The Hope and Change America Needs by Dr Ben Carson

The Hope and Change America Needs by Dr Ben Carson

Far too often in today’s America, human life is devalued and violence is glorified.

Recently, Monica Foy, a student at Sam Houston State University, pondered in a tweet why so many people cared about the murder of Deputy Darren Goforth of Harris County, Texas. Goforth was killed as he pumped gasoline into his cruiser. Instead of feeling sympathy for the callous murder of a father of two young children, Foy noted the Deputy had “creepy perv eyes.”

A thousand miles away in Minnesota, Black Lives Matter protesters chanted “Pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon,” as they marched.

All the while, a constant stream of videos reveal the harvesting and marketing of baby body parts by the nation’s largest abortion provider.

The degree to which our society is devaluing human life is appalling.

How did we allow this to happen? More importantly, how do we stop it?

Too many government policies have failed too many Americans, and these policies must be abolished or changed. Yet a much more fundamental change must come from within individuals and civil society: We must embrace a mindset that values human dignity, restores compassion, and prizes respect for ourselves and each other. And we need leadership that values and promotes moral authority.

It is clear that government programs meant to fight poverty have failed us all. There are currently over 80 federal programs designed to help Americans with limited financial resources; yet most of these programs discourage work, penalize marriage and create moral hazards all around. Meanwhile, in our inner cities, where the government has been supposedly fighting poverty, unemployment and underemployment have risen to unacceptable sky-high levels.

Away from government programs, our culture has failed us as well. Violence is worshiped and profiteered by entertainment industry. Drug use is growing across the country.

The widespread taking of unborn life is viewed with indifference akin to someone scratching their ear.

The family unit, that most crucial inculcator of values, has disintegrated. Where parents once guided their children’s views of right and wrong and disciplined their behavior, we now see a generation growing into adulthood with increasingly no hope, no faith, and no respect.

Instead of guiding such at-risk Americans to kindness and personal responsibility, politicians who are irresponsible, sycophantic and opportunistic feed the masses’ basest instincts and worst grievances, be they racial or political. Irrational decisions and violence often ensue, with few legal consequences for the individuals involved.

I am afraid we are on the front end of a lost generation. A generation with no hope and no faith is rapidly growing into adulthood.

We can wish that all of these disturbing phenomenons did not exist. But, facts are stubborn things and wishes have no power over them. We need a bold new vision to combat these mounting problems across America.

I know violence all too well. As a child I saw it out my front window in the inner city. Two of my cousins were killed on the streets in our neighborhood. As a doctor, I spent way too many nights taking bullets out of patients.

This is why I believe America needs a new paradigm. It is a paradigm that emphasizes that strength comes from within each of us, that to change our country we must embrace old-fashioned values such as respect, compassion and responsibility. Seven years ago, the country was promised change that it could believe in. The emptiness of that promise notwithstanding, real change ultimately resides in each of us.

Together with open minds and linked hearts and hands, we can do better. We must strive to replace hatred and indifference with compassion. It is time for a bold new way of empowerment and responsibility.