Carson chides progressives in Mason City campaign stop

MASON CITY - Dr. Ben Carson warned a Mason City audience Thursday not to allow 'secular progressives” to continue to run the country.

The soft-spoken Carson, seeking the Republican presidential nomination, spoke like a preacher addressing his congregation as he spoke to about 200 supporters at The Music Man Square.

He used the term 'secular progressives” several times to drive home his points. He said it was important for evangelical Christians to vote and said their failure to vote made a difference in the last presidential election.

'When you don't vote, you are voting,” he said. 'The secular progressives will encourage you not to vote. That's manipulation. They are people with a different set of values than us. Go out and get three people who didn't vote the last time. That's what we need.”

Carson said the Affordable Care Act, championed by President Obama, is a glaring example of how government has been transformed in his administration.

'They are cramming it down our throats and if we don't like it, too bad. That's the transformation to a new order and it is dangerous,” he said. 'The government works for the people, not the other way around.”

Carson also criticized the media, saying it often lies or twists the truth. He urged the audience to stay informed, get involved and ask questions. 'The media works on people who don't discern things for themselves,” he said.

He touched on many specific issues, including:

The economy - He said the Obama administration touts the nation's decreasing unemployment rate, but said people who are eligible to work who aren't working is the worst it's been in 38 years. He also said the $18.5 trillion national debt helps insure this generation will be worse off than their parents.

Radical Muslims - 'They will destroy us if we don't destroy them first.” He said the radicals hide among their population, making them hard to target. 'We must draw them out and kill them. Obliterate them,” he said. He said also the key is to cut off their oil and their supply routes. Carson said the best defense against terrorism at home and abroad is readiness. 'We cannot allow political correctness to kill us,” he said.

Israel - 'Israel is our friend,” he said. 'We have turned our back on our friend. It seems to be a pattern. We have trouble building a coalition because other countries see how we're treating Israel and they don't trust us.”

Subsidies - Carson said, 'I have no desire to remove the safety nets from people who need them. I have a great desire to provide avenues of opportunity for people so they will not be dependent on safety nets.” He said programs such as Social Security and Medicare are unfunded liabilities and that the ideal thing would be to get rid of all government subsidies.

Carson said if he wanted to destroy the United States, he would drive wedges between various segments of the population, spend recklessly and weaken the military. 'Any similarity to what is happening today is purely coincidental,” he said.

Carson was accompanied by his wife, Candy, who led the crowd in the singing of the national anthem and participated with a group singing Christmas carols.

When her husband was done speaking, she rose, stood beside him and said, 'I'm Candy Carson, and I approved this message.”