Carson seeks Iowans’ presidential support at Urbandale rally

URBANDALE - Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson touted himself to Iowa conservatives Wednesday as an outsider among the 2016 Republican presidential field who will bring new and unifying ideas to Washington D.C., and will provide the political medicine needed to revive the economy and rejuvenate the nation's spirit.

Carson, 63, said he would attack the nation's massive debt if elected president by balancing the federal budget, lowering corporate tax rates, offering a six-month 'tax holiday” to repatriate overseas investment without penalty, and adopting a 'proportional, equitable” income tax system with no loopholes or deductions to stimulate the U.S. economy.

The Detroit Republican, making his first bid for elective public office by seeking to do well in next February's first-in-the-nation precinct caucuses in Iowa, also said he would replace the government-heavy Obamacare health program with a private system of health savings accounts, under less regulation, that would give families more flexibility in helping to deal with medical costs while making catastrophic insurance less costly and improving Medicaid efficiency.

Carson, who drew favorable applause from the packed house at the Westside Conservative Club, said unlike elected politicians who live in a political 'bubble” and follow the wishes of special interests, his message is one of unifying the country at a critical point in history. That message runs counter to the 'purveyors of division” who agitate by age, gender, income, race and religion.

'It's important that we as a nation become united again and that we do things that work for everybody. I think that is really the key here,” said Carson.

'We live in dire times because there are people outside of this nation that want to destroy us, they want to destroy our way of life, and the best thing that we can do to help them is to fight each other,” he said. 'We have to be smart about this to recognize that we are not each other's enemies, and we cannot continue to fan the flames of division, because there is no way that we will survive the war against the Jihadists if we don't recognize that our strength lies in our unity.”

Carson also expressed concern about the direction of U.S. foreign policy, which he said has empowered ISIS by withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq in a way that has destabilized the region and has created 'chaos” by not standing with American allies in the world's trouble spots.

'We have to recognize that we have to take a much more proactive stand in the world as the pinnacle nation,” he said.