Carson and 2016

Dr. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and darling of conservatives as well as a potential Presidential candidate, has said that, you know, there might not even be elections in 2016. With "...a rapidly increasing national debt, a very unstable financial foundation, and you have all of these things gong on, like the ISIS crisis, that could very rapidly change things that are going on in our nation." You can read more here, if you like: http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/ben-carson-2016-election-may-not-happen/ But we will say this: it really only makes him sound as though he is already running for the White House.

Most of the rest of the story has Dr. Carson saying only that the 2016 elections could not happen. And, to be fair, they could not happen. Yet we must always remember that could is a word which belongs, basically, in the category of 'if'. It really doesn't mean much.

In fact, his very use of such rather arbitrary polemics is disappointing. Conservatives almost universally express a positive belief in America and America's future. Yes, America will come to an end one day; all things must pass. But in saying such things, especially in the off the cuff manner in which Carson expressed himself, doesn't actually add anything to the debate about who should lead our nation after the current Chief Executive. It doesn't do much except lay the seeds, however also unlikely in the next two years, for panic. And panic, especially in the public arena, only helps someone who is trying to get something. In this case, that would be Ben Carson trying to become President of the United States.

The move seems too calculated to be taken at face value. Carson can only be saying it to create a sense of urgency which, he hopes, will propel him to the Republican nomination in 2016 and the White House in 2017. It is too much of a political move, an outsider's move, to be taken seriously.

We like Dr. Carson. We think he would make a good President. But there's no need for panic. He would be better to frame the debate over 2016 in terms of hope rather than the macabre. Our nation needs a Ronald Reagan, not a Chicken Little.