Ben Carson correctly explains how a mindset keeps people in poverty; left predictably goes bananas

There is nothing liberals hate more than the suggestion that people with problems in their lives have the power to solve those problems, on their own, by making changes in their lives. They freak out at any such suggestion and paint it as "blaming the victim." But it is really not that at all. It is simply a recognition that people make their own decisions and form their own attitudes, and that they have the power to change those decisions and attitudes if necessary to improve their lives. If you've always made bad decisions, that doesn't mean you always will make bad decisions. You can change and start making good ones. Many people have done so and you can learn from them. If you've always had bad habits, you don't always have to keep those bad habits. You can reject them and embrace better ones. Find someone who has done so and find out how they did it, then do likewise. A cynic will tell you it can't be done, but that's not true. We can all improve ourselves.

There is no one more desperate to keep you from believing this than a liberal. This is for two reasons. First, if you think there is nothing you can do to improve your own situation, you will continue to vote for the part of the welfare state, as you will see little choice in your own life but to rely on them. Second, if they can convince you that your problems are someone else's fault and not yours, then you will be receptive to their attacks on the people who are supposedly to blame for all your suffering. So when someone comes along like Ben Carson, who grew up in poverty and worked his way out of it, they don't want you to hear what he knows about how poverty can be overcome. And they go absolutely ballistic when he reveals something about poverty that the left doesn't want you to know. Poverty is a spirit, a mindset, and you can rid yourself of it:

Mr. Carson, who oversees a department that handles housing for millions of low-income Americans, made the comments during a radio interview on Tuesday with Armstrong Williams, a friend and conservative media personality. During the talk, Mr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, said he thought some people were poor because of their outlook on life. “I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview that was released on Wednesday. “You take somebody that has the right mind-set, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there.”

He added that helping people may not better their lives. “You take somebody with the wrong mind-set, you can give them everything in the world — they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom,” Mr. Carson said.

Now anyone who isn't duty-bound to go insane over this because of partisan affiliations can see what Carson is talking about. We've all known people who had struggles in their lives. Maybe we tried to help them by giving them money, or advice, or by providing some other form of support. But what we found is that the one thing they could not escape was their own way of thinking, which always seemed to lead them right back to where they started. What will get you out of poverty is the right mindset of determination, a commitment to practice good habits, to learn as much as you can and to not under any circumstances accept that you are stuck in poverty with no way out. Do this relentlessly, and refuse to give up when the going seems difficult, and you will succeed. I know there are many people out there who have lived this and know it to be true. But say it to the left and all you're going to get is mocked:

Ben Carson said poverty is a state of mind.

Next month, I'm going to tell my landlord that I paid my rent with positive thinking!

— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) May 24, 2017

Say what?!!!! Explain a hungry child's state of mind. https://t.co/kyukif9zXF

— Valerie Jarrett (@ValerieJarrett) May 24, 2017

Ben Carson says that poverty is a "state of mind." You know what else is a state of mind? Always being a blithering idiot.

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) May 24, 2017

Notice how dishonestly the left deals with Carson's statement for the purpose of attacking it

Notice how dishonestly the left deals with Carson's statement for the purpose of attacking it. Obviously Carson is not blaming a child's state of mind for his present circumstances. A child is not responsible for feeding himself. But the mindset of the parent or parents (assuming any are in the picture) was likely formed during childhood, and the real tragedy in a situation like this is that the child is probably also learning the poverty mindset from the parents, thus putting him on a path to embrace it when he reaches adulthood. This is called generational poverty, and there are some very good liberal social scientists who understand it. But the left can't acknowledge it's a real thing if it's Ben Carson talking about it.

Carson is right when he says that your state of mind affects whether you rise above poverty

As for former Hillary staffer Zerlina Maxwell's mocking tweet about paying her rent with positive thinking, I would say this: You have to do certain things to earn the money to pay your rent. Are you more likely to succeed at those things if you come at them with a poverty mindset, or with a mindset focused on overcoming obstacles and achieving goals? If you're not already earning enough to pay your rent, then I'd say you're proving Ben Carson's point because your attitude is being reflected in your actions. It really is too bad the American left has decided to do nothing but mock and scoff here, because poverty is a difficult problem to solve and we could use serious engagement on the part of everyone, regardless of where they stand on the political spectrum. Carson is right when he says that your state of mind affects whether you rise above poverty. I don't know how any serious person could disagree with that. But these are not serious people, so I guess any of their own ideas on the matter will not be worth considering.

Dan Calabrese——Bio and Archives

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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