Dr. Ben Carson, up from a youth of poverty in working class Detroit, a Yale University graduate, pediatric neurosurgeon, Head of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, married to one woman for forty years, author, public speaker on conservative causes, and a recent political neophyte who has risen meteorically in the polls into the top tier of a distinguished group of 2016 hopeful presidential candidates which include the wealthy scion of the most powerful GOP political family, sitting governors, former governors, illustrious U.S. Senators, a woman CEO, and one brash billionaire. Oh, yeah, did I mention? Dr. Ben is an Afro-American.
The most recent polls in Iowa and New Hampshire (September 14, 2015) put Carson in second place just a few percentage points below the wildly popular businessman, billionaire Donald Trump. Carson and Trump, both of whom have no previous political experience, have hoovered up the mass of popular votes in these two states, jointly amassing more than fifty percent of the total. The interest in their candidacies have sucked money and votes from perhaps more politically viable candidates.
What is Carson's appeal that permits him to poll five to six times above established politicians like Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Gov. Scott Walker? Carson, like all the other candidates, hews closely to conservative orthodoxy. He peppers his speeches with references to the Bible and to God. He supports lower taxes. ( He does favor a form of regressive Biblical tithing). He supports Israel with a patellar reflex. He opposes a woman's right to an abortion. He would keep Gitmo open. He abhors Obama care. He supports a robust military stance and sees Russia as our greatest foreign policy threat. And he supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms with no restrictions. His positions do not differ from the other candidates in any significant way.
So what is his appeal? Could it be related to the fact that Carson is a BLACK conservative with an appealing rags to riches, Alger Hiss biography?
I submit to you that THE CARSON PHENOMENA is a response to the ugly reality of RACISM IN AMERICA. Racism is the reality that Americans on the far right....isolated from the racial heterogeneity in big cities, living in affluent and stark white communities of the hinterlands would like to obliterate. The ugly reality of American race relations is too unpalatable for these voters to swallow. Ugly race relations confront and tend to upend most cherished myths.
Dr. Ben Carson, is a successful black surgeon, who pulled himself up from poverty. The white GOP voter think: he embodies the American Dream, just as our conservative politicians predict. He also spouts conservative dogma. They interpret it thus: "he sounds just like one of us". His demeanor is calm, non- aggressive, non-threatening. His "nice man" character overrides ugly racial stereotypes and supports the fading myth of America's racial blamelessness. In short, Dr. Carson is the embodiment of the mythological American black man, generated by the white, affluent, conservative majority. And now he stands before them in person as a candidate and asks them for his vote.
With all the recent evidence in the press and media of racism, white-on-black police brutality, institutionalized police harassment of poor black communities, so obvious in this last summer's events in Fergerson, Missouri, and elsewhere around the nation, Carson makes it possible for these GOP voters to maintain the myth that such conditions and problems are all self-inflicted by the black community. He permits them to make a transfer of blame and guilt from "me to them". It is not my fault....it's theirs. Those press and TV stories are NOT is not a part of the REAL America. Our nation is EXCEPTIONAL, we are NOT RACIST. There is no racial barrier to success.
CARSON permits them to continue to believe that the poverty, crime, family dysfunction, etc., etc. of the Afro-American community are a result of black weakness and lack of industry. He permits them to maintain and promote inequality. White, affluent GOP voters are led to feel they have no responsibility for these blotches and blemishes on our nation's reputation. And finally there is no need to ameliorate these wrongs and social problems by concerted governmental action.
Carson's dual appeal is that he assuages guilt on one hand and reinforces a cherished myth on the other. He permits a certain element of our society the satisfaction of putting the ugliness of racial discord out of their mind and reinforces their tightly held and cherished myth of American purity.
For that reason Carson's appeal and his rise in the polls is a destructive one. Besides the support and money he denies other candidates, Carson's candidacy helps to perpetuate and posit a dangerous unreality. He encourages the continuation of a destructive myth. "There is no racial discord." All is OK in America." "We are great, good, kind and exceptional." "No changes needed!" No new government programs required, and of course...NO NEED TO TAKE OUR TAX MONEY.
Dr. Ben Carson, up from a youth of poverty in working class Detroit, a Yale University graduate, pediatric neurosurgeon, Head of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, married to one woman for forty years, author, public speaker on conservative causes, and a recent political neophyte who has risen meteorically in the polls into the top tier of a distinguished group of 2016 hopeful presidential candidates which include the wealthy scion of the most powerful GOP political family, sitting governors, former governors, illustrious U.S. Senators, a woman CEO, and one brash billionaire. Oh, yeah, did I mention? Dr. Ben is an Afro-American.
The most recent polls in Iowa and New Hampshire (September 14, 2015) put Carson in second place just a few percentage points below the wildly popular businessman, billionaire Donald Trump. Carson and Trump, both of whom have no previous political experience, have hoovered up the mass of popular votes in these two states, jointly amassing more than fifty percent of the total. The interest in their candidacies have sucked money and votes from perhaps more politically viable candidates.
What is Carson's appeal that permits him to poll five to six times above established politicians like Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Gov. Scott Walker? Carson, like all the other candidates, hews closely to conservative orthodoxy. He peppers his speeches with references to the Bible and to God. He supports lower taxes. ( He does favor a form of regressive Biblical tithing). He supports Israel with a patellar reflex. He opposes a woman's right to an abortion. He would keep Gitmo open. He abhors Obama care. He supports a robust military stance and sees Russia as our greatest foreign policy threat. And he supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms with no restrictions. His positions do not differ from the other candidates in any significant way.
So what is his appeal? Could it be related to the fact that Carson is a BLACK conservative with an appealing rags to riches, Alger Hiss biography?
I submit to you that THE CARSON PHENOMENA is a response to the ugly reality of RACISM IN AMERICA. Racism is the reality that Americans on the far right....isolated from the racial heterogeneity in big cities, living in affluent and stark white communities of the hinterlands would like to obliterate. The ugly reality of American race relations is too unpalatable for these voters to swallow. Ugly race relations confront and tend to upend most cherished myths.
Dr. Ben Carson, is a successful black surgeon, who pulled himself up from poverty. The white GOP voter think: he embodies the American Dream, just as our conservative politicians predict. He also spouts conservative dogma. They interpret it thus: "he sounds just like one of us". His demeanor is calm, non- aggressive, non-threatening. His "nice man" character overrides ugly racial stereotypes and supports the fading myth of America's racial blamelessness. In short, Dr. Carson is the embodiment of the mythological American black man, generated by the white, affluent, conservative majority. And now he stands before them in person as a candidate and asks them for his vote.
With all the recent evidence in the press and media of racism, white-on-black police brutality, institutionalized police harassment of poor black communities, so obvious in this last summer's events in Fergerson, Missouri, and elsewhere around the nation, Carson makes it possible for these GOP voters to maintain the myth that such conditions and problems are all self-inflicted by the black community. He permits them to make a transfer of blame and guilt from "me to them". It is not my fault....it's theirs. Those press and TV stories are NOT is not a part of the REAL America. Our nation is EXCEPTIONAL, we are NOT RACIST. There is no racial barrier to success.
CARSON permits them to continue to believe that the poverty, crime, family dysfunction, etc., etc. of the Afro-American community are a result of black weakness and lack of industry. He permits them to maintain and promote inequality. White, affluent GOP voters are led to feel they have no responsibility for these blotches and blemishes on our nation's reputation. And finally there is no need to ameliorate these wrongs and social problems by concerted governmental action.
Carson's dual appeal is that he assuages guilt on one hand and reinforces a cherished myth on the other. He permits a certain element of our society the satisfaction of putting the ugliness of racial discord out of their mind and reinforces their tightly held and cherished myth of American purity.
For that reason Carson's appeal and his rise in the polls is a destructive one. Besides the support and money he denies other candidates, Carson's candidacy helps to perpetuate and posit a dangerous unreality. He encourages the continuation of a destructive myth. "There is no racial discord." All is OK in America." "We are great, good, kind and exceptional." "No changes needed!" No new government programs required, and of course...NO NEED TO TAKE OUR TAX MONEY.
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