Of all the candidates’ stories, Ben Carson’s may be the most inspiring. He overcame the poverty of a Detroit slum to become director of pediatric neurosurgery at the prestigious Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. In 1987, Carson led a 70-member surgical team in separating Siamese twins who were joined at the back of the head. A speech at a major religious event in 2013 earned Carson an invitation to become a commentator for Fox News. Carson holds 67 honorary doctoral degrees and has written several books on motivational and political topics.
Carson’s campaign motto is “Heal. Inspire. Revive.” His calmness and call for conciliation between political parties and people of different races got him noticed at the first official Republican debate in August 2015 and catapulted him to second place in the polls.
Ben Carson speaks to random people at a New Hampshire restaurant, August 12, 2015. Photo: Michael Vadon (CC2.0)
Ben Carson
Stated priorities: national conciliation; eliminating federal deficits; encouraging personal and corporate responsibility; replacing the progressive income tax with a flat tax; keeping Guantánamo Bay prison open
Current age: 63
Age on election day: 65Career path: pediatric neurosurgeon, author, political commentator
Marriages: 1
Children: 3
Religion: Seventh-Day Adventist
Religious fervor: ****
Campaign funds: $$
Skeletons in closet: 0
Clown factor: *
Cuckoo factor: **
Ability to stretch the truth: ***
Distinguishing features: soft, somnolent voice
Best resembles: actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., who played Carson in a TV movie about his life
Gimmicky product: none
Campaign video
Why they won’t elect him
Carson has no experience in politics whatsoever, nor any knowledge of foreign policy. Following misstatements about NATO and Israel, two areas that his website states are of central importance to him, the candidate now says he’s being tutored.
The few specific proposals that Carson has stated are obviously not his own; they’re those of unsuccessful candidates in past elections.
Carson’s proposals are those of past unsuccessful candidates
Replacing the progressive federal income tax (higher rates for higher income) with a flat tax, in which everyone pays the same percentage of income, has been considered at least since Steve Forbes championed it in 1996. Carson’s suggestion of a 10% tax rate — based on the biblical tithe — is at the low end of the scale; Forbes had suggested 17%. A study done during the 2012 campaign indicated that the flat tax would actually have to be nearly 40% in order to raise enough revenue.
Another of Carson’s ideas, a temporary 0 percent tax rate for corporations if they relocate their $2 trillion in assets back to the United States, was taken from Rick Santorum’s 2012 campaign. (Santorum is a candidate in the current election, though he is seldom visible.)
Carson’s complaint that the US Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917 was debunked by Barack Obama when Mitt Romney said the same thing, word for word, in 2012. Obama’s answer: “We also have fewer horses and bayonets.”
Carson’s religious devotion will make him popular with some, but unpopular with others. In his 2013 book America the Beautiful, Carson wrote, “I believe it is a very good idea for physicians, scientists, engineers, and others trained to make decisions based on facts and empirical data to get involved in the political arena,” yet he as a brain surgeon does not accept the scientific doctrine of evolution.
Finally, Carson’s expectation that businesses will contribute more to society if asked is a very optimistic view.
Why they might
The candidate’s message of civility and cooperation is resonating with those Americans who are tired of two decades of bickering and obstruction.
Carson’s biography is a true rags-to-riches story
Carson’s remarkable biography is the rags-to-riches story that Republicans like to champion: how individual effort leads to success. Unlike some of his rivals, Carson admits that there are people who do need government assistance, so he would not end social programs altogether. He suggests allotting 10 percent of the $2 trillion in regained foreign assets to retrain people who are on welfare.
Carson’s biggest advantage is that he is genuine. His speeches, though rehearsed, are unscripted and contain plenty of stories about the challenges he has faced in life.
In his own words
“We need to recognize that we’re all in the same boat, and if part of the boat sinks, eventually the rest of it’s going down, too. We need to be concerned about each other, and when it comes to taking care of the downtrodden in our society, that’s the job of business, industry, academia, Wall Street, churches [and] community organizations. It’s not the job of the government.”
Best quote about him
“People are constantly asking us, ‘Can we have his prepared remarks?’ He doesn’t have prepared remarks.” (Deana Bass, Carson’s press secretary, July 2015)
Official website
