'A Republic, If You Can Keep It': Dr. Ben Carson Claims US Is Closer Than Ever To Losing Democracy
Speaking at a Wisconsin GOP event on Tuesday, former Trump cabinet member Dr. Ben Carson spoke about preserving democracy in the United States.
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
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.