Carson goes off script at RNC to talk of Clinton, Alinsky – and Lucifer

by Gregory Tomlin, |
Former Republican Presidential Candidate Dr. Ben Carson speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 19, 2016. | REUTERS/Jim Young

CLEVELAND (Christian Examiner) – Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson started his speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland with an assertion that he was not "politically correct." By the end of the speech, he was proving that to be true.

Carson went off teleprompter to discuss the philosophy of secular progressivism that underpins the worldview of presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Carson said voters should look at each candidate in the race and examine their history.

This is particularly important with Clinton, he said, because "she will be appointing people who will have an effect on us for generations, and America may never recover from that."

This was someone she greatly admired and that affected all of our philosophies subsequently. Now, interestingly enough, let me tell you something about Saul Alinsky. He wrote a book called Rules for Radicals. On the dedication page, it acknowledges Lucifer, the original radical that gained his own kingdom

It was at that point that Carson, by all accounts, diverted from his prepared remarks.

Carson said Clinton's philosophy was based on the teachings of Saul Alinsky, a Marxist agitator in the 1960s and early 1970s who popularized progressive disruption of democracy in his book Rules for Radicals. Alinsky was a mentor to Clinton, Carson said, and she wrote her senior thesis on him and his movement.

"This was someone she greatly admired and that affected all of our philosophies subsequently. Now, interestingly enough, let me tell you something about Saul Alinsky. He wrote a book called Rules for Radicals. On the dedication page, it acknowledges Lucifer, the original radical that gained his own kingdom," Carson said.

That dedication was removed in later editions of the book.

"Now think about that. This is a nation where our founding document, the Declaration of Independence talks about certain unalienable rights that come from our Creator. This is a nation where our Pledge of Allegiance says we are 'one Nation under God.' This is a nation where every coin in our pocket and every bill in our pocket says, 'In God we trust.' So are we willing to elect someone as president who has their role model someone who acknowledges Lucifer? Think about that," Carson said.

Clinton did, in fact, have a working relationship with Alinsky. A letter written to Alinsky in 1971 by then Hillary Rodham indicated repeated meetings between the two. It also mentioned her expectation of Alinsky's Rules for Radical being published soon – "or has it come and I somehow missed the fulfillment of Revelation?"

"You are being rediscovered again as the New Left-type politicos are finally beginning to think seriously about the hard work and mechanics of organizing," Clinton wrote. "I seem to have survived law school, slightly bruised, with my belief in and zest for organizing intact."

When Alinsky's secretary responded to Clinton, she provided dates on which Alinsky would be in San Francisco for a possible meeting with the recent law school graduate. Clinton was in the Berkeley area at the time.

Carson said at the conclusion of his speech that the same secular progressive agenda advocated by Alinsky and Clinton is "antithetical to the principles of the founding of this nation. If we continue to allow them to take God out of our lives, God will remove himself from us. We will not be blessed and our nation will go down the tubes. We will be responsible for that. We don't want that to happen."