WHY I'M RUNNING
THE RIGHT MEDICINE.
Today, America's heartbeat is in a code red in need of a defibrillator to shock it back to life.
Many of us feel like we're in the adjacent operating room, armed with insights and already scrubbed up but reluctant to leave our quiet, serene setting for the chaos next door. But for me, stepping into the political arena is the right thing to do.
In our time of need, we want to be surrounded by people of action more than armchair intellectuals, because a great surgeon never censors ideas and never shuts off the light that shines on our wounds, which is what happened while our nation battled the pandemic.
Witnessing our nation's failings of Covid, I learned that when you mix politics and medicine, you get politics instead of solutions. That's why I am running for United States Senate to help fix the problems and to help us all heal.
I spent my formative years preparing for a lifetime of challenging surgeries. This comes with the emotional fortitude to soothe the anxious looks of trusting relatives seeking safety for their loved ones that are being wheeled into the operating theatre. I expected my days to be measured by countless people saved, broken hearts repaired, and personal satisfaction earned in the quest to give people a second chance.
But sometimes, your life changes when you're in the middle of making plans.
Growing up as an immigrant's kid, I witnessed my family's sacrifices to thrive in the USA. My father grew up dirt poor (literally sleeping on a dirt floor) and loved this country as much as anyone already here because he saw the deep darkness of the alternatives. I built on these formidable lessons, as my career has arced from surgeon to hosting my own TV show, with a 60-episode stint in between as the health expert on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Two of the most important lessons were communicating tough stuff to the public (while still having them respect you) and the challenging reality that people act based on how they feel, not what they know.
My upbringing and my career have uniquely positioned me to make difficult decisions to help people in need. I will always remember the looks of the relatives, full of hope and trust and, yes, fear. I see that look today in so many people, expressed in so many ways, and I want to take the actions that can help restore the heartbeat of America.
The urgency of my decision crystalized during the pandemic. At least half a million American people have died from the virus, a devastating toll for families and communities. What also hurts is that many of those deaths were preventable.
Covid-19 became an excuse for government and elite thinkers who controlled the means of communication, especially social media and our major news agencies, to suspend debate. Dissenting opinions from leading scholars, even Nobel Laureates, were cancelled and ridiculed so their ideas could not be disseminated. Doctors were forbidden from prescribing legal medications for the first time in our nation's history. I tried to fund clinical trials to re-purpose an already widely used drug for possible benefits against Covid-19, but they were banned. Instead, government mandated policies that caused unnecessary suffering.
The American public was patronized and misled instead of empowered. We were told to docilely lock down and let those in charge take care of the rest. When we tested positive for the virus, we were also told to wait at home until we got sick enough to warrant hospitalization not a typical medical protocol. Elites with yards told those without yards to stay inside where the virus was more likely to spread. And the arrogant, closed minded people in charge closed our schools, shut down our businesses and took away our freedom.
America should have been the world leader on how to beat the pandemic. Instead, we were not. That's not the America my parents came to. That's not the one I grew up in. That's not the one I want to leave behind.
In this emergency, we needed capable leaders ready to act and we didn't get that. The entire situation angered me. Sometimes, in medical emergencies, we will need to operate with swift and decisive action. Sometimes, we can use less invasive medications to correct course. Sometimes, we will use preventive health to stop problems from even emerging in the first place.
We need to use all of our tools to get the job done in society too. With our basic institutions at risk and the nation in a very precarious position we need to bravely make accurate diagnoses, and take bold, sometimes unpopular, steps before we can heal. And we must confront those who want to fundamentally change the very soul of America.
In the end, our generation needs to fight, for the benefit of our descendants to leave them a better situation than we inherited. We have fumbled the baton we're supposed to pass to our children. And I want to pick up that baton and start running toward our promising future.
I'm running for U.S. Senate to reignite our divine spark, bravely fight for freedom, and will tell it like it is.
