Written by Juliana Simone

March 16^th, 2013

National Harbor, MD – Dr. Ben Carson, a new and articulate face among conservatives, talked at length about a variety of subjects at the fortieth Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday. The pediatric neurosurgery doctor who practices at Johns Hopkins Hospital, came to the attention of the mainstream media and thus the general public when as an invited speaker he made conservative remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast held by President Obama in February.

It appears the Obama’s knew little about the man before asking him to address their guests perhaps other than his title and race since they took umbrage to the words he delivered that morning that were in direct contrast to their own beliefs and policies. Dr. Carson’s words were not to the liking of the President and his wife, the media with its liberal bias and most of the room since they sharply conflicted with everything the current administration believes and is trying to legislatively push through while time is on their side.

Carson talked about Hillary Clinton and how her choice of words in public speaking engagements changed ‘freedom of religion’ to ‘freedom of worship.’ “Freedom of worship,” the esteemed brain surgeon explained, is something that is allowed in China and was also allowed in World War II Germany.

The definition of marriage is also an attack on freedom of religion the good doctor said…by trying to change the definition of marriage and make churches recognize the new definition. In words to religious leaders, Carson said, “The church needs to stand up and be the church. When did America allow church into the public square?” he asked. He noted that Christians started the anti-slavery movement and suggested to the CPAC audience to please read “A Free People’s Suicide” by Os Guinness.

Carson asked, what’s logical – what’s common sense? “Common sense shouldn’t just be for conservatives, but liberals, too.” Dr. Carson told listeners he’s received many letters since his breakfast speech with President Obama; many letters from seniors who said they’d given up until they heard him speak. He said he got a few ‘nasty grams,’ too, saying ‘how dare you insult my President!’ Some of them mentioned his race and Carson asked, “when did it happen you had to have a certain philosophy because of the color of your skin?” A reporter once asked me why I didn’t talk about race, he reminisced. I said, “Because I’m a neurosurgeon – when I operate and open the Dura I see who they really are…it’s not the color of their skin.”

He remembered how difficult his upbringing was with a single mom who worked three jobs until midnight and told the convention how she made them turn off the TV at some point and read three books a day. Friends would ask him, why were we reading when our mom wasn’t home? He said, “Because back then you did what your parents said.” (laughter) We couldn’t call 911 and complain to someone…he reflected with a hint of sarcasm.

Addressing his experiences at school, he revealed how as a child he went from being nicknamed ‘dummy’ by his classmates to being top in his class – and helping the other kids in seventh grade when they went to him for the answers.

In regards to the election process, Dr. Carson said people go in the voting booth and say ‘there’s a name I recognize – I’m going to vote for that one.’ They have no idea how they represent them. “This is a country that’s for, of, and by the people – not for, of, and by the government.  And if we turn it over to them, we cannot complain about what they’re doing… because this is the natural course of men, and we have to hold their feet to the fire.”

Speaking about what he knows best, Dr. Carson detailed the human mind saying the brain is amazing…it can process billions of bits of information in one second – remember everything – see everything – strategize – not react like animals…People now would rather react than strategize.

Segueing into America’s debt, he added, “If we begin to spend ourselves into oblivion we’ll destroy this nation.” Enjoying his moment in the new political spotlight, he puffed up and supposed to supporters, “Now, let’s pretend you magically put me into the White House.” (cheers/applause; he laughs and takes it back)

“First, I’d divide everyone against each other,” he inflected with irony to point out the current administrations agenda.  “A house divided against itself cannot stand’ a wise man named Jesus Christ once said.”

He continued by laying out a plan that if he were an enemy of the United States, he would set about destroying the nation in four simple steps:

Create division among the people, encourage a culture of ridicule for basic morality, undermine the nation’s financial stability through excessive government debt, and weaken the military. “It appears, coincidentally, that those are the very things that are happening right now,” he observed.  ”And the question is, how do we stop it?  Can we stop it, or must we inexorably follow the same kind of path that other pinnacle nations have followed before their destruction?”

Additionally, his plan would undermine the financial stability and drive it so far into debt it couldn’t rehabilitate, weaken the military and undermine the moral of the military. All of those things are what happened to other pinnacle nations before they fell, he observed.

We all have responsibility to recognize what’s going on and change it.

Dr. Carson, an advocate for education improvement, talked about the scholarship he created for great students instead of all the trophies given out to kids for everything now that he and his wife saw when visiting schools recently.

“Education is a fundamental principle of what made America a success,” he stated, reflecting on the importance of education in his own life, and noting that well-educated people are better equipped to pursue opportunity and provide for themselves – not lapse into social safety-net dependency.   Carson cited the thirty percent high school dropout rate today and suggested a plan to create reading rooms where schools had no libraries. For motivation on the money spent on educating our young, Carson reminded his audience “for every student we save that’s one less person you have to save your family from or pay for in the penal system.” “We can’t afford to throw any young people away,” he professed.

Reflecting on United States history and its industrial empires, Carson reflected American barons didn’t just become European land barons that just passed their wealth down to future generations. They built transcontinental railroads, museums and {became manufacturers.}

On America’s wealthy, the renowned surgeon stated that forty percent of the wealthiest families give half their wealth to charities. “No other country in the world would do that…”

In regards to taxes, he said someone criticized him at the prayer breakfast for bringing up God. “I don’t understand that – it’s a prayer breakfast.”

God – you make ten billion you put in one billion – you make ten dollars you put in one dollar. What’s not fair is when you exempt someone. To me, that’s offensive.

The superior elite people say, ‘there, there, little thing, I’ll take care of you.’ The other ulterior motive is if everyone doesn’t have skin in the game, not everyone will care about raising taxes and you’ll to explain to all.

As he did at the National Prayer Breakfast, Carson warned of the dangers of allowing government to control health care, which represents one-sixth of the economy.  “If the government can control that, they can control everything,” he said.  Instead, he proposes that 80 percent of the interactions between doctors and patients could be easily handled through health savings accounts, a proposal discussed in more detail in his book, “America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great.”

“We need to understand what is going on, because there are much more economic models that can be used to give us good health care than what we have now. And we were asleep at the wheel to let it happen, but we have to find a way still to make it work,” said the neurosurgeon.

Addressing economics, Carson said his critics would say he’s a neurosurgeon so he couldn’t know anything about economics. “It’s not brain surgery,” he mused. (applause)

“Corporations aren’t there to be social welfare programs. They’re there to make money,” he said in terms of pro-business growth. He said there is an awful lot of money floating around beyond America’s borders, and our government could bring it home by “treating businesses as friends, not as enemies.” He repeated his comments about truly fair taxation he stated at the National Prayer Breakfast where he talked about truly fair taxation and a low and flat tax system which would punish no one and exempt no one.

Moving on to social issues and religion, Dr. Carson told the convention “We need to resist this war on God. People don’t want to talk about God and don’t dare mention Jesus Christ. What happened to freedom of religion? Freedom of speech? Let’s let everybody believe what they want to believe,” he countered.  ”And that means, P.C. police, don’t you be coming down on people who believe in God and who believe in Jesus.”

“We need to understand that we are not each others’ enemies in this country.  And it is only the political class that derives its power by creating friction.  It is only the media that derives its importance by creating friction… that uses every little thing to create this chasm between people.  This is not who we are.  We have much more in common with other people than we have apart.  And we have to be smart enough to understand that, and we have to live by Godly principles of loving your fellow man, of caring about your neighbor… of developing your God-given talents to the utmost, so you become valuable to the people around you… of having values and principles to guide your life.  And if we do that, not only will we remain a pinnacle nation, but we will truly have one nation – under God – indivisible – with liberty and justice for all.”

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An interview follows with biographer Eric Metaxas. It is noted Dr. Carson will be retiring from medicine in 106 days. The surgeon will be 62 years of age soon. Carson says he understands why pilots are asked to retire before they crash planes. He’s asked if he is leaving medicine to get into the political sphere. Carson is amused and says he’s very dedicated to education and asks people to go to his scholarship website…then, who knows? The interviewer muses that Dr. Carson must be getting into politics because he didn’t answer the question. {they laugh}

Dr. Carson came into the national political spotlight after criticizing President Obama and his Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, at a national prayer breakfast attended by the president in February, where Carson delivered a staunch defense of conservative and Christian values. His remarks were completely unexpected by President Obama and the First Lady.

 

Ed.: This article written and reported by Juliana Simone, also appeared on Ameriborn News Network, a CT internet news site taken down in October 2015.