Rick Perry calls for ‘deconstructing’ federal government in Iowa speech

Former Texas governor Rick Perry told Iowa State Fair attendees Wednesday he wants to “deconstruct” federal power now centralized in Washington, D.C., and return decision making on programs such as health care, transportation and education to the states.

“If you want to send a powerful message across the country, you free up those states to make those decisions. I believe in the Constitution. Our country was founded by incredibly visionary people,” Perry said in his speech at TheDes Moines Register’s Soapbox stage.

Perry, a Republican candidate for president who served 14 years as Texas’ chief state executive, told how he was forced to quickly make major decisions following Hurricane Katrina; as large numbers immigrants crossed the border into Texas from Mexico; after the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over his state; and after a patient was diagnosed with the Ebola virus in Dallas. There was no handbook to deal with such events, but he addressed them while overseeing strong economic growth in the 12th-largest economy in the world, he said.

If elected, he promised to making Washington, D.C., as inconsequential in their lives as possible while putting the nation back on track to greatness.

“We are just a few good policy decisions and a leadership change from the best days ahead in the country,” he said.

The crowd at Perry’s speech was about 12 to 15 feet deep in front of the stage, and it was smaller than audiences for some other presidential candidates, but many of his supporters attended and they heartily applauded his remarks.

A woman in the crowd tried to heckle Perry repeatedly during his speech, mentioning the fact that he was indicted in Texas, but he ignored her and continued to talk. The heckling related to two criminal counts filed against Perry, one of which was recently dismissed. The remaining charge accuses Perry of abusing his power when he threatened to veto state funding for a unit of the Travis County district attorney's office.

Afterward, in response to a reporter’s question, Perry said he considers the indictment as a “badge of honor against an absolute, out of control, district attorney” who was arrested for drunken driving at three times the legal limit for alcohol consumption.

“If I had to do it again, I would do it all over again. One of the charges has been thrown out and the other one I suggest will be, too,” Perry said. “This is a classic example of persecution by a very Democrat-controlled county. The Legislature even took away all of that authority from them this last legislative session.”