Episode 27: It's Time to Restore Our Common Sense with Dr. Ben Carson

when I tell you excited, I am truly excited. My guest today is the great Doctor Ben Carson, the founder and chairman of the brand new American Cornerstone Institute, a nonprofit thing tank dedicated to promoting conservative solutions to real problems our nation face. From March twenty seventeenth to January, Dr Carson served in the Trump administration is the seventeenth Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Dr Carson was also

a President of candidate in the Republican primary. Before then, he was a world renowned neurosurgeon and became director of the Pediatric neuros Surgery at the John Hopkins Children's Center. I'll ask Dr Carson about his extraordinary life, his new institute, conservative values, and much much more. Let's go well today. I'm just so ecstatic to have one of my heroes on with me today and that's none other than Dr Ben Carson. Thank you for joining out loud with Giano Caldwell.

Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure now the pleasures all mine. And I want to tell you you know, I grew up on the South side of Chicago, extremely pour lights, gas and water off at the same time. And growing up one of the people that they always put before us was uh, your poster and talked about your story. But you had an even more direct impact on me, um in a way that you probably don't

even know today. I got involved in media back in and it was because of people like Armstrong Williams and you, of course, who was the executive editor of American Currency,

the magazine at the Washington Times distributed. And because of that that led me to writing for a think tank called Project twenty one Radio, started calling B level TV, and then went on to work at Fox News Channel, which is where I work right now, is a Fox News political analysts, and then wrote a book and again again thanks in part to you, uh, titled Taken for Granted, How Conservatism can win back to the Americans and Liberalism failed.

So I have a lot uh to thank you for not only just being a leader in this movement, but certainly being an active role model and mentor to so many of us who grew up poor, um, whether they be white, black, or indifferent, to lead a better lives for ourselves. So I thank you so much for that. Dr Carson. Well, you know, it's interesting you mentioned the South side of Chicago because I remember some years ago going there to a high school called Wendell Phillips High School.

My mom went, oh, really, and you would have thought a rock star had come in because one of the banks had brought copies of my book Gifted Hands for all the students and they've been reading it. And uh, you know, I talked about being a nerd versus being cool, and where each one of those things from eight And at the end, I said, so, how many people want to be cool? Almost no one raised your hand? How many want to be a nerd? And that's about everybody raising.

That was pretty interesting, No, it absolutely was, and I'm I'm just so interested, especially considering the fact that our backgrounds are very similar in the white Obviously, I'm not a newer surgeon or um as prolific of a figure as you at this moment, but certainly how is it that you became CONSCIENTI conscientious of your conservative values? What drew you to conservatism? Was it a natural process giving your faith and experience or values instilled in you or

or what was it exactly? Well, you know, I grew up in Detroit, so I was a Democrat. Detroit and Boston Democrats strongholds. And then I went to college and New Haven, Connecticut, another Democrat stronghold, and then an Arbor, Michigan for medical school, another demonstrating stronghold. Then to Baltimore to Johns Hopkins, another Democratic stronghold. So I was pretty died in the world Democrats. And then I did something that Democrats are never supposed to do. I listened to

a Republican. I listened to Ronald Reagan, and I said, this guy sounds just like my mother, and you know, I have very common sensical, practical stuff. And at the same time, you know, I was kind of questioning what was going on in society because I was seeing these patients and so many of them were, you know, being subsidized by the government, and they were perfectly healthy people. And I said, we are actually hurting these people by

making them dependent on government. And that was really the beginning of my transition and wanting to change that dynamic. It is a hard dynamic to change. I gotta tell you there are many people who very solidly invested in it, and uh, you know, the more dependency they can create, the greater their power becomes. And I think that was the very reason that the Kia Kushchoff many years ago

said of America. He said, your grandchildren, your grandchildren's children will live under communism, and we won't have to fire

a shot because he knew certain things. He knew that if you gained control of the school system so that you can indoctrinate the kids, he knew that if you gained control of the media so that you could suppress and promote those things that you wanted people to know, And that if you remove God and replace that with dependency on the government, and you increase the national that amazing levels so that you could justify massive taxes so

you could redistribute to wealth and gain complete combination. And uh, it seems like it seems like those are the very things that are happening absolutely, And it reminds me of something that you wrote about in real clear politics, And I'll read um this particular line here we have painted

our fellow Americans is deplorable, stupid, and worse. It is this type of malicious political rhetoric fuel by opportunistic politicians and profit driven media organizations that has rolled our deeply divided nation, and of course we continuing to see it more and more divided. Why do you think that is exactly clearly they want they want dominance, they want control. But it didn't used to be this way. No, I

think it's it's quite intentional. And you know the four cornerstones that the American Cornerstone Institute is based on, Safe and liberty, and community and life. Take the community one there. Uh. This nation became strong because we had strong communities, had people who worked together, who helped each other, and they were neighbors to each other. For farmers, farmer broke his leg, everybody pitched in and harvested the crops from That's the

way it used to be. Now you have a situation where that person who lived across the street from you for the last twenty years peacefully, uh, is now your enemy because they have a different yard side than you do. And what is that caused by? That's caused by politicians and the media nothing else, and we're allowing them to have too much influence on One of the things that we have to begin to do is get the American people to recognize that we are not each other's enemies.

We're wasting a lot of unnecessary energy being enemies for no reason. We agree on way more stuff than we disagree on, and we cannot continue to allow ourselves to be manipulated into a hateful, intolerant people. I agree with that absolutely. And you know what's more interesting to me. You mentioned the yard signs and how a lot of folks just would hate their neighbors. Especially since the election, we've seen it dial up quite a bit, But there's

beyond just that. Simplistically, there's a major attack on black conservatives. But oftentimes I know you know this because people have called you a house in word, a coon, any negative, disgusting name they can think of. They've also said it recently about Senator Tim Scott, and Jerry Reid said that he was a prop. I know people often called you a prop for the Trump administration. We're told that we're not black enough, and we're betraying our race for taking

stances like we do publicly. Why is that? And how do you handle these vicious comments, especially coming from a place where you were such a beloved figure among everyone, not just conservatives, but everyone. Kids wanted to be just like you. How do you handle all of this? Well, I just remember, this is not anything that's any different then many many years ago during slavery. If you ran away and you got caught, they didn't just kill you.

They brought you back and then they tormented you in front of everybody else so that they would get the lesson, do not run away. And it's the same lesson now, do not depart from what we told you. Do not think for yourself, and if you do, we're going to try to make an example of you so other people won't do it. But the way I the way I see it, you have to just ask yourself what is the right thing to do, and you pray, you ask

God to give you wisdom, and you move forward. And the fact of the matter is, you know, I find tons of people, particularly in the African American community, who very much appreciate the stance, and many of them are really starting to wake up quite rapidly and realize that they are being used and manipulated, and I think that's one of the reasons that there was so much fear of the last administration because they were doing things that

were very, very helpful to the African American community and a lot of people were starting to notice it and they don't want that, believe me, absolutely, And that's one of the things I think Maxine Waters said if any black man, if she saw black man voting for Trump,

that she would never forgive them. And the Democrats were concerned, I think for the first time in decades about a Republican Acts League garnering uh so much more of the black vote than they ever have because of policy implemented, which is something that you did over at HUD with Opportunity zones, is that right, Opportunity zones was only one of the things we had envisioned centers which brought all the things that were meant to help people be able

to climb the ladder and put them under one roof and coordinate them so that that young mother with three kids who never finished high school can find out how she can get child care, can get her g e D, can get advanced training, can be able to support herself and teach that to her children, so you can break those cycles of poverty. And you know, we focus through to the all the programs on self reliance, getting out of dependency. That was a major threat to many on

the left. Yeah, absolutely it was and it still remains. Let's continue from there in them. And after a quick break last month, shortly after there the Trump administration, you announced that you're launching the American Cornerstone Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan conservative think tank. You mentioned a little bit about the institute, but what gave you the thought, the idea to start this particular institute, because it seems like you're going to be continuing in some way, shape or form,

some of the work that you did it. Hut, this is self belief, but you're inserting faith in this. How did how did you come about this this idea here? Well, you know, I thought seriously about retiring and relaxing, but I couldn't really do that seeing what was happening to our country. And uh, you know, I just stopped and said, you know what's happening to us? You know, the country doesn't even look like it it did twenty years ago. We don't have the same values, and we seem to

be hitting downward spiral relatively quickly. So I said, what were the things that made us to a great nation? And that's when we came up the cornerstones. Faith. You know, our faith are Judeo Christian values, told us how to relate to each other. Love your neighbor, not cancel your

neighbor if you don't like what you're saying. Completely opposite now, and you know, when you come to liberty, you know, you look at some of our fundamental liberties, like freedom of speech, one of the keys to everything in this country. And yet it's being blunted now. Now some people say it's not really being blunted because you know that only refers to the government limited you speak. That's not true. It big tech and media impose a silence and the

government is okay with it. It has the same militarious effect. That's what's going on in this country right now. No longer the beacon. In fact, I was looking at a program last week and students and other countries are being interviewed about whether they want to come to America and to a person, they said, they're used to, but no, they wouldn't want to come to America now. And uh, that that really touched me about how the perception of

this country is changing so incredibly rapidly. And then, you know, with with the community, you know, we have far more

that binds us together than that divince. I said, Yet we allow the entities like the media to come in and to grab any little thing that we disagree about, and to capitalize on any differences, you know, be at race, be it gender, be an economic status, you know, it doesn't matter to be it religion, whatever, and drive wedges between the people, and then trying to get each segment to think that they are the savior and that they are the ones who will make things fair for them.

This is particularly obnoxious in the in the black community, where they're trying to get everybody to think that you're a victim and that somehow any difficulties that you're having are the fault of someone else. You know, my mother used to always quote a point to us when we can't an excuse, called yourself to blame. And my brother and I didn't want to hear that point, so we stopped making excuses and it worked out just fine for us.

And then, you know, the whole concept of life, you know, the further away we get from respecting life from the womb to the tomb, the more callous and course our behavior becomes with respect to each other. And uh so that's why you know we're focusing on those things. It's not only a think tank, it's also a d tank.

And we've got various projects going on. Will be launching the Little Patriots this summer in which uh we're teaching children at a very young age the true history of America and about civics and about how our government works, things that we have either thrown away or rewritten in an inappropriate way. And of course that's exactly along the lines of Marxism. Karl Marks that give me your young people for three or four years and I'll have them for life. But we want to start early teaching them

the right things. Wow, and you know you you you mentioned something that I want to go back to. You talked about victimhood, which we know it's heavily and excessively exist in the black community, existing in every community, to be perfectly honest, but we do have a lot of folks who have capitulated to the idea that they can't do particular things because of the neighborhood. They grew up in that maybe they come from a single parent home them, Um,

they've been on government assistance. You're black, Therefore you're incapable, as some would argue, especially on the left, and you're incapable of succeeding. Now that this is disgusting in every way. Um, I think it's real and legitimate racism when you consider people that way. And I know there's some good intentioned white liberals who seem to have this idea and run with it on a consistent basis. Is disgusting. But I want to ask you something a bit more specific, which

I think some of this comes from. Do you believe that institutional racism exists today? I think the place where it exists is among the people who see someone like me or someone like you and decide how they must think based on their race. That's that's the institutional racism. But in terms of our society, you know, I grew up in Detroit and in Boston, you know, late fifties and the sixties, And believe me, I can tell you real racism. And I say that we had to deal

with it every day and it was rough. It's nothing like that today, nothing like that at all. And you know, you take something like the George Floyd case, which, uh, you know, it was horrible, I mean absolutely horrible, No no excuse there, but that is an incredibly unusual situation and to try to take that and make it seem like an everyday occurrence, I think it is a real distortion of what's going on. And then to use that to incite riots and destruction of you know, that just

doesn't make a whole lot of sense. We do need to discuss it. We do need to talk about police reform, We need to talk about alternative ways for police to apprehend people and to control people. There needs to be all of those discussions. But intelligent people, you know, learn from mistakes. And I think that officer obviously did things that were completely inappropriate. That needs to be investigated in terms of why he did things that were completely inappropriate,

and appropriate measures need to be taken. But that does not include destroying the lifetime work of people in that neighborhood. Yeah, and and and I agree, especially the last point of destroying other people's work or in your own community. To be honest, a lot of this happening folks who may be poor or marginalized people. This happened in their community. So this it was, it was despicable. But on the point of police reform, we have had documented instances where

police officers unjustly harm people or murdered. Evil police have gone to jail, so we know police performance absolutely necessitous. And and talking about this institutional the idea of institutional racism, which I personally do believe exists. Do you think their systems in place now right now where people are being marginalized because of their race. I'm you know, as as long as there is evil in the world and people

with small minds, Uh, you're going to have unfairness. Uh. Do we need to make sure we have in place measures that detect that unfairness and deal with it? Absolutely? And do we do? We need to acknowledge the fact that that has improved dramatically and will continue to improve. You know, there was a time when people honestly believe that black people were inferior intellectually. You know, you can hold onto that if you too, But there's multiple examples

now show that that's not true. Um, So a lot of the behaviors that we encountered decades ago, we're based on false information that has been corrected, and I think we see a major change doesn't mean that we have completely eliminated the problem and that we don't need to be concerned about it and continue to work toward resolution. You know, to that point on there was a time

where they believe that black folks were intellectually inferior. I think that still exists today and that I can provide the example of them saying, hey, we need to eliminate math because uh it's racist now. So with that being the case, they're continuing that long legacy, just in a different way of attempting to marginalize black folks. So it's it's it's one of those things that have to be

called out. But I want to go back to a c. I would to your institute the four key principles faith, liberty, community in life. Now. You ran for president in and when you ran, and I remember because I was I worked with Armstrong Armstrong Williams that is is a close uh confidant of yours, and I was support very supportive of your candidacy. I thinks a lot of other people were as well, and interesting enough for me to note some of the things you would say, we're kind of

focused on those four principles. And what's also interesting to me is before Donald Trump entered the scene, you were really advancing in the polls, and Donald Trump came in and said a lot of the same things that you were saying. He was just forceful. That was interesting you You legitimately could have been president. So the policies were quite similar. Our personalities are diametrically opposed, absolutely they are.

But he used your same rhetoric Muslin Band. He used a lot of the same things that you were saying, what you were dialing up in the polls, and he was just more forceful. You could have been president. Looking back on that time, how does that make you feel? If there was no Donald Trump, it might have been have been Carson presidency. Well, he frequently says to me,

He says, Ben, aren't you glad you didn't win? I have to admit you know that there maybe si validity there because you know, for the left and only thing worse than Satan as a black conservative, they just can't can't even abide the thought. And uh, you know they would have been after me too, maybe for different reasons. It wouldn't have been because of inflammatory comments, but uh, they still would have been there, believe me. So you know,

the Lord knows what's what's best. It's it's fine. I'm okay, And I actually enjoyed very much this position that I'm in now as we tried to find rational, logical approaches to the things that are going on and be able to explain those two people in a very reasonable, understandable way and help the people of American the recognize that we're not each other's enemies. Stop being manipulated. This is so vitally important for everything that we do. I agree

with that wholeheartedly. Now, you know, I'm I'm really thoughtful about how I grew up, and I mentioned South Side of Chicago, Mama addicted to crack cocaine, and there was a lot of obstacles, just like you experience. But one thing that I like to say, beyond any institutional racism, beyond any obstacles, it doesn't matter what the obstacle is, even if it's the President of the United States. My faith supersedes all laws and supersedes any individual. It supersedes

any van datta that maybe against me. What does your Christian faith mean to you and were you able to really utilize that as a vehicle to move beyond poverty and all the things that you experienced in your youth. Uh, it has helped me enormously. Uh. Anytime I faced obstacles, and I've had some pretty substantial obstacles along the way, it believes me. Um, and I would pray that Cod would either remove the obstacles or give me wisdom to know what to do. I can't think of a single

time that my prayers were not answered. And uh, well I can't think of a couple of times when they were in retrospect, very inappropriate prayers. And I looked back and I understand. I said, boy, thank you Lord for not answering that he knows what he's doing. And you think about that. Those principles of loving your fellow man, caring about your neighbor, of taking care of the poor, not in a way that keeps them poor, but in a way that provides them with opportunities. You know, these

these are are Christian biblical type principles. And when we manifested those, we did well. Now that this is some people say, yeah, but you had slavery. Uh, we weren't perfect. Um. You know, the country was inhabited by people, and people are not perfect, and over the course of time, slavery has been a scourge on humanity. Today there are more slaves than there have ever been in the history of the world. It's still a problem even today to two thousand and one, and we should work very hard to

eliminate it. But do recognize that, you know, that was no big aberration. This, this is things that have been going on forever. Doesn't excuse it, you know, it doesn't doesn't make it okay, but it puts it in context. Absolutely. No. I appreciate you you're sharing that. I know, faith and and Christian values for some people can be such a

private thing, but certainly be in a public figure. I think people oftentimes will look at your life and your journey and and just want to know more and want to know what God has done for you personally, which is everything. So I'm really appreciative to to hear that from you myself. It gives me confidence that we're going to get out of this situation that we're in right now in this country. Because I always say God plays the long game. We tend to play the short game.

We beat panic. Can we say that's just going but I think it's actually very important detonation see how the left does things, because I don't think they would have believed it if you just said, you know, they're going to be doing this and this and this and now, they wouldn't do that. Now you can see they would do that, And I think that's very important going forward. Absolutely, and that makes me wonder And by the way, I

appreciate that faith it gives you. Confidence is faith is the assurance the confidence the title deed the scripture says, I appreciate that. Now do you think that the Republicans are going to win back the House and the Senate here and it's coming up election? I think if they are courageous enough to insist on election reform an election integrity, absolutely they went it back. If they leave things like

they are, they'll never win anything back. Mm hmm. I mean, you look at the things that happened when you have secretary of State and governors and people who can say, well, that doesn't really matter whether the signatures match, and it doesn't matter whether you get the balance in one time or not. It doesn't matter if the balance aren't folded indicating that they weren't actually mailed. None of that stuff really matter just okay, Well, as long as you're letting

that go on, forget it, you're never gonna win anything. Right, So we'll see what Republicans do, but you can't do much of you don't have the majority. So understanding that federally, that that's an issue, but certainly we have a lot of state houses and governorships that that kind of legislative reform can be implemented. There's a lot of concentration on that now, and that's that's a very good thing. It

will help us. And and shining the light and insisting on you know, one of the things that the Democrats do is they insist on things even when they're in the minority. They seem to be much better at that. And the Republicans just getting their way. We need to look at their playbook. Yeah, I think to a degree, Donald up had already looked at the playbook and ran it pretty pretty hardcore. But speaking of that, as you know, in January, there was issues at the at the Capitol.

There was a riot at the capital. As you know, there's been numerous figures within the Trump administration who said that they either don't support the president anymore or they're ending their move into the movement and meaning to make America great again. They're not going to be a part of it. Some very prominent folks Nicki Haley among others, and Stacy Dash it was just released reported anyway, she said that after that happened at the Capitol that she's

no longer part of the mega movement. But I believe she still considers herself to be a conservative. How did that impact you and and what do you think about that situation? Well, I have a tendency to be a

big picture guy. I look at the big picture, and the big picture says, if we on the conservative side are fractionated, cannot join forces and work together, whether it's Donald Trump at the head of the table or whoever it is at the head of the table, if we cannot unite behind them because of our little pet teeds and little things and anger in us, and we're not And again take a take a page from the democrats playbook.

They had big disagreements. You know, you have those who are moderate and those who are far left, but they put it behind them when it comes to something important to them. And if conservatives learn how to do that, believe me, they will be a formidable force, and that's why there are a lot of people out there feigning those flames. They want the Conservatives to be divided and each other's Believe me, that's the only way that they

can stay in power. I understand that certainly. I want to pick up from there in a moment, but first let's go to break in terms of the capital of the riot at the Capitol how how did that impact you specifically? How did you feel about that situation? Do you steal support the president? Are you giving up on the movement? Are you continuing stronger? Straight straight ahead? How

did it impact you? Well, it was horrible, but I do not buy into the fact that that the President caused it, And the FBI has plenty of evidence now that there were groups who were planning this long before the president speech, and they were warned about it, and in fact, the President had recommended that they had ten thousand trips there and others had requested it, and it was the leadership of the House that detailed it because they didn't think it would look good. That were the

real blame lies. You have that many people, and you know you have some who have nefarious intentions, and you don't provide the kind of security that's necessary. And then you want to blame that all on one person. I don't think so. But does he bear any any blame in this situation? He said he was going to go to the capital. Well, I think there's plenty of blame

to go around. You know, there there were warnings that everybody could have heeded, and I think, you know, we we should have done everything we could to make sure that we cool the situation. No, particularly knowing that there were groups there who were intending to be violent. Okay, So so President Trump could have approached it quite differently than he did. Yeah, I mean, I think and in virtually every situation that goes awry, you know, in retrospect,

you could have done upsetter mm hmm. No, I appreciate that that assessment. Dr Carson. Now, but before I let you go, I wanted to ask you about, um, your career in medicine clearly enormously successful, a giant in the medical field. UM, And you've talked about before how you got interested in medicine. Now, is there is still a chance that you might go back into medicine at some point? Would you would you do that? Pretty unlikely at age

sixty nine. I think I probably would. I would find it a little more uh stressful and demanding that my body might have the energy for. But I stayed obviously quite interested in it. Still do a lot of reading and keeping up with what's going on. Okay, I understand, And let me ask you this question, which I think would probably be a head scratcher. If the Biden administration wanted to use you in an advisatory capacity, would you do it? As a medical expert? I would always be

willing to do things to help our nation. I don't care who was asking. No. I appreciate that, Thank you so much. I'm not a highly person person, but I am a highly patriotic person, and if there are things that can be done that were supporting Uplift donation, always do those things. All right? Well, I appreciate that one.

In final question to you, Dr Carson, you obviously became well known for your work as a newer certain years ago, but you first gained national fame, if you will, in a political context among conservatives in when you spoke at the National Proper Breakfasts and seemed to be critical of then President Obama's policies. Did you ever think back then that one day you would have served in the president's cabinet and be so involved in politics and the leadership capacity.

Uh no, that that certainly was not part of the plan. It's interesting though, you know, some of the people on the left have said to me that was very offensive what you said during that prayer breakfast, and I said, it seems to me that it would only be offensive or sort of if it applied to you, which made him eve the name here. I'm sure it did. I'm sure it did. Is there anything new for you coming up? Do you have any big projects coming up? The folks

at homes you knew about? And where can people find you? On social media? And Elselie, Well, people should go to American Cornerstone dot org and uh there's some beautiful video tapes there, uh, some news letters, op eds, all kinds of things, and there's even a donate button, so there's all kind of good things to do there. Get involved. This is the real key thing. This country is up for it and by the people, not up formed by the government, and that means we have to take an

active role. If we don't take an active role, the government just expands and we wind up with the very kind of situation that people were fleeing from when they came to this country in the first place. So so true.

And is Dr Ben Carson on social media? Uh? We have UH Facebook page and we'll continue to to use that, but we're also looking at some other very interesting developing platforms to make sure that you and actually get your voice out there without worrying about whether somebody is going to be looking over your shoulder and deciding whether you can say that or not. Thank you so so much for joining me here on out Loud with Giano Caldwell

and your your message. We'll go far along. We we really appreciate for all you mean to this country, to this world, and UH, as a Christian one Christian to another, thank you for continuing to speak about your faith because there's a lot of people who are hurting, who can't see a way forward, but they hear about your story and now all of a sudden they believe. And I think that's certainly an aspect of faith and abundance. So thank you, UH, and we're praying for you, and thank

you for what you're doing for our country. We really appreciate it. I want to give a special thanks to Dr Ben Carson for an extraordinary interview. If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a review and rate us with five stars on Apple Podcast. If you have any questions for me, please email me out loud at ginglish recixtly dot com and I'll try to answer them in our future episodes. And please sign up for my monthly

newsletter at Gingerish six dot com slash out loud. You can also find me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and parlor at Giano Caldwell. If you're interested in learning more about my story, please pick up a copy of my best selling book title Taken for Granted, How Conservatism Can Win

back to the Americans their Liberalism Failed. Special thanks to our producer John Cassio, researcher Aaron Kleinman, and executive producers Debbie Myers and of course speaker New Gingrich, all part of the Gingerish three sixty network,