, August 13, 2015
Abortion and human fetal tissue Carson has described himself as
pro-life, comparing women who have abortions to historical slave owners, and supports overturning the 1973 Supreme Court decision in
Roe v. Wade. He opposes access to abortion in virtually all cases, including pregnancies resulting from incest or rape, After
undercover videos recorded by an anti-abortion group showed
Planned Parenthood officials discussing the donation of tissue from aborted fetuses for medical research, Jen Gunter, an
obstetrician-gynecologist and blogger, subsequently identified research that Carson himself had performed and published using tissue from fetuses aborted in the 9th and 17th weeks of gestation. Carson defended his past use of tissue from aborted fetuses for medical research in part, by stating, "to not use the tissue that is in a tissue bank, regardless of where it comes from, would be foolish. Why would anybody not do that?" Carson also told
The Washington Post: "If you're killing babies and taking the tissue, that's a very different thing than taking a dead specimen and keeping a record of it."
Climate change Carson
rejects the
scientific consensus that human activity causes climate change; in November 2014, he said: "there's always going to be either cooling or warming going on", and he found the debate on climate change "irrelevant" and a distraction from protecting the environment. In 2015, Carson expressed his disbelief about the scientific consensus on climate change, at a
Commonwealth Club forum in San Francisco. After this statement,
Governor Jerry Brown of California sent Carson a flash drive containing the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Synthesis Report, which details the scientific evidence of human impact on climate change. Carson's response to the
San Francisco Chronicle was: "There is no overwhelming science that the things that are going on are man-caused and not naturally caused."
Taxation In August 2015, Carson proposed instituting a flat tax on personal and corporate income, and a
capital gains tax of 10%; Carson claiming inspiration by the biblical concept of
tithing.
Citizens for Tax Justice found that this plan would "raise only 32 percent of the revenue of the current tax system and pay for only 28 percent of estimated government spending" and "would increase the deficit by $3 trillion in just one year", even with every tax deduction eliminated. proposing that the U.S. abandon its current
graduated personal income tax system in favor of a
flat tax. Carson specifically proposed a 14.9% flat tax on both personal and business income, applying to income above 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Citizens whose income is at or below that level would be required to make an annual de minimis tax payment. Carson also proposed eliminating the capital gains tax, the
alternative minimum tax, and the
estate tax; and individual
taxes on dividends and interest. The plan would do away with deductions and other tax breaks. Along with a flat tax, Carson has advocated for a national
luxury tax on "very expensive" goods.
Financial and other regulation Although most of Carson's economic policy beliefs reflected "current Republican orthodoxy", he diverged from other Republican presidential candidates in his support for reinstating
Glass-Steagall, a
Depression-era law that separated commercial and investment banks and was
repealed in 1999.
Minimum wage and employment During the 2016 presidential campaign, Carson initially said the current
federal minimum wage of $7.25 should "possibly" or "probably" be higher. He supported a two-tiered minimum wage system, with a lower "starter" minimum wage for young workers. He also supported indexing the minimum wage to inflation, "so that we never have to have this conversation again in the history of America." In October 2015, Carson called the size of the federal workforce "absurd" and called for reducing it by attrition.
Trade policy Carson praised the concept of
free trade, but voiced objections to the
Trans-Pacific Partnership, calling for the deal to be renegotiated, "because right now we have a lot of special interest groups who benefit."
Education In an October 2015 interview, Carson stated: "I actually have something I would use the
Department of Education to do. It would be to monitor our institutions of higher education for extreme political bias and deny federal funding on that basis." This controversial suggestion was criticized by various commentators, who questioned its constitutionality and practicality. Carson asserted that the
AP U.S. History overemphasizes wrongdoing (such as slavery,
Japanese internment, and atrocities against American Indians) by the United States, saying: "I think most people, when they finish that course, they'd be ready to go sign up for
ISIS." Carson was a critic of the
Common Core State Standards.
Evolution Carson's views on
evolution and
creationism have been controversial. In a 2006 debate, Carson stated: "I don't believe in evolution ... I simply don't have enough faith to believe that something as complex as our ability to rationalize, think, and plan, and have a moral sense of what's right and wrong, just appeared." In a 2011 speech to Seventh-day Adventists, entitled "Celebration of Creation", Carson said
Darwin's theory of evolution "was encouraged by the adversary and it has become what is scientifically, politically correct"; with "the adversary" being interpreted as a reference to
Satan. Carson also labeled the theory of the
Big Bang as "ridiculous", saying, "Here you have all these
highfalutin scientists and they're saying it was this gigantic explosion and everything came into perfect order ... I mean, you want to talk about fairy tales, that is amazing." Carson defended his comments in 2015, saying in regard to the scientific concepts, "I'm not going to denigrate you because of your faith and you shouldn't denigrate me for mine." In 2014, Carson rejected the validity of
carbon dating, as it "really doesn't mean anything to a God who has the ability to create anything at any point in time". Carson further argued against evolution, stating his disbelief in the possibility of the "complexity of the human brain" arising "from a slime pit full of promiscuous biochemicals". In October 2015, Carson stated that he does accept the idea of
natural selection, but there is only evidence for
microevolution (changes in
allele frequencies that occur over time
within a species), which he believes was the result of "a wise creator who gave his creatures the ability to adapt to their environment so that he wouldn't have to start over every 50 years", whereas "there's never been one species that's turned into another species, that can be proved."
Firearms regulation and Nazi Germany comparisons Carson stated in 2013 that
semi-automatic firearms should be better regulated in large cities and high-crime areas. This statement attracted criticism from conservative opponents of gun control. Carson has declined to backtrack from that view, but says he is strongly in favor of the
Second Amendment, and while guns being used on innocent people was "horrible" but "not nearly as horrible as having a population that is defenseless against a group of tyrants who have arms". Carson made similar remarks in October 2015. Carson has advanced the
Nazi gun control theory, asserting in his book,
A Perfect Union, that
gun control made it easier for the Holocaust to occur: "Through a combination of removing guns and disseminating deceitful propaganda, the Nazis were able to carry out their evil intentions with relatively little resistance." In an interview with CNN's
Wolf Blitzer, Carson made similar claims. Holocaust historian
Alan E. Steinweis called Carson's stance "strangely ahistorical" because "no serious work of scholarship on the Nazi dictatorship or on the causes of the Holocaust" features "Nazi gun control measures ... as a significant factor."
Jonathan Greenblatt, national director and CEO of the
Anti-Defamation League, also criticized the remarks, calling them "mind-bending".
Free speech and Nazi Germany comparisons In March 2014, when asked about his previous claim that Americans were living "in a
Gestapo age", Carson said that the United States is "very much like Nazi Germany ... [there] you had a government using its tools to intimidate a population." Carson stated that the "PC police" as well as politicians and the media "stifle people's conversation" and make them "afraid to say what they actually believe." In October 2015, Carson said he would "beg to differ" with people who thought America would never become something akin to
Nazi Germany; stating: "If you go back and look at the history of the world, tyranny and despotism and how it starts, it has a lot to do with control of thought and control of speech." When questioned about whether he was comparing President Obama to
Hitler, Carson said: "No. I am saying in a situation where people do not express themselves, bad things can happen." In the same month,
The Washington Post called Carson "the biggest fan of Nazi metaphors in politics" in America, noting that Carson "doesn't shy away from holding up Nazi Germany as a dire warning of the slippery slope America is on" and had invoked Nazi Germany or Hitler in comments on various topics, including American society and "how a general population kept their mouth shut"; Obama supporters; socialists; gun rights; and
Planned Parenthood.
Healthcare Carson has been critical of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, saying in 2013 that "Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery ... And it is in a way, it is slavery in a way, because it is making all of us subservient to the government, and it was never about health care. It was about control." As an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, Carson said in 2013: "Here's my solution. When a person is born, give him a birth certificate, an
electronic medical record and a
health savings account." In arguing that the Affordable Care Act gave the government "control of the people", Carson several times invoked a spurious quote from
Vladimir Lenin. In a December 2014 op-ed for
The Washington Times, Carson wrote: "we need to remove health care from the political arena and recognize that any government proposals affecting the health of all citizens should be free market-based and should be so appealing that it would not be necessary to force citizens into the program." As a presidential candidate, Carson supported abolishing
Medicare and
Medicaid, moving dollars out of these "traditional health care" programs to fund new health savings accounts. Carson proposed having the government contribute $2,000 to each individual's account annually, with individuals and employers permitted to contribute additional funds to the accounts, and unspent funds being allowed to be shared within a family. The cost of this system is not factored into Carson's $630 billion figure. In a 1992 essay published in the
Harvard Journal of Minority Public Health, Carson wrote that technological advancement will eventually lead to many people surviving their 100th birthdays, and questioned the merits of prolonging life, citing the fact that "up to half of the medical expenses incurred in the average American's life are incurred during the last six months of life". and noting the advantages of "dignity of dying in comfort" in a home setting. Carson advocated for a partially-government run plan, writing that on
end-of-life care: "Decisions on who should be treated and who should not be treated would clearly require some national guidelines." In January 2015, Carson stated that his views have evolved since 1992.
History of ancient Egypt In a 1998 commencement speech at
Andrews University, Carson publicly expressed the view that the
Pyramids of Giza were not tombs, but grain silos built by
Joseph, the Biblical son of Jacob, in preparation for the famine depicted in the
Book of Genesis. He added that "various scientists" say
ancient astronauts could have designed the structures, but to Carson, "it doesn't require an alien being when God is with you". Popular in medieval Europe, the belief that Joseph had the pyramids
built as granaries was perpetuated by, among others,
Gregory of Tours in the sixth century, an Irish monk in the ninth century named Bernard, a mosaic in
St. Mark's Basilica dating from the twelfth, and the travelogue attributed to
John Mandeville in the fourteenth. In 2015, Carson reiterated his views on the Egyptian pyramids. Archaeologists reject the notion that the pyramids were used to store grain, noting that the pyramids were not hollow, ancient Egyptian granaries have been well-studied, there is evidence of burials inside the pyramids, and the ancient Egyptians left funerary instructions inside them. Additionally, the Bible states that Joseph's grain was kept in cities.
Immigration In the
Washington Times, Carson wrote: "Once illegals have legal status, it will be difficult to deny them any of the multitudinous entitlements that are freely distributed throughout our society." Carson believes that illegal immigrants should be able to register as guest workers and have a pathway to apply for permanent resident status. In September 2015, Carson said that due to the difficulty in deporting illegal immigrants, he would instead prioritize sealing the
borders of the United States, which "in the Carson administration that would be done in the first year". He also said that "you have to also turn off the spigot that dispenses the goodies so that people don't have any incentive to come here". In November 2015, Carson twice likened
Syrian refugees to "rabid dogs" and suggested that they posed a risk to American society.
Marijuana and drug policy In 2014, Carson said that "I think
medical use of marijuana in compassionate cases certainly has been proven to be useful" but said that he opposed legalization of recreational
marijuana. Carson believes marijuana is a
gateway drug. In an appearance on
Glenn Beck's show, Carson said he would "intensify" the
war on drugs.
Marriage and LGBTQ issues In March 2013, Carson described his views about
same-sex marriage on
Hannity, saying: "Marriage is between a man and a woman. No group, be they gays, be they
NAMBLA, be they people who believe in
bestiality, it doesn't matter what they are. They don't get to change the definition." The comments caused controversy.
GLAAD criticized Carson for having "equated gays" with those from the North American Man/Boy Love Association and supporters of bestiality. A number of students at the
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, "enraged by Carson's comparison of homosexuality with bestiality and pedophilia", called upon Carson to withdraw as a commencement speaker. Carson withdrew as speaker and apologized for his remarks, saying that he was not equating those groups. He said:You know, as a Christian ... I have a duty to love all people and that includes people who have other sexual orientations, and I certainly do, and never had any intention of offending anyone. What I was basically saying, and if anybody was offended, I apologize to you. But what I was basically saying is that there is no group. I wasn't equating those things. I don't think they're equal. Just, you know, if you ask me for apple and I give you an orange you would say, well that's not an orange. And then I say, that's a banana, that's not an apple either. And there's a peach, that's not an apple, either. But it doesn't mean that I'm equating the banana and the orange and the peach. And in the same way I'm not equating those things. Carson further said "the examples were not the best choice of words" and that the
Bible "says we have an obligation to love our fellow man as ourselves, and I love everybody the same—all homosexuals." According to Carson, "I was trying to say that as far as marriage was concerned, it has traditionally been between a man and a woman and no one should be able to change that." Carson continued to clarify his comments in later years: "That point was if you change the definition of marriage for one group, you'll have to change it for the next group and the next group", which was characterized as a
slippery slope argument by
The Washington Post. In a 2015
Facebook post, Carson wrote that he supports
civil unions for gay couples and he has "for many years". Carson, while on the boards for
Costco and food manufacturer
Kellogg's, supported initiatives for employment non-discrimination, health insurance for domestic partners, and diversity training. Later in 2015, reacting to an ordinance in
Houston, Texas, that would have permitted those who are
transgender to enter a bathroom designated for the gender with which they identify, Carson proposed the idea of transgender bathrooms, saying: "It is not fair for them to make everybody else uncomfortable. ... I think everybody has equal rights, but I'm not sure that anybody should have extra rights – extra rights when it comes to redefining everything for everybody else and imposing your view on everybody else." In a March 2015 interview with
Chris Cuomo, Carson stated he believes homosexuality is a choice, saying, "A lot of people go into
prison straight, and when they come out, they're gay." Later, in a
Facebook post, Carson wrote that he "realized that my choice of language does not reflect fully my heart on gay issues. I do not pretend to know how every individual came to their sexual orientation. I regret that my words to express that concept were hurtful and divisive. For that I apologize unreservedly to all that were offended." In October 2014, the
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) added Carson to its "anti-gay extremist" list, citing Carson's "linking gays with pedophiles" and other comments; in February 2015, the SPLC removed Carson's name from its list and apologized to him.
Foreign affairs and defense In 2015, Carson's "main national security adviser" was
Robert F. Dees, a retired Army major general who, like Carson, argues that national security is linked to spiritual values. Dees wrote in his book
Resilient Nations (2014) that the greatest threat to America was not terrorism, China, or Russia but rather the decline of its "spiritual infrastructure". Dees writes: At the height of Roman decadence, good became evil and evil became good ... One can rightly argue that the United States is frightfully close to a similar fate. Prayerfully, it is not too late. In several interviews, Carson has endorsed the views of the
political theorist W. Cleon Skousen, an author popular among
Tea Party supporters, recommending Skousen's book
The Naked Communist (1958). In a July 2014 interview, Carson cited Skousen and suggested that nefarious Marxist forces were plotting to use the mainstream media to undermine the United States, saying: "There was a guy who was a former CIA agent by the name of Cleon Skousen who wrote a book in 1958 called
The Naked Communist, and it laid out the whole agenda. You would think by reading it that it was written last year—showing what they're trying to do to American families, what they're trying to do to our Judeo-Christian faith, what they're doing to morality."
Syria Carson has expressed a number of often contradictory positions on the role of the United States in the
Syrian Civil War. Carson initially opposed the Obama administration's
proposed military intervention in Syria in September 2013, claiming that the rebels it would be in support of posed a national security threat to the United States and Israel, and disputing the allegation that the Syrian government was responsible for the use of chemical weapons. By September 2015, Carson had changed his position on the
Assad regime, calling for forcing
ISIL out of Iraq in order to allow the group to focus on overthrowing the Assad regime, whilst continuing to advocate non-intervention in Syria. In November 2015, Carson once again opposed U.S. assistance to Syrian rebels, instead supporting a political solution in Syria, culminating in a coalition government that would include Assad. He justified his new position by criticizing the United States' support for rebels in the
first Libyan Civil War.
Religious freedom and separation of church and state In a 2014 op-ed article, Carson argued that the
First Amendment's
Establishment Clause has been "reinterpreted" by progressives away from its original intent, writing that "our
Judeo-Christian values have taken a big hit in recent years" although "we have not yet reached the point of a totally godless government." He said in May 2015: "To try to impose one's religious beliefs on someone else is absolutely what we should not be doing. That goes in both directions." During a September 2015
Meet the Press interview, in response to
Chuck Todd's question "Should a President's faith matter [to voters]?", Carson said that if a faith is "inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter." Todd continued with, "So do you believe that Islam is consistent with the constitution?" to which Carson said, "No, I don't, I do not [believe so]. I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that." ==Endorsements==