Pioneer pediatric neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson hasn’t ruled out the possibility of running for president of the United States, adding that he’s leaving the choice up to God.
“It’s not my intention to do that [get into politics], but as I always say in every part of my life, I’ll leave that up to God,” the Director of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins said when asked whether he planned on getting into politics on ABC This Week on Sunday morning.
Carson, 61, an author of five books including “America the Beautiful: Rediscovering What Made This Nation Great” and 100 neurosurgical publications, gained media attention recently when he gave a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast with President Obama present.
Carson started off his speech with quotes from the Bible, and most notably gave a conservative alternative to the current U.S. system of taxation, arguing for a flat tax (which he says aligns with biblical principles), and a conservative solution for making healthcare more affordable.
He cited one of those reasons again on Sunday.
“If you make a gazillion dollars, you pay a gazillion dollars. If you make very little, you pay very little. But everybody contributes,” he said after explaining that the flat tax – he prefers calling it the “proportional tax” – “comes from the concept of tithing.”
In his speech earlier in the month, Carson offered his solution on health care with President Obama just a few feet away.
“Here’s my solution: When a person is born, give him a birth certificate, an electronic medical record, and a health savings account to which money can be contributed—pretax—from the time you’re born ’til the time you die,” Carson said.
He continued: “If you die, you can pass it on to your family members, and there’s nobody talking about death panels. We can make contributions for people who are indigent. Instead of sending all this money to some bureaucracy, let’s put it in their HSAs. Now they have some control over their own health care. And very quickly they’re going to learn how to be responsible.”
Carson’s speech, which was published on Youtube in early February, has received more than 2 million views.
The John Hopkin’s surgeon doesn’t think he was being political in that speech but merely expressing an opinion, and says that he prayed to God to give him wisdom on what to say beforehand.
As for the president, he says Obama is a “very talented politician.” His response actually avoided directly answering the question asked to him. He was asked to give his thoughts on President Obama’s leadership.
“There are a number of policies that I don’t believe lead to the growth of our nation and don’t lead to the elevation of our nation. I don’t want to sit here and say all his
