Dr. Ben Carson, who is said to be the biggest lead against Hillary Clinton among any GOP candidate, has caused a lot of controversy recently by making the comment, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.” But he is continuing to rise in the polls and win states over well-known Donald Trump. Who is Ben Carson and what should you know about him?
Carson grew up in Detroit, Michigan, with a family that could not provide much. Because his mom did not pursue an education, he was driven to succeed and attended Yale University, continuing schooling at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Carson pursued a career as a pediatric neurosurgeon and spent most of his career at John Hopkins University Medical Center. In his career, he was the first person to successfully separate conjoined twins.
Something that stands out about Dr. Carson is that he is not politically correct. He does not follow the straight conservative line and is willing to speak out on certain issues that are against political correctness. Carson has spoken out against Obamacare by saying, ”It’s the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.” He continued his point with, "The government is supposed to conform to our will. By taking the most important thing you have, your health and your healthcare, and turning that over to the government, you fundamentally shift the power, a huge chunk of it, from the people to the government. This is not the direction that we want the government to go in this nation."
Carson stands for healthcare to be the responsibility of the patient and the healthcare provider. He thinks the best way to do this is through a health savings account; the patient would control it and even if the federal government provided this for every American citizen, it would cost less than $700 billion a year and everyone would be covered.
Carson stands on his belief and principles of being Christian. In an article with Time magazine, he said, “God gets the credit for all the things I do, but he also gets the blame. My job is to do the best that I can do… I certainly wouldn’t want to do something like this if I didn’t feel that the Lord was behind it. And in a way I was comforted by listening to all the pundits who all said it’s impossible, you can’t do it, you can’t raise all the money, you can’t put together an organization, no one like you has ever done this, you can just forget about it. I said phew! That’s good!”
Ben Carson’s Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages are full of posts of people holding signs saying, ”I am Christian,” and Carson also has pictures of himself holding these signs. Carson is not afraid to put his faith and beliefs in what he stands for, and he talks about his faith on a regular basis in interviews.
“Everyone in America should understand the significance of the Second Amendment of the constitution," he said. "It gives the citizenry the right to own and bear arms. Lawful people have the right to defend themselves." He agrees with the right to continue to allow guns in home and for protection. To Carson, the guns are not the issue; we need to begin to identify the people doing these acts of violence.
The Oregon shooting caused devastation across America as we uncovered details of how the shooter asked each person what they believed, and when they responded "Christian," he shot them in the head. And if they stuttered or didn’t say anything, they were shot in the leg or injured elsewhere.
As Obama used this as another platform to promote gun control laws, Dr. Carson spoke up and said on “Fox and Friends,” “I would not just stand there and let him shoot me. I would say, 'Hey guys, everybody attack him.' He may shoot me, but he can’t get us all. As a doctor, I spend many a night pulling bullets out of bodies, there is no doubt that this senseless violence is breathtaking -- but I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away.”
The latest GOP Poll had Carson at 27 percent, Trump at 17 percent, Rubio at 11 percent and Fiorina at 9 percent. Tune into the next debate on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. on CNBC to learn more about these candidates and Ben Carson.
