Ben Carson Urges Conservatives to Stand Up for Beliefs: 'If You Fight, You Will Win'
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson has a message for conservatives looking for something to be positive about: “If you fight, you will win.”
Democrats currently control both houses of Congress, as well as the White House, leaving some conservatives concerned about what the future holds.
But the retired neurosurgeon and former Trump administration Cabinet member says conservatives must not stop fighting for what they believe in.
“They can be positive about the fact that if you fight, you will win,” he told The Western Journal on Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida.
“You will never win if you sit in the corner,” Carson added.
Carson’s comments come several weeks after he announced his next political venture: a conservative think tank.
“We have painted our fellow Americans as ‘deplorable,’ ‘stupid,’ and worse. It is this type of malicious, political rhetoric fueled by opportunistic politicians and profit-driven media organizations that has roiled our deeply divided nation,” Carson wrote in an Op-Ed for RealClearPolitics.
“We are better than this. Words such as compromise, compassion, and civility are twisted, maligned and tainted as somehow being dirty, or have magically disappeared altogether,” he added.
He recalled the path of American political discourse, as he sees it, and applied his life’s experiences to frame where, in his mind, the country sits.
“We must do better than this. I miss the days when Americans fought united for freedom and justice for all — equally,” he wrote.
“I miss when compromise, compassion, and civility were not only encouraged but celebrated, where individuals accepted the consequences of their actions, when politicians pursued the public good, not just their own good.”
Referring to his time as HUD secretary, Carson noted, “[T]he last four years taught me many things, none more important than the necessity for collaboration and mutual understanding. I saw first-hand that, when we work together as one nation, the American Dream becomes attainable for all and opportunity becomes limitless.”
Carson then announced his experience will not go to waste — he is forming a conservative nonprofit called the American Cornerstone Institute.
“I am launching a nonprofit conservative think tank with the goal of providing common-sense solutions to some of our nation’s biggest problems. The first step in healing is to start talking to one another again,” Carson wrote.
In a recent interview with the Washington Examiner, Carson said he feels recent Democratic victories at the federal level will ultimately contribute to former President Donald Trump and other Republicans’ electoral advantage.
“It’s going to sound kind of strange, but in a way, it’s kind of good that the Democrats are in control because people can actually see who they are and what it is that they’re trying to do,” he said.
“I don’t think most people would have believed it if it hadn’t happened. It is happening, and everyone can see it. And once they get over their shot, I think resistance will begin to grow very significant.”
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