Every Generation Must Discover Its Passion For Democracy For Itself

Marianne Williamson has been taking the first steps towards a presidential run. She has set up an exploratory committee, released a video to go with that (above) and has been spending time in Iowa-- the interview in Des Moines (below) certainly gets out a message which is far more policy-oriented than we're hearing from other candidates who claim to be running-- and a message from her unique, holistic perspective. In this era of a profoundly anti-democratic Trump Regime, "are we committed," she asked rhetorically, "to government of the people, by the people and for the people. If you are then you don't have an Environmental Protection Agency that does more to protect the corporate profits of the fossil fuel industry and chemical companies than to protect the health and wellbeing of the American people and the earth on which we live. If we have a government of the people, by the people and for the people, the your healthcare system is designed more in terms of what would really aid the people than what would serve insurance companies."

Because she's not part of the corrupt DC cauldron of establishment politics she can-- and does-- get right to the heart of problems that are blocking progressive for the people of this country. "Because of the nefarious and undo influence of money on our political system, our politics has mainly become a system of legalized bribery. And corporate donors and financial institutions have more influence on politicians, too many times, than on their constituency." A government for the people was a radical notion 200 years ago. It's a radical notion in Trump's America.

In this past cycle, Marianne traveled around the country helping progressive candidates like Jenny Marshall, Derrick Crowe and Laura Moser by introducing them to her own followers and by helping them raise money. I believe the last time she spent much time in Iowa was as a Bernie surrogate in 2016. Was asked her why she's running even though he's probably running again as well. Her response was that "[e]ach person has to answer to the call of their own conscience. No one knows what’s going to happen in the future, or what would be a better long-term strategy for progressives. I have been and continue to be a huge supporter of Bernie Sanders. If we both run for president, I will not think of myself as running against anyone; I will be running with them."

On Sunday Rekha Basu, reporting for the Des Moines Register, wrote that Marianne is telling Iowa voters that authoritarian corporatism is threatening to erode our democracy. "Marianne Williamson has developed a following of millions over 35 years of teaching and writing about spirituality, the divine and miracles," she wrote. "One indication is her 2.5 million Twitter followers. Now as she explores a presidential run, her challenge could be turning that fan base into political support." Her are some excerpts from her interview with Marianne:

Our country is living under the threat of an authoritarian corporatism that is eroding our democracy. It's much bigger than one man. Seeing our challenge as nothing but defeating one man is naive. You can't triumph over anti-democratic practices only through elections. We need to create a massive awakening among the American people and I think that's already happening. Our task is to harness the power of love and dignity and decency in the people.

We're not going to see Citizens United overturned by the Supreme Court any time soon. But there are efforts on a state-by-state basis to push back. (She mentioned the Move to Amend effort to undo the court's ruling allowing corporations to pour money into political campaigns as a form of free speech.) The change has to begin in the minds of the American people. Our government has become a system of legalized bribery. The powers of the U.S. government are more in the service of corporate profits than advocacy on behalf of the American people. There is a culture of economic despair that is unaddressed by the elites on the left and right. Coupled with under-education, it's a prescription for fascism.

Where I feel the #MeToo movement is obviously an awakening of the American woman is that women have grown to recognize the significance of sisterhood. That doesn't mean women would necessarily support my candidacy. (But) partly because of the #MeToo movement, there's been a delayed reaction to the misogyny involved in the campaign against Hillary Clinton. A lot of internalized misogyny has been obliterated.

In the letter she sent her supporters, she noted that "At a time when fear has been harnessed for political purposes, our task is to turn wisdom and love into a political force. The lower inclinations of human nature cannot be defeated by politics alone, but they can be overridden. Our political circumstances are not simply a product of external policies, but even more so of internal dynamics like fear, desperation, hope and yearning. The mindset of the current political establishment neither acknowledges nor understands the deeper emotional and psychological rivers that underlie political forces on the move today. I do. In order for us to transform the crises we are facing now, we need a candidate whose understanding of our internal landscape is as expert as their understanding of traditional politics. As someone who has had a 35-year career addressing the personal crises of millions of individuals, I feel I have a unique qualification to help create the spiritual awakening that will transform the crisis we are facing now. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., 'We need a quantitative shift in our circumstances as well as a qualitative shift in our souls.' And I have experience with both."