Letter: Dr. Ben Carson will be the next U.S. president

I read the op-ed by Nicholas Kristof about Dr. Ben Carson. The Tri-City Herald editorial board thinks that a left-leaning impression of Carson is fodder for the Tri-Cities.

Following an accurate portrayal of Dr. Carson’s inspiring background, Kristof launches into an unfounded opinion that Dr. Carson will lose upon close scrutiny. Kristof talks about Carson’s so-called over-the-top statements. If one examines each statement completely as Dr. Carson articulated them, they are all accurate — even if they make liberals uncomfortable.

Kristof attempts to equate social programs from the 1960s with the “goodies” of today; there is no equivalency. Help programs, done right, have a positive effect. However, our federal government does not have a good record of doing programs right. Governmental waste and abuse opens this field of candidates to an intelligent, high achieving outsider like Dr. Carson.

Dr. Carson’s outsider status is a huge plus. Grassroots support for Dr. Carson is underestimated — 4.6 million Facebook followers, more than $20 million raised in October from small donations from more than 800,000 just plain folks. He has a ground game in all early states and even in Washington.

Watch out for the next U.S. president — Dr. Ben Carson.

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Letter: Dr. Ben Carson will be the next U.S. president."