BEN CARSON OPEN UP ON THE STANCE OF THE CONSERVATIVES

BEN BELIEVED THAT THE BEST HELP IS SELF HELP. DEPENDENCY AND VICTIM MENTALITY DISDAIN THE POTENTIAL OF STRONG MENTAL ABILITY.

Conservatives are often characterized by “progressives” as uncaring and unfair to minorities and indigent people.
Although such preposterous allegations are largely unfounded, it is true that conservatives in the past have not effectively countered these assertions and have inappropriately assumed that the masses would understand their policies of self-empowerment and personal responsibility as the correct mechanisms for achieving success and independence in our society.

It is time to cease such assumptions and clearly communicate the conservative and logical antidote for government induced dependency and the victim mentality that is rapidly spreading in America today.

Progressives who frequently change their identifying nomenclature and redefine terms and issues to avoid increasing recognition and disdain by the people, can only maintain power if they can create dissatisfaction among the masses and then portray themselves as the saviors.

America has achieved overwhelming success historically largely due to our “can-do” attitude. Despite recent declines, we are still the world’s most powerful and influential leader. We only have 330 million people and in order to maintain our position in the world, we must develop all of our people or we will eventually succumb to other nations like China and India which have over 1 billion people. This gives them a much larger pool from which to draw talent to strengthen their nation.

The key to developing our people is good education. A well-educated person can basically write their own ticket in determining their future. This was once a matter of tremendous importance to our nation which possessed a public education system second to none. Our founders recognized that our system of government, unlike many others, granted enormous freedom to our people and could only be maintained if we had a well-educated and informed citizenry. If we ever became uninformed and relatively uneducated, the people could be easily manipulated by unscrupulous politicians, those wishing to fundamentally change who we are and by biased media. Almost as devastating as this would be the fact that such a populace would be ill-prepared for a rapidly evolving technologically sophisticated world, making them even more dependent and vulnerable to the purveyors of resentment, victimhood, hatred and division.

To counter this, conservatives must provide ladders of opportunity making it possible for disadvantaged people to climb out of undesirable circumstances based on their own talents and hard work. When such people achieve success, they no longer have to be supported by others and they become part of the fabric that provides the strength of the nation.

Education is the linchpin to creating the success. Currently 20+ percent of our people who enter high school do not finish. We also have many failing schools as demonstrated by the fact that 71% of applicants between the ages of 17 and 24 to our all voluntary military are rejected, primarily for educational reasons. They are unable to pass a basic screening examination involving communication skills and elementary mathematics. To provide a remedy, we must promote locally mediated school choice programs everywhere, but especially in places with obvious records of educational failure. Our per capita spending on educating our youth is close to the top in the world, but our results are closer to the bottom for developed nations. We must not only talk about this problem, but we must establish the programs that will make educational superiority a reality once again in America.

Another area conservatives can successfully address with some focused attention and their principles of empowerment, is our nation’s high incarceration rate. We have 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of its prisoners. Many of these inmates possess little or no marketable skills and have an inadequate educational foundation. There is no reason that prisoners cannot be educated and trained while incarcerated, thereby providing them with an alternative path to a life of crime once they are released, thereby diminishing the rate of recidivism. This will cost us much less in the long run as a society and will strengthen our nation. Not only will we have to bare less costs in terms of incarceration, but we will also be producing contributing members of society who cannot only support themselves, but can contribute to the well-being of others. Furthermore, we can encourage companies and businesses to provide internships and other exposure opportunities to underprivileged people which will give them exposure to a new world of possibilities and can be an obvious win-win situation as we invest in our fellow citizens, who I believe will deliver substantial returns.

These are just a few of the many things that can be done to provide real hope and incentive for all of our people to succeed. We need not guarantee success, but we should be committed to providing equal opportunities for everyone. We must oppose the progressive philosophy of advantaging your current favorite group to the detriment of the group you are currently demonizing in a “nice” way. The leaders of the progressive movement must be exposed for who they really are, which hopefully will remove the scales from the eyes of many of their followers who have been deceived into being the minions for those who hate America and want to fundamentally change her.

If we concentrate on liberty and justice for all, our founding values and principles will prevail. By keeping compassion and fairness as objectives, we will remove many of the weapons of those wishing to divide us and we will elevate the prospects of peace and prosperity for all in America.