Ben Carson Should Call it Quits

Ben Carson needs to put out the fire.

In an ABC video promoting the February 6 Republican presidential debate, the former neurosurgeon revealed his prep ritual for these events: “I take these hundreds of pieces of paper, because they have all the advice that people have given me about what to say during the debate, and light them on fire.” In the video, Carson added, “I’m gonna be me. So whatever comes out, it’s me.”

This inflammatory revelation comes not long after his actions on the night of the Iowa Caucus made headlines. Instead of heading elsewhere to campaign after polls closed, Carson decided to go home to Florida. Explaining his thought process on ABC’s “The View,” Carson said “I had been on the road for almost three weeks, and I wanted to get a fresh change of clothes.” He said he also missed his wife, former concert violinist Candy Carson. “I never get to see her. Is it a crime for us to be able to go home and spend a night together in our own home?”

A husband is certainly allowed to miss his wife. But regardless of his currently abysmal poll numbers, Ben Carson still publicly aspires to be commander-in-chief. Applicants for the position of future most powerful person in the world ought to be able to deal with missing home and family for a while.

Applicants should also make better financial decisions. In his interview on “The View,” Carson defended his decision to fly home instead of buying new clothes in Iowa, saying, “I grew up to preserve what I have. I don’t just throw something in the garbage and buy a new suit.” While Carson’s climb from the ghetto to his current position in life remains an inspiration, the monetary aspect of the actions he discussed makes no sense. New clothes would have been significantly cheaper than a plane ticket. Maybe he’s also taken a liking to burning green paper?

Lately, finances have been a problem for the Johns Hopkins professor emeritus. According to The Washington Post, the Carson campaign recently cut half its staff, salaries for those who remain are being significantly reduced, and the candidate may stop flying on private jets, returning to commercial flights. In other words, the money is going up in smoke.

It seems that lately, whether it involves finances or family or flames, all the evidence points in one direction: Ben Carson needs to drop out of the race. Actually, he ought to get out of politics altogether. Pursuing aspirations on that front hasn’t been good for him.

In 1999, a book came out by a famous doctor, a man who made it his business to save lives and to inspire children through his true tale of rags to riches. The book was called The Big Picture, and it contained the following passage: “I describe myself as an independent. I consider it a waste of our human brainpower to be otherwise.”

Fast forward. In recent years, the current Republican presidential candidate has made a number of incendiary comments regarding homosexuality. However, Carson’s statements before his campaign, and before he was very likely thinking about establishing his campaign, reflect a far less heated approach.

In The Big Picture, while unfortunately hewing to an interpretation of the Bible that labels homosexuality as a sin, he also stated that judgment and condemnation on this issue do not represent the proper Christian path.

In 1996, Carson wrote an essay for the Harvard Journal of Minority Public Health. A 2015 BuzzFeed article described this essay as advocating for “partially nationalized government-run health care.” Despite Carson’s claims that the paper bears no resemblance worth mentioning to his current views, there is no denying that he was advocating for an almost identical approach to health care as late as 2012, in his book America the Beautiful.

And then there are the other moments — too many. In 2013, speaking at the Value Voters Summit, Carson exploited his status as a celebrated black inspirational figure, declaring, “Obamacare is really, I think, the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.” In 2014, Carson put forth the notion that the shooting of Michael Brown had “nothing to do with race.”

In 2015, Carson expressly declared that he does not believe Islam to be compatible with the Constitution. And yet, later in that same interview, Carson said he would support “somebody who’s of any faith” whose “life has been consistent with things that will elevate this nation and make it possible for everybody to succeed, and bring peace and harmony.”

Talk about cognitive dissonance. The various forms of fire are but the latest indication that the stress of the public sphere isn’t good for this man. He needs to go home again, and he needs to stay there.