As previously reported – Ben Carson is entering the race for President of the United States in 2016. He made his campaign official yesterday morning in his hometown of Detroit, at the Music Hall Center for Performing Arts. The announcement wasn’t much of a shock to anyone, as he’d already re-confirmed the year old rumors the day before during an interview with a Florida TV Station; what was shocking, or at the very least unexpected, was the way in which went about it. Described in at least one report as “quirkyâ€, the event featured a gospel choir that performed hometown rap hero Eminem’s hit song, “Lose Yourselfâ€, as well as an acapella group that performed a short medley American ‘classics’, including – “God Bless America,” “America the Beautiful,” and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.
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Not to be lost in the surrounding show, was his message and the reason for said show –
“Stop being loyal to a party or to a man and use your brain to think for yourself…We’ve gone far beyond what our Constitution describes and we’ve begun to just allow it to expand based on what the political class wants because they want to increase their power and their dominion over the people, and I think it’s time for the people to rise up and take the government back.”
Carson, who has never held a publicly elected office, addressed his potential shortcomings during his speech, highlighting instead his storied 29 year career as a neurosurgeon, and also the youngest major division director in the hospital’s history as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospitable. He chose to focus more on how his lack of political experience could refresh, and fundamentally disrupt a government that he currently views as “creating dependency in able-bodied peopleâ€, and politicians that do what’s politically expedient at the expense of doing what’s right.
“I gotta tell you something: I’m not politically correct. I’m not gonna be politically correct because I’m not a politician and I don’t wanna be a politician,â€, he told those in attendance.
Although Dr. Carson has yet to formally reveal his detailed policy ideas, he’s previously made headlines for his strongly conservative stances on welfare and big government – comparing the US today to Nazi Germany, and Obamacare to slavery, as well as his dismissal of ‘the theory of evolution’, and his anti-stance on gay marriage, and abortion.
MSNBC reporting on his decision to run as a member of the Republican party noted that, ‘Carson becomes the first African-American to join an already diverse GOP presidential field. Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are vying to become the country’s first Hispanic president, while former Hewlett-Packard CEO [Carly Fiorina] declared Monday that she is running to become the first female president.’
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