Paging Doctor Carson: The rise of Ben Carson and the GOP’s fractured flock of 2016

The National Review ^ | August 8, 2014 | Myra Adams

[loveliberty2]

Back in 2009, the New York Times' Bob Herbert included the following statement in his description of the then recently-elected president: "He's smart, deft, elegant. . . ."

But, we might have asked of Herbert, does he hold fast to the principles of liberty stated so "elegant(ly)" by the Author of our Declaration of Independence and President of the U. S., Thomas Jefferson, in his own 1801 Inaugural Address--wherein Jefferson laid out what might be considered to be "qualifications" for the American presidency:

(Excerpt, "Our Ageless Constitution," p. xiv, reformatted)
"Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation;

- entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them;

- enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man;

- acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter

—with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people?

- Still one thing more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.

- This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

"About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you,

- it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations.

- Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political;

- peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none;

- the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies;

- the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad;

- a jealous care of the right of election by the people—a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided;

- absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism;

- a well disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them;

- the supremacy of the civil over the military authority;

- economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened;

- the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith;

- encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid;

- the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason;

- freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected.

These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety."

Now, does Herbert's standard of "smart, deft, and elegant" qualify one--anyone-- to lead us to "retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety"?

[bfh333]

Here’s ONE... That I chose out of MANY...

http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Ben_Carson_Gun_Control.htm

That’s an ABSOLUTE deal breaker... I don’t need anything else...

[Tammy8]

There are politicians and there are politicians...in the past most had accomplishments in military, business, career before running for office. Voters years ago wanted to see accomplishments before they would elect someone. Now many begin as politicians and have never done anything else.

[JohnBrowdie]

I think that’s manifestly untrue. in fact, the exact opposite is true. other than our limited number of general/presidents, all of our best presidents were “only” politicians.

I’m not defending the profession, mind you. but I am insisting that until you get past this, you will never see the real problem.

[jocon307]

Yes, I agree with you. He could run for a high profile office, since he’s got some name recognition, and he’d be a great, great addition to either the republican party or the soon to be “tea party” party.

But, really folks, we need to be a lot more focused in 2016 than we were in 2012, when everybody and their sister (I love Michele Bachmann, but was she really, ever going to be the next president?) ran and we ended up with Romney.

A fine man, and a dreadful L.O.S.E.R. who has left us strangled in the clutches of Obama.

I’ve been thinking that here is the question that determines the voters minds: Does this candidate understand the problems of people like me?

You’ve got to have someone with “the common touch”, this is why we have failed so spectacularly with Romney, McCain, Dole, et al.

If the average person would not answer that question with “YES!” then forget it.

So.....maybe Scott Walker? I don’t even think he graduated college, he might very much appeal to the working class.

[Tammy8]

Who do you consider our best presidents?

[JohnBrowdie]

in this particular debate, it doesn’t matter. except for eisenhower, grant, & etc. (all mediocre, by the way), they were ALL politicians.

[Din Maker]

When I first glanced at that pic, I thought it was Sarah Palin with a “young” Pat Buchanan; for real.

[Din Maker]

Who do you consider our best presidents?
_____________________________________________________________

You didn’t ask me, but, I’ll chime in on this: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.

[Tammy8]

I agree with you on Ronald Reagan and Thomas Jefferson. I have mixed feelings about Abraham Lincoln.

[Din Maker]

Well, the thing about Lincoln was the fact that he served in the most divisive, distressing time in the history of this nation. What a burden to carry. And then, just as things started “looking up”, he was assassinated. John Wilkes Booth overestimated the “hatred” for Lincoln; even in the South. Booth thought he would be a hero but, this nation, North and South, hated him and rejoiced at his demise. Lincoln, for whatever faults he had, was greatly loved.

[Tammy8]

Well, the thing about Lincoln was the fact that he served in the most divisive, distressing time in the history of this nation. What a burden to carry

That is why I have mixed feelings, he was surely tested. I don't agree with his idea to ignore habeas corpus in order to arrest Southern sympathizers without trial. I also disagree with the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to slave holders in the North. I admire that he set up reconstruction to be a rebuilding/reuniting process as opposed to punishment.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Back at ya!