Republican candidate Rick Perry offers many political vulnerabilities to exploit, should he win the Republican nomination. His desire to turn America into a Republican supply-side pseudo-Christian theocracy will not sit well with most voters. Add to that his track record of supporting secession. A Presidential aspirant, who would consider dropping out of the country, will be most difficult to wrap in the flag. However, the biggest hazard he will face is his recently documented intent to destroy Social Security and Medicare.

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) has made it quite clear that he believes Social Security is an unconstitutional “Ponzi scheme.” In his book Fed Up!, Perry writes that Social Security is “by far the best example” of a program “violently tossing aside any respect for our founding principles.” Today, at the Iowa State Fair, Perry responded to a question from Politico’s Ben Smith by saying that he thinks one of the ways to deal with his vehement objections to Social Security is to simply send the program to the states and let them figure out what to do with it… …Watch it: Perry has said before that he wants to give states the option of allowing workers to opt out of Social Security. “So the states will let people opt out of Social Security?” asked CNN’s Eliot Spitzer. “They should,” Perry replied. But as ThinkProgress’ Ian Millhiser has pointed out, making Social Security a state program is simply economically impossible…

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There is a reason he seemed so noncommittal in that video. Doing what Republicans do best, he is lying. Like House Republicans, he intends to do away with Social Security and Medicare. Rachel Maddow examines the evidence and discusses it and more with Howard Dean.

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The solution for Social Security, which does not add a penny to the deficit, is to increase the income cap. The solution for Medicare is to stop the upward spiral of health care costs in general, driven by ever increasing insurance industry profit. The best way to accomplish that is with Medicare for all.