Dr. Ben Carson Speaks at National Press Club Luncheon ...1 of 2 >
May 28, 2014 - Retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, subject of a draft movement seeking to persuade him to run for president in 2016, called for unity and for a logical and common sense approach to government in a speech at the National Press Club.  Carson, who has recently come out with a book co-written with his wife Candy, stated:

"The reason that Candy and I wrote One Nation is to illustrate to peple that we the American people are not each others' enemies.  The enemies are those people who are trying to drive a wedge in every little crack they can find, to create, you know, racial wars, gender wars, income wars, age wars..."

And he said:

"When we gain control again—and when I say we I'm not talking about any particular political party—I'm talking about people with common sense.  When we gain control again what we have to remember is we are not going to treat the secular progressives the way that they treated us.  We are going to govern based on the Constitution of the United States of America, and we're not going to have special favors.  We're going to have only one special interest group and that's the American people. 

"And I'm talking about all of the American people.  The downtrodden in our country have been abused so much over the last several decades by so-called do-gooders who have made them into a dependent class.  We don't want a dependent class.  We want everybody, we want the 47-percent to ascend to the highest levels possible.  We have to put the right programs in place."

Carson, who espouses a conservative, limited government philosophy, said he is an independent: 

"I don't really even like the party system.  I would be in favor of a new law that says people's party affiliation cannot be on the ballot, and therefore you would actually have to know who the person was and what you were voting for.  That would make a big difference."

As he has in past speeches, Carson took on political correctness, declaring:

"I am not politically correct, and I don't like political correctness."

Carson could not resist taking a few whacks at the left wing during his speech.  For example he said he will:

"...soon be coming out with some principles of taxation, one of which is no American should have to pay more than 37% of what they earn in taxes, and I'm talking about all taxes.  I'm talking about federal, state and local, all taxes 37-percent...  Now we can make it 42-percent to those who make over a million dollars just so that the left wing can be satisfied that somebody's getting messed up."

Carson gained notice for taking on the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare in his Feb. 7, 2013 speech at the National Prayer Breakfast as President Obama sat just a few feet away.  In August 2013 an independent National Draft Ben Carson for President Committee formed.  Asked by NPC president Myron Belkind, "What steps have you taken towards a presidential run in 2016?" Dr. Carson responded:

"I have taken no steps towards such a thing.  And I've got to tell you I do not wish that job upon anybody including myself.  Have you noticed how people age when they get into that thing?  I mean after a long and arduous career of neurosurgery, I was looking forward to learning how to play the organ and playing golf and learning new languages.  I bought all these Rosetta Stones you know, but it appears to me that perhaps God has a different plan for me.  [At this point many in the audience applauded, and some stood]. 

"I don't know what those plans are.  Right now it's to continue to go around trying to wake our nation up and help the people to realize that our strength is in our unity and we need to stop fighting each other and we need to pool our collective resources."
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