From Operating Room to Oval Office: Dr. Ben Carson's Journey on STAND

As we lift the curtain on this episode, we are privileged to be in the company of the remarkable Dr. Ben Carson. His journey from a humble beginning to the peak of the medical world as a pioneering neurosurgeon is nothing short of inspiring. He enlightens us on his newest venture, American Cornerstone Institute (ACI) and its dedication to offering conservative solutions to challenges facing our nation. https://americancornerstone.org/.

In our conversation with Dr. Carson, we explore the fine line between education and indoctrination. How do we encourage independent thinking in our children? How do we address the rising wave of Marxist education? This is a compelling discussion that leads us to Dr. Carson's "inoculation for indoctrination."

We plunge into the political atmosphere within the black community and the potential apprehensions black conservatives might encounter when voicing their opinions. Dr. Carson unveils the potential of conservative policies in aiding the community and emphasizes the need to build on America's success and understand the full and true nature of America's history. He leaves us in awe as he stresses the power of faith, the importance of utilizing our brain's full potential, and the realization of how much more progress is yet to be made.

Dr. Carson also gives wisdom on how to deal with insults and offenses, offers solutions for fixing education, and discusses the one thing some people think is “worse than Satan.” This episode is a reminder of the freedom to think, to ask, to bridge differences, and to strive for a deeper understanding.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome to another episode of Stand, where we champion freedom, truth and a nation led by we, the people. I'm your host, kelly Chebacca, a former government watchdog and a candidate for US Senate in Alaska, and I'm joined by my wonderful husband and co-host, nikki Chebacca, who served at the Department of Justice as a civil rights attorney. You can subscribe to our show on YouTube at the Stand Show and on Rumble at Stand Show. Our website is standshoworg and we're on all your favorite podcast platforms, which you can find on our website. You can find us at Kelly and Nikki Chebacca stand with Kelly and Nikki Chebacca. So hit that subscribe button and add your voice to our amazing community of standouts. You can also see us on social media under Kelly for Alaska. If you leave a review this week, we will be picking one lucky reviewer to win this sticker. So you can get a hydroflask sticker from the show.

Speaker 1: 1:03

Today, we have the absolute honor of diving into the life and wisdom of a man whose journey has captivated hearts and minds across America Dr Ben Carson. Dr Carson's story is nothing short of remarkable. He is a trailblazing neurosurgeon, an accomplished public servant and an inspiring leader, from his awe-inspiring rise from poverty to becoming a preeminent figure in the field of medicine, to his profound dedication to conservative principles that resonate with so many people. His story is a testament to the power of perseverance and the unwavering belief in the American dream, and I'm also completely inspired by his faith. So today we're going to explore those life values and impact, particularly with the incredible work that he's done spearheading the American Cornerstone Institute, in which he champions conservative solutions to our nation's toughest challenges. So, dr Carson, welcome to stand. We are so excited to have you with us today.

Speaker 2: 1:59

Thank you, it's wonderful to be with you again.

Speaker 1: 2:01

Yes, thank you. So we're really impressed with the American Cornerstone Institute Audience. You can find them at americancornstoneorg. You stand firmly and unapologetically for everything you believe In support of America's founding principles. You work to pursue common goals and solutions and, I would say, is to heal like knee-jerk reactions to America's divisiveness, which is a noble cause. Most people in your position would just retire after everything that you've done. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about your story and what inspired you to start American Cornerstone Institute.

Speaker 2: 2:37

Well, I did want to retire.

Speaker 2: 2:39

actually, I failed retirement the first time and I said I'll get it right the second time after my time as HUD secretary, but I quickly realized that I would have no fun at all playing golf and cruising around while watching the country go down the tubes. Myself and some other very dedicated members of my HUD team got together and formed American Cornerstone Institute, which is a think tank slash do tank, because we don't just think, we actually do stuff and it centered around those cornerstone principles that made us into a great nation. We didn't become a great nation by coincidence. It was because of the things we believed in Our faith, that number one pillar which taught us how to relate to each other. Our faith tells us to love your neighbor, not to cancel your neighbor and not to hate your neighbor if they have a different yard sign than you do. It made a big, big difference in our country. And then the second one is liberty, freedom, freedom to live the life that you want to lead.

Speaker 2: 3:51

Our founders worked very hard to give us a constitution that would preclude our government from doing what all governments do, which is grow, infiltrate and dominate. And it's a very difficult task because it's a natural tendency for government and it's worked for over 240 years. It's close to being problematic now, but I think we will persevere. And then there's the cornerstone of community the ability to work together for the common good. That's a phrase that's used frequently in the founders' documents.

Speaker 2: 4:31

The common good People from lots of different places. Many times the community consisted of 100 families. People didn't speak the same language, they were from different countries, but they understood how to amalgamate their skills and talents for the common good and they not only survived but they thrived and multiplied. And then the cornerstone of life from the womb to the tomb respect for life. And as we've lost that respect for life we've become much more coarse in our relationship with each other.

Speaker 2: 5:08

And then we also have the pediatric component of the program, the little Patriots program to teach the children those cornerstone principles and about our true history the good, the bad and the ugly but there's a lot more good than there is bad and ugly. The executive branch for America, the my American Story, where we interview people who came here from communists and socialist countries. They can give us a lot of insight. And special bonus feature for Executive Branch, sarah Huckabee Sanders interviews many of the people who have led major endeavors in our government Office of Management and Budget, public Liaison, domestic Policy Council, several cabinet members and really gives people a lot of insight.

Speaker 1: 6:06

Yeah, it's really fantastic and when you were in Alaska you shared a lot with the audiences about everything American Cornerstone Institute does. It was really impressive. Senator Mike Lee has said some pretty remarkable endorsement statements about American Cornerstone Institute. One of things he said is Dr Ben Carson and American Cornerstone Institute are leading in the conservative movement. Aci is providing ideas, support and connection to help conservatives win. Aci is standing guard to protect American families and communities. I think that's a really stellar endorsement from one of our leading senators in the United States.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Yeah, and Nikki and I are among the 234,000 people who are signed up for exclusive subscriber-only content on your website. So, standouts who are listening, you can do the same on their website, americancornerstoneorg. You can sign up to get these updates that they give, which are amazing. They give great handouts and policy pieces to address some of the top issues facing the nation so that we can be on the front lines of helping to push solutions to these causes.

Speaker 2: 7:19

So, dr Carson, and it's all free of charge, by the way.

Speaker 1: 7:23

And it is, it's all free. What would you say are some of the most important, significant accomplishments that the Institute has made so far?

Speaker 2: 7:32

Well, you know, the inoculation to indoctrination. That's what I call our little Patriots program, recognizing what a big effort there is right now to indoctrinate our young people and to turn them away from those very cornerstone principles that I talk about. And the Little Patriots program is growing like crazy. Alaska adopted it as part of their official teaching program. There are several other states that are considering making the same move. It's nonpartisan and it's very, very thorough and we've had some very excellent historians and other academics involved in putting it together to make sure that it's non-biased and that it's absolutely true. And it's very entertaining too.

Speaker 2: 8:28

If you go to the Star Spangled Adventures, this is an animated series and each one picks a particular topic in American history and goes into it. And we hired some of the best animators from Disney and Pixar and ABC Kids the ones that were not woke and put this all together in a beautiful format. And you would think it was very expensive and you would be right. But we get underwriters to underwrite cost of it so that we can present it to the public free of charge.

Speaker 2: 9:07

And then I think also the Executive Branch for America program is doing very well, particularly at many of the colleges. It provides the basics that people need to know about government function, particularly the executive branch and the interactions between the various departments and agencies, because a lot of times when people come to government, either as elected officials or as staffers, they're like deer caught in the hot headlights thing. There's so much stuff coming at them and they don't know how it all fits together. Executive Branch for America fits it all together so that they can hit the ground running and we need to encourage people of conservative thought to get into government, because we have a huge majority of them leaning to the left and if we don't put some on the right side of the boat, it's going to tip over.

Speaker 1: 10:14

It's a good way of saying it. We're coming up on a break, but I want to totally validate your little Patriots program because we saw you read books and share those videos when we were up here in Alaska and we have Nick and I have several young kids and it was so interesting how much it gripped their hearts, so they brought one of the books home and then they talked about some of the things that you shared, like how Liberty Eagle has both a left wing and a right wing and it's important to have both wings because without both perspectives an eagle can't fly. And they would repeat that when we were driving home in the car and I thought it's interesting how really simple statements and drawings actually stuck in the minds of the kids. And so when I was going around the American Cornerstoneorg website, I jumped into little Patriots to check it out and so appreciated that everything on there was free and the whole curriculum that I could dig into to teach history to my kids at home from an American perspective was offered by the Institute. So American Cornerstoneorg everyone who's listening you can check it out for yourself. You can access this curriculum for your kids at home and if you need a refresher on how our country was formed. It's good for adults too because it's really accessible with deep truths.

Speaker 1: 11:33

We'll catch you after this break. Hit subscribe. While we're on break, feel free to leave review to enter to win this awesome Hydroflast sticker. Stand firm, stand strong. We'll see you on the other side with Dr Ben Carson and American Cornerstone Institute. This is a private security services company operating in Alaska and across the US with nearly a decade of experience providing personal protection, medical support, surveillance and facility, event, armed and transport security. Weca provides state of the art security forces by utilizing current and former law enforcement officers, former military and medical personnel to provide for clients' needs in all situations. For more information on WECA and its security services, contact 260-337-8263.

Speaker 3: 12:24

We are back with Dr Ben Carson on stand. He is a trailblazer in medicine. He was a trailblazer in government. He's now a trailblazer in education. We'd like to take some time in this segment and talk about the next generation. Dr Carson, you were talking a little bit about it in our previous segment when you were talking about the little patriots, but the next generation is our future. I'd like to start out with this question Get your observations about how Marxists are trying to indoctrinate children and youth across America. In the last segment you talked about how ACI is the inoculation against indoctrination, but could you share with us what your observations are about how Marxism is being used to indoctrinate our kids and what does it look like? How are they doing it?

Speaker 2: 13:22

Well, you know, they have a long-term plan. They're not just reactionary like we tend to be in this country, and some people think that this has been of recent origin. Their attempt to indoctrinate our kids has been going on for a long time and if you look at the congressional record from January the 10th 1963, representative Hurlong from Florida read into the congressional record the 45 goals of the Communist Party, one of which was the gain control of the schools, so that the children could be indoctrinated. And that's exactly what's going on. They recognize what the Bible says. It says train up a child and the way you should go when he's older, not depart from it Proverbs 226. And they've known that for a long time.

Speaker 2: 14:18

Lenin, vladimir Lenin, said give me your children to teach for four years and the seed that I sow will never be uprooted. So they understand the importance of that early teaching, that early indoctrination, and we've seen the results of it already in this country in the summer of 2020. We saw so many of those young people in Seattle and Portland in places, just tearing everything up and riding and calling for abolishment of the police. That didn't come about organically. That was indoctrination as it matures and that's why we have to be every bit as aggressive as they are in terms of making sure that our children have a real foundation. And also, your history is the basis of your identity, and your identity is the basis of your belief, and that's why it's so important that we don't let that chain be interrupted history, identity and belief.

Speaker 3: 15:27

You know. That reminds me, you know that in my mind the distinction between education and indoctrination is indoctrination tells you what you must believe. Education tells you how to think. You know. One tells you what you must think. The other teaches you how to think for yourself. And that's what ACI is doing.

Speaker 3: 15:50

I mean, the work you're doing is so important, particularly because I'm reminded of what President Lincoln said about education. He said that the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. And so if we don't want to see a Marxist leaning or a Marxist full on government in the next 20 or 30 years, we can't allow our children to be fooled into believing that Marxism is the answer to society's woes. So question for you as you, as you travel the country, are you seeing any kind of bipartisan awakening and activism by parents to push back on this? Because it seems to me that this should be something that people on the left and the right you know, the left wing of the bald eagle and the right wing of the bald eagle should should be able to come together on and agree on.

Speaker 2: 16:49

Well, I have seen some coalescing of spirits, which is a good thing. You know, they say it's always darkest before the dawn. It's pretty dark now and sometimes it has to be very dark before people can see the light, and I do believe they're saying that. You look at the number of homeschools they have doubled since 2020. And you look at the lines of people waiting to get into private schools that are faith based. It's amazing and so it shows you that the American people are understanding what's going on.

Speaker 2: 17:29

But we can't be satisfied with just the proliferation of homeschools and faith based organizations. We have to also address the public schools, because that's where the vast majority of the kids are, and we need to address that, I think, by emphasizing school choice. When people see the results, I think they will automatically put pressure where it needs to be. And some people say, well, there's a lot more money available for private schools. It's not necessarily true. You take a system like Baltimore school system, where you're spending almost $20,000 per student per year, and look at the results. You know they did thousands of kids and grade school and high school, elementary school, and not a single one was able to perform math at great level, and that's dooming people to a type of lifestyle that frequently leads them into crime and other things that are very undesirable.

Speaker 1: 18:44

One of the things I like about ACI is it's solution oriented focus. That's one of the things we're focused on here is stand as well. I know that the president of the state of Baltimore shows talk about problems, but we need to move past that into solutions. So, in all of the resources you guys have online, what are some of the conservative based solutions you have for education? Because this topic is one that I think has risen to like the top three issues across America that everybody's talking about parental rights and education outcomes for education. It's not translating into higher literacy rates, higher math proficiency rates, graduates, etc. What would be some of the solutions you would propose?

Speaker 2: 19:31

Well, we actually have a number of white papers dealing with those particular issues, but the key thing is, you have to make education exciting. You have to make it, and that's why our programs are interactive and they're done in such a way that they can be utilized by parents and grandparents and other guardians, because they will learn to. You know, we have a dearth of knowledge in our adult population, as is manifested by those men on the street interviews when they ask people common questions.

Speaker 1: 20:13

When was the war of 1812?

Speaker 2: 20:17

Who wrote Mozart's 40th Symphony. It's pretty bad and you know we need to to re-concentrate on that, because there was a time when America was at the pinnacle when it comes to knowledgeable people and Alexis de Tocqueville was blown away when he came and studied our country and could find a mountain man who could read, who could tell him about the Declaration of Independence. That was commonplace before and now, you know, maybe you get people who can tell you what gender pronoun they should be called by, but that's not very helpful and practical sense in terms of how the successfully function in the world.

Speaker 1: 21:06

That's right. Well, on this education topic, I wanted to ask you how do you deal with insults and offense? I remember when you came to Alaska, you had an opportunity to go into one of our lowest performing schools and give an inspirational conversation about how you once were functionally illiterate, raised by a functionally illiterate single mom, and then became the top neurosurgeon doctor in America. And yet our superintendent at the Anchorage School District prohibited you from coming in and speaking to our public schools and I thought you were treated particularly horribly.

Speaker 1: 21:46

On behalf of Alaska, we apologize, but I'm not sure that's not the only time you've been treated in a way that's counter to the goals you're trying to achieve, which is to break down divisions between people who have different ideas and opinions. I just wanted to ask how do you handle situations like that?

Speaker 2: 22:06

Well, you know, I kind of look at the big picture. You know my solace comes from my relationship with God and whether I'm doing the things that are right and pleasing in His sight. So I don't really get too wrapped up in what people do. You know, a lot of people thought that I should be upset because the Detroit public schools took my name off of one of the schools because I was a member of the Trump administration, and those are just silly things and the students were upset about it. The students wanted the name to be there.

Speaker 2: 22:44

But the adults are so politically motivated and if you allow their actions to impact how you feel and what you do, then you've given them the victory. And I keep my eyes on the prize. What is it that you're trying to do? It was the same thing when I was practicing neurosurgery. There were many cases that I got involved and what people say? No, no, you can't do that. No, no, that's never been done. Well, nothing's ever been done until somebody does it. And you know you just have to take a very different tact on things and not allow them to affect you.

Speaker 1: 23:23

That's really wise, good words of wisdom. Thank you, dr Carson. Well, we're coming up on our break, but stand out. So I want you to stay with us, because in our next segment we're going to talk about the atypical transition that this famous neurosurgeon took from practicing medicine to becoming involved in politics. I imagine that he never wanted to be a politician when he grew up, and yet there he found himself, thrust onto the national political stage, even running for president of the United States. So stay with us. After this break We'll be back with Dr Ben Carson.

Speaker 4: 24:04

Africa New Day. Which mission is actually? To create leaders, change a culture and transform a nation. We believe that this is an area where God wants us to make a difference. You know he has called us the light of the world. Well, where does the light shine? Where there is darkness. As you pray with us, as you contribute to our efforts, we believe that together we can make a difference.

Speaker 1: 24:35

Welcome back to Stand with Kelly and Nikki Chevaca. This is where courage is contagious and cowardice comes to die. You're with Dr Ben Carson. Dr Carson, I still remember your extremely bold and not so politically correct speech at the National Prayer Breakfast. This is like a decade ago. So you make history this day when you're standing on stage supposedly giving a nice cushy speech, but instead you take on all of the political problems of the Obama administration, with President Obama sitting right next to you, looking extremely uncomfortable. It was the best. So I wanted to ask you what led you to give such a speech. I've never heard the story behind the inspiration for this.

Speaker 2: 25:23

Well, first of all, I was quite shocked when they asked me to be the keynote speaker for the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, because I had been the keynote in 1997 when Bill Clinton was president. I wasn't aware that anyone had ever done it twice, but some research demonstrated that there was one person who did it twice and that was Billy Graham. So I said that's a good company. So I agreed to do it, but I didn't know what I was going to speak on and they kept calling me saying what are you going to speak on? Because President Obama needs to prepare a response. I said I don't know, and I really didn't know until the morning of the speech. And then it was crystal clear to me and after that speech everybody was saying you should run for president and I said these people are crazy.

Speaker 1: 26:11

There was even a national headline about it. Draft Ben. Carson for president.

Speaker 2: 26:15

That's right in a Wall Street Journal. And I just said if I just ignore these people, it'll go away. But it didn't go away. We didn't.

Speaker 2: 26:25

Every place I went there were people with placards and things Byron, benron, I had over 500,000 petitions in my office. It was ridiculous. So I finally just said Lord, you know I don't want to run for president, but if you really want me to, you have to give me all the things that a presidential candidate would have A Rolodex with all the important contacts, an organization and a lot of money. And I said I have no intention of developing those things, so you'll have to give them to me. The next thing I knew they were all there and the organization was raising more money a month than R&C. So I just put my heart into it and it was a wonderful experience because as I traveled all over the country, to the smallest little hamlets to the biggest towns, I really was impressed with the fact that most Americans have common sense.

Speaker 2: 27:21

What they lack is courage and what we've got to instill into people. Most people have the correct beliefs, but they're afraid to say anything because they don't want to be called a nasty name, they don't want to be canceled, they don't want to impact their families. But you really cannot be the land of the free if you're not the home of the brave. You've got to be willing to stand up for your belief system, and that's what I'm always willing to do and even if it does bring about some degree of persecution, what is that? Against the backdrop of eternity?

Speaker 3: 28:05

That's some great perspective to have that broader view of things and recognizing that what we do to echo the line from gladiator echoes into eternity.

Speaker 3: 28:17

Something to that effect what we do today. I'd like to pick up on that point, dr Carson, about courage and specifically, if we could shift to the discussion a little bit, to the black community. We are seeing a groundswell. Another way to put it, I guess, would be an awakening within the black community to the reality that leftist policies has done have done more to hurt them than to help them, that the black community, we've actually been hurt more by leftist policies like, for example, the defund, the police movement and other things. So the black community is beginning to realize that leftist ideas, leftist policies often aren't working or helping them.

Speaker 3: 29:07

But some of those folks are hesitant to speak out and say hey, you know what? I actually am beginning to count myself now as a conservative or a Republican, because they've seen how particularly vicious the left can be to members of the black community who begin to raise their voice and say things that are oppositional to leftist perspectives and policies. I mean, they've been going after Justice Clarence Thomas for 30 years. So then you have that another group of within the community that recognizes, you know what these leftist policies aren't working. But I'm not sure conservative policies are necessarily the answer. So I'm wondering what you would say to those two groups of people that the group that's like I really think I'm a conservative or a Republican now but I'm I'm too afraid to move forward and do something about it or act on it. And the group that's still kind of on the fence about conservatism and those policies as opposed to leftist policies. But who know? You know, I'm not really. I'm not really seeing how the left can help me anymore.

Speaker 2: 30:25

Well, you know it's interesting. For the left, the only thing worse than Satan is a black conservative. I mean they just got out of that Because they they need that part of their constituency to pull off victories. And what's happening now in the black community is people are starting to become aware of history and who and the people who have really been against them and who have been the people who have promoted them, and, as they're seeing that, they're reinterpreting things. Also, during the previous administration, during the Trump administration, people were able to see some real, tangible benefits, things that actually made a difference Opportunity zones, development of some of the places that were not well cared for, hbcu funding. You know it showed that there was an administration that actually cared about what was happening to them.

Speaker 2: 31:35

The home ownership for blacks increased substantially under the Trump administration and you know, when you talk about the wealth gap, the main thing that is involved is home ownership. The average, the net average worth of a renter is $5,000. The net average worth of a home owner is $200,000. That's a 40-fold difference. It makes a huge, huge difference.

Speaker 2: 32:04

And also, you know I try to get people to not buy into the propaganda that things have not gotten any better for black people. They have gotten immeasurably better. Just in my lifetime and you know, I talk about this in the book that came out last year, created Equal, in which, when I was a six-year-old, I remember going to Chattanooga, tennessee, and seeing the whites only and colored only signs. Well, in the same lifetime, you see black admirals and generals and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and university presidents and heads of foundations. We've had a black president.

Speaker 2: 32:43

I mean, give me a break to say that we haven't made tremendous progress as to foolishness. It doesn't mean that we've reached Nirvana and that we don't have more progress to make. But you know, I think we should build on our progress rather than build on the negative things that have happened. When you look back at our history as a nation, there's been a lot more good stuff than there has been bad stuff. But people sometimes don't want to look at the good stuff, don't want to look at all the opportunities that have been provided for people, and if you can get people to believe that they are victims, then they are victims.

Speaker 3: 33:21

You know, building on what you just said, you talked about progress and our history and how more of it was good than bad and we have more to celebrate than to critique and we can learn from that history and build off of our mistakes and continue to progress. Looking into future history, what impact do you hope to leave on future generations, dr Carson? How do you hope to be remembered? I mean, there's so much that we could remember you for right your work as a neurosurgeon, your work in politics now your work in education and policy in the private sector. How do you want to be remembered and what do you hope to leave for as a legacy for the future?

Speaker 2: 34:10

I would hope to be remembered as somebody who had a very, very strong belief in God and tried to live a life that was consistent with God's will, and would go wherever that would take you. He opens doors, he closes doors, but as long as you're willing to follow the lead, you're going to do well. And also as a person who likes to emphasize common sense. We're made in the image of God. He gave us these amazing brains, and they're not just to hold their ears apart.

Speaker 2: 34:44

He wants us to use those things. Your brain can process more than 2 million bits of information in one second. I mean, that is an amazing computer and if you program it the right way, it's almost limitless the things that you can do. You know, you hear some people say well, I'm not good at math. That's not true. Everybody's good at math. If you program them the right way, if you put the right elements in there and you build the blocks sequentially, it's just like reading. Reading is not difficult if you know 26 letters, but if you only know 21, you still know the vast majority. But what are you going to be to read? You're going to quickly say I'm not good at reading. And those five letters in, and all of a sudden, voila, and we need to take that kind of positive philosophy into our teaching. Wow, well, we're going to.

Speaker 3: 35:37

We're going to remember you certainly for your faith, and it's clear that your faith is what drives you and we really appreciate that about you.

Speaker 3: 35:48

I mean it's informed every aspect of your life and service, and it's an inspiration to all of us who've watched your life and are learning from your life. We really appreciate all that you are, dr Carson, and all that you've done for our country and what you're doing for our kids right now. Thank you, we will be back, kelly and I, to talk about this amazing discussion with Dr Ben Carson, everybody, so don't go away. Make sure, though, to get on his website for the American Cornerstone Institute americancornstoneorg. Americancornstoneorg. Hit that subscribe button While we're on break and we'll see you on the other side standby.

Speaker 1: 36:45

Welcome back to stand with Kelly and Nikki Chevacca. Well, that was a wonderful conversation with Dr Ben Carson. I think the part of his talk that stood out most to me was how he unexpectedly transitioned into politics, like, I think, a lot of people who get involved in politics, these kind of career politicians who've become what people would say the establishment or the uniparty, the elites. They probably were planning at some point to run, but it seems like he really wasn't. He walked into that national day of prayer or breakfast and wasn't planning on saying any of that stuff in advance, kind of woke up that morning and had stuff on his heart to say, which was why it seemed like such an authentic power packed speech and it thrust him into the national spotlight. He went from being this completely well regarded, you know, the top neurosurgeon doctor in the nation to now being a what we all know as a political force. Dr Ben Carson, the political force you know, candidate for president, cabinet member, now running a conservative principle think tank, do tank. I think the part that really captivated me about that is kind of like him, having had these experiences of talking to a lot of people, he was compelled by the condition of people around him and the way people are being affected by national policy. If you go back and listen to the speech, he was compelled to say something about it and that inspired and motivated so many people that the grassroots moved him into a presidential spotlight. I love the story about this. You know, when you asked him, what do you want to be remembered by, I thought it was so gripping that he said there's so many people out there who all think the same thing, kind of, regardless of how they would identify politically, they're all thinking the same common sense, things like.

Speaker 1: 38:53

We all can figure this out, but they lack the courage. They lack the courage to stand up and say it when the president's sitting right there. I think we're so close, they could touch each other. They lack the courage to do something about it, but he was so compelled by something higher than himself. There are higher principles here. There's a purpose that's bigger than himself and the comfort of you know, I've got a really good job. I've got a really good reputation.

Speaker 1: 39:23

I'm not going to sacrifice any of this. I'm just going to get up and say the cushy speech everybody else says. Instead, I'm going to do something about it and put myself out there. I'm going to bring criticism onto my profession, my career, this medical career is over right, which it was. I'm going to do something and look at the much bigger impact he's had as a result. There are a lot of people who knew about Dr Ben Carson before I mean, you and I knew about him because we had a friend who was there practicing medicine but there are so many more people who now know his story and the miracles that he worked at his hands because of the bold and courageous stand that he took. But it came at a cost, right, and I think that's the part of the story that he just told that I thought was so inspirational.

Speaker 3: 40:12

Yeah, and I remember years ago when my mom gave me his book Gifted.

Speaker 1: 40:18

Hands. Well, you still have it, yeah.

Speaker 3: 40:20

And wanted me to read it to just inspire me as to what I could accomplish if I set my mind to it. And that's really the message of his life, is his faith and perseverance and commitment that if you put your mind to something, you can do it. And so I remember, even all those years ago, being inspired by his story. And his story continues to inspire because he's made decisions, not for self promotion, but to build other people up, to lift other people up. When he said other people he sees people around the country who lack the courage to stand up he wasn't saying, oh, all these people are cowards.

Speaker 3: 41:12

Right what he's saying is they're discouraged, they're scared, they're intimidated, and understandably so. If you could get canceled, if you could get kicked out of your job, if you could have your life threatened, like there's all kinds of nasty stuff that's coming with people disagreeing on whatever the prevailing ideology is right now that's being pushed by the media or by the establishment or whomever, and so what he and others are doing are going around to encourage and inspire and say, hey, we need that left wing and we need that right wing working together so that this eagle can soar again. And what that requires isn't heated ideological battles. What it requires is just some common sense.

Speaker 1: 42:08

Right, right.

Speaker 3: 42:09

He kept coming back to that. It's common sense. Let's work together on common sense solutions. And so I take from his life the courage to stand, the courage to pivot and take on directions and avenues that you never would have otherwise anticipated doing for the sake of others, right? The other thing that I took from the conversation and I and that I really appreciate about what he's doing he talked about ACI's cartoon episodes and teaching different points of history to kids. I remember he showed one when he was out here in Alaska and I was gripped by it.

Speaker 3: 42:50

Yeah, it's really good it was fantastic and it reminded me of how important our children are, that they understand that America is more than just a country.

Speaker 3: 43:03

America is an idea, that that that we've all coalesced around, and if we lose that idea, we lose America and the, the, the Marxist push and the, the sort of the critical race through all this stuff that's being Our kids are being indoctrinated with threatens not just a future of our country, it threatens their future freedom as well.

Speaker 3: 43:35

They don't necessarily realize it right now, but it does, and it really did strike me when, when we were talking with him about, really, yeah, that difference between indoctrination and education. You know, indoctrination tells you what to think, education tells you, teaches you how to think, and I feel like a lot of the time our kids are just being told what to think and then they grow up, you know and come out and they just spew all of this stuff that they haven't necessarily critically Thought through. So what he's doing with ACI is not only bringing back those principles to the fore, but I think it's teaching kids critical thinking again, right, like they're. They're being told this is what America is about and they're being given opportunities to think about it and to reflect on it, like we've noticed with our you know, with our own kids, it's opened up opportunities for conversations and questions and and all those kinds of things. And that's where really I think that the power of what he's doing in in ACI, as it relates to the little Patriots.

Speaker 3: 44:45

Is is helping kids become critical thinkers, free thinkers, and that's what we want in a future generation, because that's what we want to see in a future government people who are free thinkers and who believe in just those basic principles of life, liberty and who would, even if they don't have faith, at least respect the place and the role of faith in a democratic and free society, that it is an important partner, without which the freedoms that we all have come to take for granted would be threatened.

Speaker 1: 45:17

Mm-hmm, I think you make a really Profound point, which is that ability to.

Speaker 3: 45:22

I have a tendency to do that you do.

Speaker 1: 45:25

That's one of the things that draws me the ability to think for yourself through a paradigm of principles, rather than to just Regurgitate what the person from the front, the person from the top, tells you Is so key. So one of the things that happens in modern culture is we get a lot of these sound bites and then we're just supposed to repeat the sound Bites. But if you start asking questions related to the sound bites, you'll notice that the people that you're in conversations with, they can't really get more than one or two questions down, and so part of the way that you and I have developed the way we think is we've challenged each other with these questions. Okay, but what about this and what about that? And you start peeling back the layers of the onions and we either change the way we think or we have to be able to substantiate it, to say okay, we think this because and it always this is what we call a worldview it always has to root back to your fundamental principles. So, for example, you value freedom, then that means this. If you value life, then that means this. And, to be fair, sometimes your principles will come ultimately in conflict with one another, and this is true even in our Bill of Rights, and so the Supreme Court has had to wrestle some of these things out that as you get closer and closer down, some of these fundamental principles are in tension with one another and you have to wrestle them out.

Speaker 1: 46:55

What's really concerning in this indoctrination age is we don't get any Lower than the sound bite. It's like just blah, okay. Well then, what does that mean? And so one of the things that we want to encourage here, like on our show and people are listening ask the questions. Go a little bit deeper. So if we're gonna say we value freedom, well then how does that apply? Freedom of thought, freedom to To challenge, freedom, to question what? What does my freedom mean? And then when is freedom restricted? Because it's not just absolute freedom. So freedom has to be bound by a moral imperative. Where does morals come from?

Speaker 3: 47:33

absolute freedom would be anarchy.

Speaker 1: 47:35

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 47:37

One interesting conversation I had with an atheist. He said you know, one of my problems is that you believe in God. I said you believe in God too? I said no, I don't. I said yes, you do. And he said I do. And I said yes. Do you believe in good and bad? He said no. Or right and wrong? He said no. Those are, you know, given by people.

Speaker 1: 47:57

I said oh, so then what Hitler did was fine. And he said no. I said well, you would say who are you to say that? Right, because you're saying good and bad, it's a no is wrong. I said well, and Hitler thought it was right. So I think it's wrong. But I have a reason to say that. Why do you think it's wrong? And I said if you think it's wrong, then that came from somewhere, and it can't just be the moral majority at the time, because that would shift. So if it came from somewhere, where did it come from? It has to come from something outside of the moral majority of the time. It has to be some, something higher than us. So morality has to come from something higher than humanity, which means it comes from a higher being. And he said oh, I've never thought of that, oh, and he walked away. He's like I have to come back and think about this.

Speaker 3: 48:42

Those are the kinds of great conversations where we can all learn from each other, right.

Speaker 1: 48:46

We need to have more of them and without that clashing hostility that dr Karsman is talking about so great to have him on the show. Yes. So this has been another great episode of stand. Remember you have the freedom to think and ask questions and that'll make us better Citizens and the United States of America. Stand firm, stand strong. You'll find us here next week. We're on stand show org. Also social media Kelly for Alaska. You can find us on YouTube at the stand show on rumble stand show. We'll see you next week.