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No excuses, only solutions

Feb. 7, Ben Carson ruffled feathers by using his post as keynote speaker at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast to directly criticize President Barack Obama’s policies.

“His remarks were inappropriate for the occasion,” said Cal Thomas, foxnews.com contributor, in a column.

“It would have been just as inappropriate had he praised the president’s policies. The president had a right to expect a different message about another Kingdom. I’m wondering if the president felt drawn closer to God, or bludgeoned by the Republican Party and the applauding conservatives in the audience.”

Carson broke with the organization’s tradition of avoiding political topics by his denouncing of Obama’s tenets on healthcare, taxation, entitlements and spending. In a society where everyone is worried about political correctness, Carson was bold, courageous and real. His no-nonsense approach to America’s problems was refreshingly straightforward.

Dr. Ben Carson, left, seated next to Dr. Anthony Fauci as Carsons receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008. Carson raised eyebrows with his comments at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 7. | Wikimedia Commons

Ben Carson, left, seated next to Dr. Anthony Fauci as Carsons receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008. Carson raised eyebrows with his comments at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 7. | Wikimedia Commons

Carson’s story is inspiring. He grew up in Detroit with his single mother, Sonya, and older brother, Curtis.

Carson became a neurosurgeon and the director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 2008, Carson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

His recent keynote address at the National Prayer Breakfast put Carson in the national spotlight, earning him praise and criticism from the conservative side.

Fox News contributor Juan Williams said he didn’t see anything wrong with what Carson said and sees him more as a personal hero.

“He is a winner to me for living by the conservative principles I want young America, especially poor black and Latino kids, to see as the prescription for success,” Williams said.

“And when it comes to public policy Dr. Carson again deserves credit for making specific suggestions.”

The irony here is that Williams is a Democrat and that two of Carson’s most notable quotes have to do with the negative direction in which society is headed and the staggering deficit. Carson compares America’s decline to the decline of the Roman civilization.

“Nobody could even challenge them militarily, but what happened to them? They destroyed themselves from within. Moral decay, fiscal irresponsibility,” Carson said.

“They destroyed themselves. If you don’t think that can happen to America, you get out your books and you start reading.”

He also explains the massive debt the U.S. has incurred.

“Our deficit is a big problem,” Carson said.

“Think about it. Our national debt — $16.5 trillion — you think that’s not a lot of money? I’ll tell you what, count one number per second. … You know how long it would take you to count to 16 trillion? Five hundred and seven thousand years — more than a half a million years to get there. We have to deal with this.”

On the topic of healthcare, Carson suggested a health savings account that people pay in to so that people can control their own healthcare.

“Here’s my solution: When a person is born, give him a birth certificate, an electronic medical record, and a health savings account to which money can be contributed — pre-tax — from the time you’re born ’til the time you die. … We can make contributions for people who are indigent. Instead of sending all this money to some bureaucracy, let’s put it in their HSAs,” Carson said. “Now they have some control over their own health care. And very quickly they’re going to learn how to be responsible.”

It is an intelligent solution to healthcare while avoiding increasing the powers of the already overgrown government.

To improve the taxation system, we need to simplify the system by requiring the same percentage of income to be paid in taxes across all income levels. When everyone is required to give, again, it promotes personal responsibility and increases peoples’ interest in how the government money is being spent. It is our generation who will be left with a massive debt to repay. We are all interested parties. Carson agrees.

“What about our taxation system? It’s so complex there is no one who can possibly comply with every jot and title of our tax system,” Carson said. “What we need to do is come up with something that is simple. You make $10 billion, you put in a billion. You make $10, you put in $1 – of course, you gotta get rid of the loopholes, but now some people say, ‘That’s not fair because it doesn’t hurt the guy who made $10 billion as much as the guy who made $10,'” Carson said.

“Where does it say you have to hurt the guy? He’s just put in a billion in the pot! We don’t need to hurt him.”

Lastly, Carson rightly had some insights into America’s growing problem: an uneducated and ill-informed populace.

“We went to these schools and we’d see all these trophies: State Basketball, State Wrestling. The quarterback was the big man on campus,” Carson said. “What about the intellectual superstar? What did they get? A National Honor Society pin? A pat on the head, ‘There, there little nerd?’ Nobody cared about them. And is it any wonder that sometimes the smart kids try to hide?”

Carson’s no-excuses-only-solutions philosophy is one we should all adopt, particularly our president. It is refreshing and long overdue to have someone, especially someone who has overcome an impoverished background, speak out about America’s problems and how our current entitlement system, among others, is not working. He not only identifies our problems, but puts forth viable solutions.

Sarah Backer is a business sophomore and may be reached at [email protected].

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7 Comments

  • Dr. Carson’s personal story may be admirable, but it does not follow that his policy opinions are valid or even useful. Health care may not be a right, but it is certainly a responsibility we all share to care for others. Medicare and Medicaid are the best, most efficient way of discharging this responsibility and have now been in place for nearly fifty years. I am astonished that a physician, who takes the oath of Hippocrates, would advocate abandoning the poor and the indigent in order to keep taxes low. That’s not public policy. In fact, it’s called selfishness.

    • Medicare sounds good and noble, but the truth (and reality) is that it’s unsustainable. It’s predicted to go broke in the next 3-10 years, depending on who you listen to. It’s estimated 20% of the expenses, or $80 BILLION dollars EVERY year, is wasted in fraud. Meanwhile, the media and Dem politicians attack anyone who attempts to prevent these inevitable outcomes. Their solution, like in Obamacare, is to give the impression of lowering costs by paying doctors and hospitals less, who just end up dropping Medicare patients, not solving anything and actually making it worse. Or skewing the costs with the CBO with these fairytale numbers and then passing seperate legislation (Doc Fix) which results no savings whatsoever. Ignorance is not bliss, and these politicians would be in prison if they tried doing this in the private sector.

      • Medicare and Medicaid are ‘unsustainable’ only if we refuse to raise taxes on those who earn 100K/year or more, and if we continue to allow bloated drug companies and overpaid US physicians to dictate how much money they take from the system. If the US government were allowed to negotiate reasonable prices with the drug companies, and if physician pay equaled that which European physicians make, there would be no problem with health care costs. Also, be aware that you are misrepresenting the facts of what you call Medicare fraud. the sums you mention are not just for fraud, but things like clerical errors and mistakes. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/09/12/truth.squad.medicare.fraud/index.html?iref=allsearch

        If we had single payer system in this country, we could eliminate a great deal of this sort of fraud and waste, by taking direct payments out of the equation. Until we do, Medicare and Medicaid, warts and all, will have to do.

        • I got a better idea, why don’t we raise YOUR taxes. The top 5% wage earners already pay >60% of all Fed Income Tax. We currently have some of the highest income taxes in the world for those “evil” rich people, and the highest corporate tax in the world. Enough with the taxes, the rich are taxed enough, yet almost 50% of the population pay’s NOTHING in Fed Tax. How about everyone pay some of their “fair share?” Yet our Govt keeps finding ways to overspend >$1 TRILLION a year for the past 4 years. That’s borrowing $50,000 a second!! And you want single payer??? I can only imagine how messed up that’ll be. Run like the Post Office, Social Security, Medicare, FEMA, Dept of Energy, etc, etc, just another bloated bureaucracy going broke with poor service and no competition. Have you ever wondered why people with means come from all over the world to have medical treatment in the U.S? Because our current system is the best in the world and saves lives!! Sorry, I don’t want my heart surgery going to the lowest bidder or college flunky who barely passed and could only get a job with the public health system.
          Maybe the Govt should regulate YOUR pay. What major are you? Does it entail 8+ years of college, requiring to be the top of your class to get admitted (i.e. hard work and intelligence), going massively in debt, only to find people like you wanting to regulate their pay. Bet you wouldn’t make that sacrifice. I got a better idea, it’s called the free market, people will pay for services based on quality, value and competition. What a concept.
          I’m not misrepresenting the fraud facts at all. Look it up. And that’s only the fraud that’s known, like all criminal activity, there’s probably much, much, much, not known.

          • Is it my serve, Max?

            In the interests of keeping this civil, I’ll simply reply to your direct points:

            I don’t mind paying more taxes, _if everyone else pays their share_. That means no loopholes for guys like Mitt Romney.

            Taxes are their lowest in the last fifty years, way below that of the liberal administration of Eisenhower. Taxes, I believe, are too low.

            I did look up the “fraud” you mentioned. The point of the link I gave was so that you could look it up, as well. The amounts in question come, not just from fraud, but from clerical errors, accidental over billing, etc. Not just fraud. Like I said, if you go to single payer, the only billing would be from the doctor to the government, and since all those hardworking doctors never commit fraud, I am certain that would solve the problem.

  • In response to Doyle: I apologize for my tone, I’m just amazed every day when I read comments suggesting the Govt limit someone’s income, and the ever increasing class warfare misinformation. For instance:

    “Taxes are their lowest in the last fifty years, way below that of the liberal administration of Eisenhower.” While your (and Obama’s) statement might be true of the “Tax Rates”, it’s an incredibly dishonest argument. In reality, because of even more loopholes, exemptions, etc, nobody paid those rates under Eisenhower (90% in some instances). In truth, the tax burden (amount ACTUALLY paid as a percentage of income) was much lower in Eisenhower’s time. Shall we also go into all the other additional taxes people pay today compared to then? Should the Govt (combined, Fed, State, Local, Property, Sales, SS, Medicare, fuel,etc, etc) be allowed to take almost 50% of your income when it’s all added up? I don’t think so, especially since they never seem to lower spending.

    Federal spending has increased 85% in the last 10 years (2002 $2 Trillion—2012 $3.7 Trillion). Why is that? You need to justify this to me before we continue talking about raising taxes.

    “I don’t mind paying more taxes, _if everyone else pays their share_. That means no loopholes for guys like Mitt Romney” Chances are, if you’re a typical college student, by April 15th (tax day) you pay ZERO Fed income tax. What “loophole” are you using? That’s mighty hypocritical of you. What loophole did Romney use? Was it the capital gains rate? There’s a reason why the Govt shouldn’t have high capital gains tax. Taking a risk by investing (already taxed income saved) stimulates the economy, something we need desperately today. Investors take a risk losing THEIR money, so someone like you and me, who don’t have that capital, and thus hopefully succeed (no guarantee) and hire more people, which may reduce the Fed expense of 11K people added to food stamps every day, and SHOCK, actually generate tax income. It’s synergistic, but most people today are being brainwashed by the media and politicians that this is a “bad” thing. We’re in big trouble
    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-6825948.html

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