“America must also once and for all face up to entitlement reform. To preserve benefits for current and near-term Social Security beneficiaries, my plan permanently stops politicians from raiding the program's trust fund. Congressional IOUs are no substitute for workers' Social Security payments. We should use the federal Highway Trust Fund as a model for protecting the integrity of a pay-as-you-go system.”

-- Texas Gov. Rick Perry in a Wall Street Journal op-ed laying out his fiscal blueprint.

Rick Perry’s tax proposal isn’t an earthquake, but his move to tackle entitlements will shake up the Republican race.

On taxes, Perry is calling for American taxpayers to be given the option of paying under the rules of the current 73,000-page tax code or a 20-percent flat tax with an individual deduction that would exempt the first $50,000 income of a family of four.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has already offered his own plan for a 15 percent flat tax with a similar deduction scheme, but really this is an idea that has been rattling around in the GOP for at least 30 years...