'A Republic, If You Can Keep It': Dr. Ben Carson Claims US Is Closer Than Ever To Losing Democracy

3 months ago

Speaking at a Wisconsin GOP event on Tuesday, former Trump cabinet member Dr. Ben Carson spoke about preserving democracy in the United States.

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Transcript

00:00And our fathers were very academic, and they studied every single society that ever existed in the history of the world.

00:14And they were eclectics. They extracted the good stuff and threw out the bad stuff.

00:22Their idea was to create a society that would remain free and open.

00:31And that's why they put so much toil into it.

00:35But one of the things that became clear to them as they studied all these societies is that all governments tend to move in the same direction.

00:46Grow, infiltrate, and dominate.

00:50No matter how they start, no matter how lofty their ideals are, it seems to be a human trait.

00:58Have you ever thought about why is it that people can't just leave other people alone?

01:03Why do they have to control them?

01:05Why can't they just live in peace?

01:07They just cannot do it.

01:09And governments can't do it either.

01:12And it's not because governments are inherently bad, it's just that people are like that.

01:18And therefore you have to actively engage in something to keep a society free and open.

01:27And that's what they did.

01:29But it wasn't easy.

01:31In that last constitutional convention, there were so many vicious arguments that the whole thing was about to fall apart.

01:43And 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin, the elder statesman, got up in front of that group and he said,

01:50Gentlemen, stop.

01:54He said, let us get down on our knees and let's seek wisdom from God.

02:00And the whole assembly knelt and prayed.

02:03And they got up and they put together a God-inspired document called the Constitution of the United States of America.

02:10And if we adhere to it, we will in fact remain a free and open society.

02:24But when Franklin came out of that building, a woman asked him, Sir, what do we have?

02:30A monarchy or a republic?

02:33And he famously said, A republic, if you can keep it.

02:39If you can keep it.

02:41Now we're as close right now to losing it as we have ever been through all our 248 years.

02:53And I hope most people recognize how dangerous it is to have the political party who is in power utilizing the justice system to suppress their political opponents.

03:10I mean, I think a lot of the American people did recognize that.

03:15And I think that's why you saw shifting poles.

03:19And I think there's a very good chance that we can maintain that.

03:24But we need to understand that this is not a temporary thing.

03:29This is something that's been going on for a very long time.

'A Republic, If You Can Keep It': Dr. Ben Carson Claims US Is Closer Than Ever To Losing Democracy

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