AN AMERICAN TO ADMIRE

There is no American living today whom I admire more than pioneering neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

Reared in poverty in Detroit by a single parent mother who often worked three scut jobs to put food on the table and clothes on the backs of Ben and older brother Curtis, his is a genuine Horatio Alger story.

Sonya Carson was one of America’s unsung heroes. Illiterate, married at age 13, she divorced Ben’s father when she learned he had a second family.

Ben and Curtis (now a mechanical engineer) deserve most of the credit for their achievements in life. But it’s doubtful they’d have made them were it not for the many sacrifices Sonya made on their behalf, and the discipline she imposed. She required her boys to read two books a week, restricted their television watching.

“I grew up to who I became because I had my mother,” Dr. Carson said.

Sonya, who died in May, must have been proud of the Carson Scholarship Fund, which has awarded more than 6,700 scholarships to 500 colleges and universities, and the 120 Reading Rooms in 16 states where Dr. Carson hopes to spark in other poor minority students the love of reading his mother ignited in him.

No other candidates for president in either party can claim to have saved lives, as Ben Carson has. No others can match his record of achievement. Yet Dr. Carson is running less for ego gratification than any of them.

The contrast between Dr. Carson and the prime egoist in the race, Donald Trump, could not be sharper. Mr. Trump brags constantly. Ben Carson lets his achievements speak for themselves. Mr. Trump bullies and name-calls. Dr. Carson searches for common ground.

Ben Carson also contrasts vividly with Barack Hussein Obama, whose self regard is enormous, his accomplishments sparse.

His achievements, temperament and platform make Dr. Carson an attractive candidate. So leftists are trying to tear him down, and are (as is customary) abusing the truth to do it.

On Meet the Press Sunday (9/20), host Chuck Todd asked Dr. Carson: “Should a president’s faith matter?”

“If it’s inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter,” he responded. “But if it fits within the realm of America and consistent with the Constitution, no problem.”

“Do you believe that Islam is consistent with the Constitution?” Mr. Todd pressed.

“No I don’t,” Dr. Carson replied. “I would not advocate that we put a Moslem in charge of this nation.”

Faux outrage ensued. (Question: do lefties express any other kind?)

He wouldn’t vote for a Moslem for president because so many seek a theocracy governed by Islamic Sharia law, which is 100 percent opposed to the principles of religious liberty and separation of church and state upon which America was founded, Dr. Carson has made clear.

Note: According to a poll conducted in June for the Center for Security Policy, 51% of Moslems in America said they wanted to be governed by Sharia law and Sharia courts.

Dr. Carson said he could support a Moslem for president if he/she pledged to abide by the Constitution.

Smug ignoramuses accuse Dr. Carson of not understanding the Constitution, which forbids a religious test for public office. Neither Dr. Carson nor anyone else has challenged the right of Moslems to seek office. But voters are free to take religion into account. It was a long time before a Roman Catholic was elected president (John Kennedy in 1960).

This faux controversy has answered positively a question I’ve had about Ben Carson as a presidential candidate. Despite the strenuous efforts of our corrupt political class to bully him, he’s stood his ground. He may be soft spoken, but there is steel in his spine.

I have other questions about Dr. Carson – chiefly about his willingness to respond with military force if America is attacked. If he answers them as well as he has this, Rubio/Carson or Carson/Rubio GOP ticket would excite me very much.

Jack Kelly is a former Marine and Green Beret, and was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force during the Reagan Administration. He is the national security writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.