Nietzsche meets Dr. Carson

Friday afternoon I joined a thousand plus people in listening to a man speak.  He spoke of poverty, wealth, education, morals, and equality.  This man was not  Friedrich Nietzsche, he was the presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson. Since we took a look at Nietzsche's approach to philosophy and approach to the evolution of morals  this week, I'm going to compare it to some of the thoughts of Dr. Carson.

For starters, it is interesting to even place Dr. Carson in Nietzsche's framework of slaves and the 'Übermensch'.  As he described in his speech, Dr. Carson began his life in extreme poverty.  After his father left the family when he was still young, Carson's mother worked up to three jobs at a time to provide for her kids growing up in inner-city Detroit.  Like many other poor minorities, school was an afterthought for Ben originally.  He spoke of his extremely poor grades and how it wasn't uncommon for him to skip class all together some days.  In addition to all his normal schooling, Ben's mother required her kids to read two books every month and submit to her a written report.  Even though she couldn't read these reports, she would mark them up and give them 'grades'.

To his complete dismay, this point when his mother (who herself got married at the age of thirteen and never got past the third grade) began forcing her children to apply themselves to education. became the turning point in his early life.  Originally, Ben hated the readings complaining that he'd rather be running around outside having fun.  Eventually though, he learned to enjoy the knowledge and how it permeated to the rest of his life.  Ben went from failing grades to one of the top students in the class.  Suddenly, teachers and fellow students began to respect him and recognize he wasn't simply a shy dumb boy.  As some of you might know, Ben went on to become the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland from 1984 until his retirement in 2013. Among his achievements as a surgeon were separation of conjoined twins and a technique for controlling brain seizures, which both led to him receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008.

Now back to how this relates to class.  I believe that Dr. Ben Carson would be considered an Übermensch, while at the same time serving a an example against Nietzsche's philosophy.  Despite his rough upbringing, deep anger issues, and extreme poverty Carson excelled himself to one of the most influential people in America today.  Rather than accepting the notion that there are different classes of people, Ben believes that the person most able to affect where you end up in life is you self.  While Nietzsche would say this is just a fake sense of self worth used by the 'slaves' to make themselves feel better, Dr. Carson is living proof of how it can work.    

Its interesting to think that such a successful man would enter the arena of politics.  There is little to gain financially, and honestly little more he needs to add to his reputation.  Ben is acknowledged to be on of the smartest doctors in the world and his achievements speak for themselves.  When asked why he was in fact running for president his response was quite simple.  He spoke of simply wanting to open up the government to more people and ideas.  Rather than having an elite class of 'professional politicians', he wants to serve as proof that every day people have ideas and solutions as well.  By the way he's doing in polls, I'd say he's achieving this goal way beyond his imagination.  Even though philosophers like Nietzsche may say that the lower class isn't capable of doing anything but portray their weaknesses as strength, I'd say that Dr. Ben Carson is a great example of someone recognizing their weakness, working hard to change, and advancing themselves by finding a strength.