. He had a chance to draw a line in the sand on taxes, yet folded again as Governor. Perry hasn’t done such things. As for “integrity”, when you find that machine that can look into the mind of a man and reveal the truth, let us know. There are doubts about all candidates and questionable actions as well. You say you’ve found one candidate. Great. I’m sure if you post that person’s name, I’ll be able to tear them apart with questions about their prior actions. All have skeletons because all are human, just like the Gipper. BTW, I have no intentions of doing that because I respect all of the republican candidates and wouldn’t dare impugn them in public. Why feed the dem trolls.
This is a very noble point, but not a path to success. Milton Friedman explains why.
I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or it they try, they will shortly be out of office.
If there's one thing that can be said about Perry's mistakes, is that once the people speak, he backs off and does the right thing. For our system of government, that's the best we can expect. If we're not vigilant on whipping our politicians into line, then even the most pure of heart will just be passing lights on our way to ruin. If we are vigilant, then there is nothing we can't do.
Does taking on the trial lawyers and enacting tort reform when no one else would meet your test? This is a powerful lobby with deep pockets. Even country club republicans are in their pocket and have not ventured such reforms. Yet Perry did. This was not a “no risk” proposition. Read it yourself:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/the_guy_the_sharks_fear_etAoeHT2Z2t64YTa9ARjyM If you can judge a political candidate by the enemies he makes, Texas Gov. Rick Perry stands pretty tall. For example, the national tort-lawyer lobby is set to spend millions to try to stop the GOP presidential hopeful in his tracks. No wonder: Perry, in his 10 years as Texas governor, has managed to implement serious tort reform in a state that even a top litigator concedes was once “the golden goose” for high-end jury verdicts. Don’t think for a moment, though, that the tort bar is gearing up in the names of truth, justice and the American Way. As John Coale, a former tort lawyer and major Democratic contributor, told Politico: “Most of the guys I know don’t like [President Obama] . . . But when your livelihood, your money’s on the line, it concentrates the mind.” Which is why, adds Politico, “among litigators, there is no presidential candidate who inspires the same level of hatred — and fear — as Perry.” Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/the_guy_the_sharks_fear_etAoeHT2Z2t64YTa9ARjyM#ixzz1WLGrh6si