CNN’s Marc Lamont Hill: ‘The Greatest Lie In American History Is The Myth Of The Self-Made Person’

11.09.2015 | News | Daily Surge |

Liberal political commentator Marc Lamont Hill declared during his appearance on CNN Sunday that stories of self-made men like GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson are myths.

Hill was debating Ben Carson’s childhood story with conservative radio talk show host Ben Ferguson when host Poppy Harlow read a column in the Washington Post by Janell Ross about which speculates about why Carson is so popular with white Republicans.

“Carson and his team have to protect and vigorously defend the once-violent-and-poor, now delivered-and-rich story — hard. Carson’s up-from-nothing, saved-by-Jesus-and-personal-effort story works, primarily with white Republican voters. For some it affirms the conscious or unconscious connections (stereotypes) they draw between blackness, poverty and violence,” Harlow recited. “For others, it demonstrates that Jesus saves. And for others still, it is a narrative that says other, potentially costly social solutions to poverty and violence are not necessary.”

Ferguson gave his reaction and Harlow asked to Hill to weigh in.

“Marc, is this key to what she says in this column, “white Republican voter”? Harlow asked.

“Absolutely, absolutely, I mean, Ben Carson — the greatest lie in American history is the myth of the self-made person. Nobody makes themselves,” Hill said. “We’re all shaped by communities, by people who struggled and sacrificed for us, by governments that offer safety nets. And what Ben Carson is able to do essentially is reject all that stuff and say that I was saved—”

”The government didn’t make me, though, Marc,” Ferguson interjected.

Hill complained about being interrupted and continued.

“Ben Carson is able to say, ‘I was saved by Jesus and hard work.’ That allows him to reject a safety net. That allows him to push back against the expansion of a welfare state. That allows him to resist tax cuts for the middle class and poor and tax hikes for the wealthy. It allows him to create an entire narrative where people say, “Hey, wait a minute, why are you doing this?”’ Hill argued. “Ben Carson can say, ‘Hey, because I did it myself,’ and it makes white voters feel comfortable.”