Author Marianne Williamson officially announced her second run for president in March 2023. This is her second bid, as she withdrew in 2019 in favour of Bernie Sanders. In the same year she published her last book, Politics of Love: A Handbook of a New American Revolution. At present three of them are in the race, with Joe Biden, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and her. Marianne’s support, especially among young people, has soared in recent weeks. On TikTok, 500,000 people started following her almost instantly, but perhaps even more interestingly, more and more Republicans are showing up at her campaign events.
And no wonder because listening to Marianne is good, uplifting and hopeful. She voices the thoughts and feelings that ordinary people are talking about, highlighting, and reinforcing that people are ‘not stupid’. We don’t need to be treated like children by politicians, everyone is an adult capable of making decisions, living responsibly and expects the politicians who represent them to reflect this.
One of Marianne’s strongest messages is that the biggest threat to the Democrats in 2024 is not Trump himself, but the many voters who have turned away from politics and lost faith. She believes that she is the only one who can now appeal to disillusioned voters on both sides and convince them that there is a reason to vote.
The sea of hopelessness
It is very hard to question the status quo, „this government is of the corporations, by the corporations and for corporations”, rather than a government of the people, for the people and by the people, as the original Abraham Lincoln quote goes. According to her, there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats, the leading politicians of both are merely puppets captured by what she calls the tyrannical matrix of corporations – the big pharma-oil-food-agricultural-technology-corporate network. She is currently the only one of the Democratic candidates who can credibly and independently make this case, because he can see exactly how the ‘sea of hopelessness’ has swollen around the increasingly wealthy top 15-20%. This is how she talks about it on her campaign website:
„Has the system improved economically in the last two years? In some ways, yes. But in fundamental ways, no. It’s now baked into the cake that our corrupted political system is at the service of the few at the expense of the many. And it will not disrupt itself.
One in four Americans still live with medical debt. A third of America’s workforce work for less than $15 an hour; half can’t afford a one bedroom apartment. Half our seniors live on less than $25,000 a year. The United States has the highest poverty rate of any advanced democracy.
If you’re in the top 20 per cent of American earners, the economy works well. And for that we can be grateful. But that 20 per cent live on an island that is surrounded by a sea of economic despair. Within that sea, a myriad of personal and societal dysfunctions breed easily – from chronic anxiety and addiction to ideological capture by genuinely psychotic, even fascist elements of our society.
We must respond to this situation, for it represents an unsustainable disquiet.
Franklin Roosevelt said we wouldn’t have to worry about a fascist takeover in America so long as democracy delivered on its promises. Yes, there is a genuine fascist threat in America today. But we can’t just fight the disease; we must build up our societal immune system, as well. That means we must build up our people.
We must provide a massive infusion of economic hope and opportunity to the over 70 per cent of Americans who say they feel no economic hope, who simply do what they can to survive what they know is an inherently unjust economic system. Their dreams, and the dreams of their children, are limited. They are depressed and angry about it, and if those feelings are not assuaged – if their needs are not met – then America will be in even bigger trouble than we are now. That is why I am running for president. „
Attacks from all sides
With this clarity of vision and her ability to communicate what is in her heart, Marianne has immediately come under attack. Most often criticised for her lack of political background, but also very easy to mock for her spiritual journey, some have called her a magical gazer or a crystal talker. At one time, she was also a spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey, and this entrée has aroused serious prejudice among those for whom spirituality is a buzzword. Yet for her, too, this path is one of deep and genuine transformation, of honest and compassionate confrontation and reconciliation with the past to walk a true path based on universal values for the benefit of ourselves and our communities. And that it can do so is demonstrated by the thousands of people with whom it has gone through this process over the decades.
On the dark side of spiritual communities
She also makes no bones about the fact that most of these communities are far from the true path, offering only „bypasses” where, in a false ascension, all one can talk about is how beautiful and loving everything is. Not everything is, in fact! And if we don’t face this, we unwittingly become part of the side that reinforces the black side by keeping its distance. Not only our own shadows, but also the collective shadows, must be confronted and consciously acted upon for the sake of our communities. She also speaks of the fact that the world of hyper-capitalism is dying, although it is apparently and increasingly loudly trying to show itself one last time, but at the same time a new one is being born, one whose principles are based on real democracy, on restoring the health of our planet, on securing the future of our children. He also quotes the Dalai Lama: „If we want to save the world, we need a plan. And if we want to implement the plan, we have to meditate.”
Indeed, in all this confusion in Babel, in this plethora of fake news, one must be very conscious. She also finds it hard to take the attacks on her, but decades of meditation help her not to react out of instinct, out of resentment, which would reinforce the vicious circle. She also has the strength and time to regain her peace of mind with which she can articulate her responses with elegance and generosity, focusing on her purpose.
The power of love
„Power, properly understood, is the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political, or economic changes. In this sense power is not only desirable but necessary in order to implement the demands of love and justice. One of the greatest problems of history is that the concepts of love and power are usually contrasted as polar opposites. Love is identified with a resignation of power and power with a denial of love. What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” – often quotes Martin Luther King, to support her focus on child hunger (currently 13 million!), family child support, free high school, and medical care. The guaranteed minimum wage and taxing the richest also feature more prominently in her programme.
This is what a Mother in the White House would look like: if the children are hungry, we have to feed them. Period.
Chances?
That really is the music of the future. But what is certain is that more and more disillusioned young people and hesitant Republicans are standing up for her, not only as a private citizen but also as a public figure, giving her popularity a further and further boost.
Her unique ability is that she knows how to get out of chaos and grow through it to a healthy, stable life on an individual level. The social process is no different, she openly admits: to heal America’s soul, it must face the 250 years of slavery and subsequent racism. Black families must be compensated not only morally but also financially. I can only hope that they will soon get round to making similar reparations for the extermination of the indigenous Indians, because there is work to be done there too.
Marianne says that the scissors are now beginning to open on the more desperate side of society. A large, broad layer is sliding down the spiral, living an increasingly hopeless daily life, but also the layer that has always been able to pull together to put things right is gaining strength. She cites the example of the suffragettes and abolitionists, who were no better off then, but who were able to write a new history: „We have the historical memory and consciousness to make a self-correction,” she says.
When Steve Jobs was asked what he looks for in a candidate when he wants to hire him as a leader, he replied: ‘Competencies are important, but they are not enough. For me, the most important thing is to find out if he really loves Apple. Because if he does, he will make decisions that are in the long-term best interests of the company.”
Marianne, we are crossing our fingers for you. The whole world needs a Mother in the White House, badly.