One Nation Read online

  Many teachers have told us that when we put a Carson Scholar in their classroom, the GPA of the whole class goes up over the next year. It’s been very gratifying. We started 16 years ago with 25 scholarships in Maryland, now we’ve given out more than 5,000 and we are in all 50 states. But we’ve also put in reading rooms. These are fascinating places that no little kid could possibly pass up. And uh, they get points for the amount of time they spend in there reading, and the number of books they read. They can trade the points for prizes. In the beginning they do it for the prizes, but it doesn’t take long before their academic performance begins to improve.

  And we particularly target Title I schools where the kids come from homes with no books and they go to schools with no libraries. Those are the ones who drop out. We need to truncate that process early on because we can’t afford to waste any of those young people. You know, for every one of those people that we keep from going down that path, that path of self-destruction and mediocrity, that’s one less person you have to protect yourself and your family from. One less person you have to pay for in the penal or the welfare system. One more taxpaying productive member of society who may invent a new energy source or come up with a cure for cancer. They are all important to us and we need every single one of them. It makes a difference. And when you go home tonight, read about it, Carson Scholars Fund, carsonscholars.org.

  But why is it so important that we educate our people? Because we don’t want to go down the same pathway as many other pinnacle nations that have preceded us. I think particularly about ancient Rome. Very powerful. Nobody could even challenge them militarily. But what happened to them? They destroyed themselves from within . . . moral decay, fiscal irresponsibility . . . they destroyed themselves. If you don’t think that can happen to America, you get out your books and you start reading.

  But you know, we can fix it. Why can we fix it? Because we’re smart. We have some of the most intellectually gifted people leading our nation. All we need to do is remember what our real responsibilities are so that we can solve the problems.

  I think about these problems all the time. And you know, my role model was Jesus. And He used parables to help people understand things. And one of our big problems right now (and like I said, I’m not politically correct, so I’m sorry), but you know—our deficit is a big problem. Think about it. And our national debt—$16 and 1/2 trillion dollars—you think that’s not a lot of money? I’ll tell you what! Count one number per second, which you can’t even do because once you get to a thousand it will take you longer than a second, but . . . one number per second. You know how long it would take you to count to 16 trillion? 507,000 years—more than a half a million years to get there. We have to deal with this.

  Here’s the parable: A family falls on hard times. Dad loses his job or is demoted . . . gets part-time work. He has 5 children. He comes to the 5 children, he says, “We’re going to have to reduce your allowance.” Well, they’re not happy about it but . . . he says, “. . . except for John and Susan. They’re . . . they’re special. They get to keep their allowance. In fact, we’ll give them more.” How do you think that’s going to go down? Not too well. Same thing happens. Enough said.

  What about our taxation system? So complex there is no one who can possibly comply with every jot and tittle of our tax system. If I wanted to get you, I could get you on a tax issue. That doesn’t make any sense. What we need to do is come up with something that is simple.

  And when I pick up my Bible, you know what I see? I see the fairest individual in the Universe: God. And He’s given us a system. It’s called tithe. Now we don’t necessarily have to pay 10% but it’s the principle. He didn’t say, “If your crops fail, don’t give me any tithes.” He didn’t say, “If you have a bumper crop, give me triple tithes.” So there must be something inherently fair about proportionality. You make $10 billion dollars you put in a billion. You make $10 you put in $1. Of course, you’ve got to get rid of the loopholes. But now some people say, “Well that’s not fair because it doesn’t hurt the guy who made $10 billion dollars as much as the guy who made $10.” Where does it say you have to hurt the guy? He’s just put a billion dollars in the pot. We don’t need to hurt him.

  It’s that kind of thinking . . . it’s that kind of thinking that has resulted in 602 banks in the Cayman Islands. That money needs to be back here, building our infrastructure and creating jobs. And we’re smart enough . . . we’re smart enough to figure out how to do that.

  We’ve already started down the path to solving one of the other big problems: health care. We need to have good health care for everybody. It’s the most important thing that a person can have. Money means nothing, titles mean nothing when you don’t have your health. But we’ve got to figure out efficient ways to do it. We spend a lot of money on health care, twice as much per capita as anybody else in the world, and yet not very efficient. What can we do?

  Here’s my solution. When a person is born, give him a birth certificate, an electronic medical record, and a health savings account [HSA], to which money can be contributed, pretax from the time you are born, to the time you die. When you die, you can pass it on to your family members so that when you’re 85 years old and you’ve got 6 diseases, you’re not trying to spend up everything. You’re happy to pass it on and there’s nobody talking about death panels. That’s number one.

  Also, for the people who are indigent, who don’t have any money, we can make contributions to their HSA each month because we already have this huge pot of money. Instead of sending it to some bureaucracy, let’s put it into HSAs. Now they have some control over their own health care and what do you think they’re going to do? They’re going to learn very quickly how to be responsible. When Mr. Jones gets that diabetic foot ulcer, he’s not going to the emergency room and blowing a big chunk of it. He’s going to go to the clinic. He learns that very quickly . . . gets the same treatment. In the emergency room they send him out. In the clinic they say, now let’s get your diabetes under control so that you’re not back here in three weeks with another problem. That’s how we begin to solve these kinds of problems. It’s much more complex than that, and I don’t have time to go into it all, but we CAN do all of these things because we are smart people.

  And let me begin to close here by another parable: Sea Captain. And he’s out on the sea near the area where the Titanic went down. And they look ahead and there’s a bright light right there . . . another ship, he figures. He tells his signaler, “Signal that ship: Deviate 10 degrees to the south.” Back comes the message, “No, you deviate 10 degrees to the north.” Well, he’s a little bit incensed, you know. He says, “Send a message, ‘This is CAPTAIN Johnson. Deviate 10 degrees to the south.’” Back comes the message, “This is Ensign 4th Class Reilly. Deviate 10 degrees to the north.” Now Captain Johnson is really upset. He says, “Send him a message, ‘This is a naval destroyer.’” Back comes the message, “This is a lighthouse.” Enough said.

  Now, what about the symbol of our nation? The eagle. The bald eagle. It’s an interesting story how we chose that, but a lot of people think we call it the bald eagle because it looks like it has a bald head. That’s not the reason. It comes from the Old English word piebald, which means crowned with white. And we just shortened it to bald. Now, use that the next time you see somebody who thinks they know everything. You’ll get ’em on that one.

  But, why is that eagle able to fly . . . high . . . forward? Because it has two wings: a left wing and a right wing. Enough said.

  And I want to close with this story: Two hundred years ago this nation was involved in a war, the War of 1812. The British, who are now our good friends, thought that we were young whippersnappers. It was time for us to become a colony again. They were winning that war . . . marching up the eastern seaboard, destroying city after city. Destroyed Washington, DC, burned down the White House. Next stop . . . Baltimore. As they came into the Chesapeake Bay, that armada of ships . . . war ships as far as t
he eye could see. It was looking grim. Fort McHenry standing right there. General Armistead, who was in charge of Fort McHenry, had a large American flag commissioned to fly in front of the fort. The admiral in charge of the British fleet was offended, and said “Take that flag down. You have until dusk to take that flag down. If you don’t take it down, we will reduce you to ashes.”

  There was a young amateur poet on board by the name of Francis Scott Key, sent by President Madison to try to obtain the release of an American physician who was being held captive. He overheard the British plans. They were not going to let him off the ship. He mourned. As dusk approached he mourned for his fledgling young nation, and as the sun fell, the bombardment started. Bombs bursting in air . . . missiles . . . so much debris. He strained, trying to see, was the flag still there? Couldn’t see a thing. All night long it continued. At the crack of dawn he ran out to the banister. He looked, straining his eyes, but all he could see was dust and debris.

  And then there was a clearing and he beheld the most beautiful sight he had ever seen . . . the torn and tattered Stars and Stripes still waving. And many historians say that was the turning point in the War of 1812. We went on to win that war and to retain our freedom. And if you had gone onto the grounds of Fort McHenry that day, you would have seen at the base of that flag, the bodies . . . of soldiers who took turns propping up that flag! They would not let that flag go down because they believed in what that flag symbolized. And what did it symbolize? One nation, under God, [applause] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. God Bless.

  Many have commented that the president appeared to be uncomfortable during my speech, but I was not paying particular attention to him or his reactions, as my comments were really directed more at the American people than the people on the dais. At the conclusion of the program, the president approached me to shake my hand and thank me for my participation. He did not appear to be hostile or angry, but within a matter of minutes after the conclusion of the program, I received a call from some of the prayer breakfast organizers saying that the White House was upset and requesting that I call the president and apologize for offending him. I said that I did not think that he was offended and that I didn’t think that such a call was warranted.

  Although I thought the speech was good—the audience response was overwhelming, I had no idea that it would go viral and that literally millions of people would be talking about it over the next few days. This reaction was a reflection of the fact that the American people are excited to know that they are not the only ones who value common sense. People are also excited when they see one of their fellow citizens unintimidated by political correctness and unafraid to express his opinions.

  The conservative news outlets were very excited about the talk and in fact the Wall Street Journal penned an article entitled, “Ben Carson for President.” Requests for my appearance on television and radio exploded and there was and continues to be much speculation about my political future. Over the years, there have been many attempts to get me to throw my hat into the political arena. I have been offered support from around the country and tremendous financial resources if I decide to run for national office. But I have not felt called to run. I suspect that there are many others who think logically and are interested in a political future who might be better candidates than myself. Nevertheless, if I felt called by God to officially enter the world of politics, I certainly would not hesitate to do so.

  However, at the moment, I believe the more important thing that can be done with the platform I have been given is to try to convince the American populace that we are not one another’s enemies even if a (D) is by some of our names and an (R) by the names of others. Knowing that the future of my grandchildren and everyone else’s is put in jeopardy by a continuation of reckless spending, godless government, and mean-spirited attempts to silence critics leaves me with little choice but to continue to expound on the principles outlined in my prayer breakfast speech and to fight for a bright future for America.

  SAVING OUR FUTURE

  Godliness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

  PROVERBS 14:34

  Several years ago I took a trip to Alaska, and my hosts offered to send me on an excursion in their private plane to see the glaciers in the area. I was extremely excited and eagerly accepted the offer. I was less excited when I saw the single-engine prop plane that would be used by the pilot. He assured me that he had flown this mission many times and that the plane was very safe, so we headed out.

  As the plane took off, I marveled at the beautiful scenery. As we flew over the mountaintop and dropped into the valley, it almost seemed as if we were on another planet. The glaciers were awe inspiring and I quietly thanked God for the opportunity to view these natural wonders.

  As I was enjoying the sights, heavy cloud cover descended on the valley severely obscuring our view. The small plane was not equipped for instrument-only flight, so the pilot announced that we were going to climb through the clouds as rapidly as we could without going into a stall, and that we should clear the mountaintops that surrounded us. He spoke calmly, but I could detect the uncertainty in his voice. Deeply concerned, I entered into prayer and reminded myself that God is in charge even when we are in grave danger.

  After several intense minutes of upward flight, there was a break in the clouds and we cleared the mountain peaks by just a few feet. Relieved, I thanked the pilot for his quick and decisive action that saved our lives. I was never so happy to be on the ground as when we landed at the small airstrip.

  Our nation is in trouble today, and our only chance is to take quick and decisive action the way the pilot did in Alaska. Shrugging and hoping that something good would happen was not a viable choice for us as our plane hurtled toward the mountain, and it is not a wise choice for us today. Doing everything we could while beseeching the mercies of God paid big dividends in the Alaskan sky, and prayerful action could make all the difference in the problems America faces now.

  Many Americans argue that our nation’s future does not need to be saved and that we are in very good shape. They think that only partisans are skeptical about our future and that people say negative things in order to make the current administration look bad. They see the beautiful view that is America, but they don’t have the common sense and wisdom to look for the lowering clouds that obscure the mountains.

  It is true that we are enjoying the benefits of the system set up by our founders, and we are relatively quite comfortable because previous generations have made good choices. Nevertheless, the fog has been gathering for years, and we must act quickly and decisively to deal with substantial issues if we don’t want to destroy our children’s future.

  A quick glance at a newspaper should be enough to perceive the warning signs. As far as education is concerned, we have made a lot of progress in being politically correct, but very little progress in basic education, particularly in areas like math and science. The secular progressive movement completely denies any moral backsliding and feels that we have made substantial progress as a nation with respect to great moral issues like abortion, gay marriage, and helping the poor, but in reality we are losing our moral compass and are caught up in elitism and bigotry. On top of that, our national debt and the passage of Obamacare are threatening the financial future of our nation. Worst of all, we seem to have lost our ability to discuss important issues respectfully and courteously and cannot come together enough to begin to solve our problems.

  We each need to take an active role in changing the course of our nation if we are to live up to the motto “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” We are the pinnacle nation in the world right now, but if the examples of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Great Britain teach us anything, it is that pinnacle nations are not guaranteed their place forever. If we fail to rediscover the basic principles of common sense, manners, and morality, we will go the same way they did. Fortunately, our downward pathway
is not an inexorable one. It is not too late to learn from the mistakes of those who preceded us and take the kinds of corrective action that will ensure a promising future for those who come after us.

  Communities, political parties, business organizations, the news media, educational institutions, and the government can all work to turn our nation around, but the most important changes will be made by you and me, the American individuals. Each of us can control only our own behavior, but if we all take action individually, our actions will collectively have a significant impact on the direction of our nation. As individuals, we can educate ourselves and our children, cultivate the art of compromise, pray for wisdom, and hold our representatives accountable. Each of us can positively affect our nation just by making ourselves (and those in our spheres of influence ) aware of the fact that we are being used as pawns by those who try to tell us what we should think as opposed to using our own common sense.

  As an example of cloudy thinking that threatens common sense, consider the recent furor over voter ID cards. I travel to many nations of the world, and recently I’ve taken it upon myself to ask citizens of those other countries how they prevent voter fraud. I have yet to find a nation that does not require some type of official voter identification card or mechanism to ensure that the voter is who they say they are. This is basic common sense, yet some members of our society who have co-opted the media have convinced ordinary Americans that there is some type of discrimination going on when we require the same thing of those voting in our country. This would not even be an issue if political groups weren’t trying to curry favor with certain groups of voters. Instead of being whipped into a frenzy over a nonissue, it is my hope and prayer that individual Americans will educate themselves on this issue, seek to understand one another’s values, allow common sense to prevail, and reject those who try to politicize almost everything to their own advantage.