Because you believe just as I do …–Ben Carson
A political mailing came addressed to me today from Ben Carson. Carson kindly included a picture of himself. Carson assured me that we share each others views. He included a Newsmax article by Sandy Fitzgerald dated May 4, 2015 giving 12 reasons for supporting his candidacy which are summarized here. How many of them do readers agree are good reasons to favor Carson?
- He’s a newcomer: Carson has never run for a public office …
- He’s not politically correct: He often speaks out against the evil of political correctness …
- He’s for a flat tax: Carson has often spoken in favor of a flat tax to replace the nation’s current tax structure, including citing the Bible in his arguments. …
- He is a fierce Obamacare foe: As a world class surgeon, Carson says health insurance companies should be turned into utilities with profit limits, and has even brought controversy by equating the Affordable Care Act with “slavery.”
- He’s a free-market advocate: He points to the deregulation of Wall Street in the 1990s as the root cause of the financial crisis.
- He’s for individualism and independence: Even though his family relied on food stamps while he was young, he says President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society era started the steady fall of the country’s individualism and independence.
- He’s got guts: Carson’s launch can be traced back to February 2013, when he delivered his fiery speech at the National Prayer Breakfast challenging President Barack Obama on health care, taxes, spending, and the country’s direction — all with the president and first lady sitting just a few feet away.
- He’s got a real rags to riches story: With the support and prodding of his mother, he rose from poor grades, a single-parent home, and poverty to attend Yale University and medical school at the University of Michigan.
- He’s a bonafide genius: He became the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center …
- He’s used to the corporate world: Carson has served on corporate boards including Kellogg Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp. …
- He backs social conservatism: Carson is a staunch social conservative who opposes abortion rights and same-sex marriage, views he attributes to his personal faith as a practicing Christian.
- He’s a loyal husband and family man: Carson, who has three sons, is rarely without his wife, Candy, by his side. …
There are many issues not addressed in Carson’s letter. I found nothing about education, protecting the environment, the Federal budget, or foreign policy. Like JFK, he calls for sacrifice; like Jimmy Carter, he suggests that his Christian faith is an important qualification.
I found No. 5 above rather confusing. If Carson is a free market advocate, why would he think deregulation would lead to financial crisis? There is little information in Carson’s letter about economics other than this: “We must spur job growth by lowering and simplifying taxes on both businesses and individuals.”
Carson’s fascinating letter is a list of loosely connected vignettes; whoever composed it evidently has no use for paragraphs.
http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/ben-carson-good-president-reasons/2015/05/04/id/642490/
