Ask Ben: Why I’m Running

Tom Gates, Tuscon, Arizona asks:

Why do you seek the presidency of the United States for your FIRST elected office? I know you are a highly accomplished medical doctor, but starting at the top seems backwards.

Dr. Ben Carson:

Well, interestingly enough, I had no intention of seeking the office of presidency of the United States. But, after the National Prayer Breakfast in 2013, there were hundreds of thousands of people just clamoring for me to do this and I thought it was silly and I said, “This will all die down,” but it never did. And, in fact, it continued to grow and I began to listen to people, and it became apparent to me that it was going to be something that was going to persist.

A lot of elderly people said they had given up on America. They no longer thought that it was worth living and that began to bother me and I began to look into the situation, study what was going on in Washington, D.C. and then, you know, it dawned on me that our system of government was designed of, for, and by the people and for citizen statesmen to be the representatives of the people and not career politicians, because what we need are people who have a track record of being able to solve complex problems, of being able to work with others to use that synergy to actually solve problems.

Those are things that I’ve had significant experience with along with decades of corporate board experience, starting a national non-profit, you know, I’ve been recognized with the highest honor they have at 68 different colleges and universities with honorary degrees. You know, these are things that you’re not gonna find among anybody else, quite frankly, running for president. So, if you think, you know, all of those accomplishments is subjugated to a career as a political bureaucrat, you know, then yes, we could continue down that same road, but I think we’d probably get the same result.

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