Summary Of One Nation Carson

Growing up in a single parent household, in inner city Detroit, as a black boy in the fifties through the sixties, you could describe Ben Carson’s childhood as a challenge. His mother, one of 24 children, only had a third grade education. With all of this combined, as a young child, Ben had a horrible temper, low self esteem, and was an atrocious student. How could he care about getting good grades, when he was surrounded by people who had never and did not aspire to achieve in school? However, even with Ben’s seemingly hopeless home life, where any success seemed impossible, he had had something very important. His mother. Although she wasn 't the smartest women, she believed in her kids and pushed them to be the best they could be. She did …show more content…
Maybe brain surgery and politics don’t have a lot in common but, Carson has something a lot of the other candidates do not, decisiveness. He is not at all afraid to voice his opinions, and he is never on the fence about any issue. While this may rub some people the wrong way, for example liberals may hate his seemingly ignorant stance on gay rights, there is also something admirable about that particular quality he possesses. In One Nation Carson speaks in an intriguing way about politics. He addresses the fact that part of the problem with our government is not the president, the vice president, or any high ranking government official for that matter, it is the American people. Our United States government was set up with the intention of the people ruling, and having a large say in government issues. However over time, we distanced ourselves from that ideology. Currently, the average person is doing themselves and their country a disservice by not educating themselves about both domestic and foreign issues. Throughout the book Carson gives the reader, “action steps.” Action steps are essentially steps the reader can do or think about that can better or make a difference in a small way. Carson doesn’t just go on about what he wants to be changed for the country to advance, he lays out exactly how we can get there, including what each American can do to help. I found it engaging and interesting to see the role I could play in politics and reflect on his ideas and maybe even try to implement them, based on these action steps. Additionally, Carson addresses issues that are usually avoided. He spent a few chapters talking about political correctness. He stated that the fear that you may offend someone when talking about politics and voicing your opinion in any way is holding us back as a country. How do we suppose we are to advance as a country when we feel we can’t state our opinion without the