Our Fight to Save America from Washington is a 2010 political non-fiction book authored by then Governor of Texas Rick Perry and his senior advisor Chip Roy, published by Little, Brown and Company.

[1] In May 2010, after Perry secured the Texas gubernatorial nomination of the Republican Party against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Little, Brown and Company revealed that Perry had signed a deal to write a book in support of the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, specifically in opposition to the role of the federal government at the expense of the states and the people.

[2] A press release from the publishing company stated that the book would focus on "how an increasing concentration of power in Washington will lead to further unsustainable debt, greater limits on opportunity and success, and a permanent dependency class—adding up to a potentially failed nation.

"[3] The Dallas Morning News reported that the book would largely reflect the issues used by Perry to successfully defeat Hutchison, especially his criticism of her support for deficit spending and the stimulus packages.

"[3] After the news, the campaign for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White attacked Perry for accepting stimulus funds and for writing a book to "raise his national profile" rather than dealing with the problems in the state.

I wrote this book in the hopes that it will lead to a new conversation about the proper role of government in our livesThe first chapter, titled "America Is Great, Washington Is Broken" explains the logic of why state sovereignty, particularly in empowerment of the individual, is important and was part of the founders' vision.

It also provides statistics to back the claim that the federal government expanded its role in the recent years, and defends the concept of American exceptionalism, arguing that America is "worth saving".

However, in the next chapter titled "What Happened to the Founders' Vision", Perry argues that the federal government grew too powerful during the Progressive Era and cites the Sixteenth and Seventeenth amendments as an attack on states' rights.

[7] The next chapter, titled "Washington Is Bankrupting America", Perry goes in-depth about the debt situation in the United States, railing against earmarks and entitlement spending, particularly Social Security.

He explains that recent overspending, starting under President George W. Bush for temporary relief, became the primary policy of Barack Obama, and is actually preventing recession recovery and economic freedom.

He calls for two constitutional amendments to remedy this—one that would abolish lifetime appointments for judges, and another to give Congress the power to override Supreme Court decisions by a two-thirds majority from both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Further, he criticizes the lack of innovation in the military, and identifies the scrapping of missile defense and the space program as a chance for other nations to catch up.

[10] In final chapter, "Retaking the Reins of Government", Perry begins with a detailed account of an idyllic world in 2026, on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

[14] The New York Times described the book as "a Tea Party manifesto", and remarked that its content and Perry's promotional tour suggested that he had presidential ambitions for 2012.

[14] Perry stated in an interview with the Associated Press that the book's anti-Washington sentiment was evidence that he was not running for president;[4] however, he later declared his candidacy for the 2012 Republican nomination.