I’ve never liked getting“political” in this newsletter, at least not overtly. I’ve talked about activism and culture war topics and the news, and I may have even hinted at a disdain for both sides of the political spectrum once or twice. Still, I try my hardest not to make this newsletter all about preaching my personal politics. To be honest, I find politics all rather boring, it’s all the same stuff year after year, the same hot-button issues levied against voters to keep them voting, the same slow bureaucracy that never seems to be able to get any decent laws passed when we need them to be—tedium ad infinitum. I like to think I used to be interested in politics, back in high school one of my favorite classes was Government, but growing a bit older and growing a bit wiser sadly spoiled that interest completely. It wasn’t until very recently that I saw a glimmer of hope through my distaste, a beacon of hope for us all, a light reaching out through the darkness to tell me that maybe there is hope for the future, and that was Marianne Williamson announcing her candidacy for President of the United States.
That’s right folks, author, activist, and former cabaret singer Marianne Williamson is running for the Democratic nomination for President… again! And the best part is that I’m going to vote for her, I’m going to vote for Marianne Williamson so hard that the ballot box won’t be able to walk for a week. I’m voting for Marianne Williamson and there is nothing you can do to stop me.
Perhaps one of my biggest regrets in my adult life is voting for Joe Biden in 2020. *Gasp* *Shock* *Awe* It’s not because I loved Donald Trump or wanted to vote for any of the third-party candidates, I just had no intention of voting at all. I was going to let the 2020 election wash over me like a rainstorm and just hold my head down until I got out of it unharmed. But pressures from friends, social media, strangers on the street handing out flyers, forces on all sides convinced me that I had to vote. “This is the most important election in history!” “It’s your civic duty!” “Your vote matters!” There was a cacophony of voices at all times screaming at me and everyone else urging, begging, pleading with us to vote so we could get that vile orange man out of office.
So I voted. I voted for Joseph Robinette Biden. Good ol’ Sleepy Joe. I voted for a man who I did not have faith in as President (I was a Bernie Bro in 2020), and a party I was already beginning to become disillusioned with, and as I cast my ballot I couldn’t help but feel I was also casting away my integrity along with it. I simply didn’t want to vote, I told people I wasn’t going to vote, so when I ended up voting I felt like not only was I a liar, but a traitor to my very own beliefs and convictions. Sure, the Presidential Election of 2020 was an important one, but the rhetoric going around, predominantly in left-wing spaces, was that Joe Biden was the “lesser of two evils,” and I didn’t want to vote for the lesser of two evils. While it might be my “right” to vote, it is also my right to forfeit any right I please if I feel like I have no use for it, and I didn’t feel like I had any use for voting.
The bottom line is this: I think voting is kinda fake. During the 2016 election, I witnessed firsthand Hillary Clinton, the candidate whom (at the time) I was rooting for, somehow lost to Donald Trump despite winning the popular vote. After he assumed office I and everyone else sat by while Democrats peddled their Russiagate conspiracy theory that Donald Trump “stole” the election from Clinton using some nebulous Russian hacking. For Trump’s entire presidency we were told that he was illegitimate, and just an unlikely victor in this game we’ve been playing for centuries.
The 2016 election served to be a mere primer for the 2020 election when, from the get-go, things seemed to be off. The Democratic primaries saw about a million people running for the nomination, but Bernie and Biden seemed to be ahead of the pack. I watched for the second time as establishment Democrats weaseled the nomination out of Bernie Sanders’ hands, making his policies seem radical, making his supporters seem like a horde of adult man-babies, and opting to champion Joe Biden, a man that vowed to bring just more of the same. Finally, now a willing participant after voting, I watched as Joe Biden won the Presidency, and then as the Republican Party insist on the very thing they were accused of doing in 2016. It’s all just an endless cycle of nonsense, with people on both sides telling me it’s fake. If the electoral system is broken, why would I want to participate?
It is now 2023, we are a little over two years into the Biden presidency, and an election year is just around the corner. It’s looking like it’s going to be Biden v. Trump, yet again, so finally I’ll get to keep my promise of not voting. You see, a sitting President is rarely challenged by their own party for the nomination, it is generally assumed that they will take up the mantle and run again for a second term. Yet lo and behold a challenger has entered the arena: Marianne Williamson, a woman who has already fought and lost for this same position, but this time it’s even harder.
Marianne Williamson ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020, where she was mostly met with laughter and unseriousness. Before that, in 2014, she ran an unsuccessful campaign as an Independent for the House of Representatives. And before that, she was an author, an activist, and Oprah’s spiritual advisor. I was first drawn to Williamson when videos of her at the Democratic debates went viral on Twitter, in particular a video of her talking about harnessing “love for political purposes.” The video, of course, sounds a bit silly, but she has an undeniable charisma, and I couldn’t help but be drawn to what she was saying. Why, yes! I do think we should be harnessing love for political purposes! Others, namely establishment Democrats, weren’t as impressed, and she was written off as a New Age guru who had no right to run.
So, let’s get to the issues at hand: what does Marianne Williamson stand for? Williamson believes in a Medicare for All model of universal health care and posits her own “Whole Health Plan” that serves to curb the forces of large corporations poisoning food, water, and air leading to major health problems. She believes in a return to the principles of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, large economic reform that serves to empower an increasingly weak middle class. She is anti-big-business, and against its interference in American politics. She believes in universal child care, free public colleges and universities, paid maternity and paternity leave, and an increase to the federal minimum wage. In her campaign announcement video, she states that these are all “moderate positions” in any other advanced democracy, and yet in the US these are policies that the Democratic party shies away from. All-in-all, Williamson is very similar to Bernie Sanders, especially when it comes to economics, but her background gives her a more spiritual edge.
Establishment Democrats insist on using Williamson’s spirituality against her. Just the other day White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about Marianne Williamson’s campaign, and in response she was haughty and dismissive, conjuring imagery of crystal balls and auras. She openly mocked Williamson, a woman who has never mentioned crystal balls or auras, simply because she dares to do something most Democrats cannot do: believe in something.
Marianne Williamson was born Jewish, but her faith stems mostly from the book A Course in Miracles, a book on the subject of modern spirituality that combines elements of Christianity with New Age writings, that she discovered in 1976. Much of Williamson’s more “out there” rhetoric derives from this book, the clip of her talking about harnessing love for political purposes is a prime example of this. I have not read the book, nor do I particularly intend on doing so, but the message of the book seems pretty clear: fear is what stands in your way, fear is the opposite of love, and love is a miracle. I’m being incredibly reductive, of course, but the nitty-gritty is simple, and I can’t say that it’s not appealing. Even if you reject the more Christian elements (like that the author received the book via Jesus Christ, or the book’s mention of the Holy Spirit), the message is universal, one of love and peace, and one that transcends personal spiritual practice. To quote Williamson, “A conversion to Christ is not a conversion to Christianity. It is a conversion to a conviction of the heart. The Messiah is not a person but a point of view.”
Williamson’s outspoken spirituality has been the main reason for her success. From starting as a lecturer at the Philosophical Research Society in Southern California to her career as an author, all the way to her career, yes, as Oprah’s spiritual advisor (here she is talking to Oprah about downloading possibility like a file on a computer). In 1998 Williamson even took up a job as a pastor at the Unity Church in Warren, Michigan where she had a congregation of over 2,000 people, with 50,000 more watching on their TVs at home. People flock to her, and it’s easy, for me at least, to see why. She has a certain way with words, a stage presence, and an easy-to-digest message of love and fulfillment that, as she would tell you, can be attained.
Because Williamson preaches about love and peace, and downloading possibility like a file on a computer she’s labeled a quack. She’s a glorified self-help author with no real political experience that has no business running for President. But what do establishment Democrats believe in? Sure, most of them are religious, but above God, above love, above whatever they “pray” to they believe in their institution and its power. The Democratic Party, as an entity, believes in dangling the threat of safety and security over voters’ heads to guarantee votes and ensure their own position. “If you don’t vote blue, abortion is out the window!” Well, I voted blue, and look where we are now. Marianne Williamson says that the Democratic Party should be the party of love, when, in fact, it is instead quite literally the party of fear. While I might not agree completely with all of Williamson’s personal spiritual beliefs, I do believe that Williamson believes that a better America is achievable, and fuck it, I believe that it just might be achievable through harnessing love for political purposes. Sue me, it seems more solid than what we’ve got going on right now.
Donald Trump won the election in 2016 because he wasn’t a Republican’s Republican, he wasn’t business as usual, and he wasn’t trying to be. People liked that Trump was an outsider, they liked that he talked how he wanted to talk, and they also liked that he was a “self-made” millionaire. Joe Biden won in 2020 because people were practically shitting themselves every second of every day worried about what was going to happen if Trump won a second term. People were so terrified that they voted, and practically forced others to vote, for a million-year-old man with early signs of dementia to assume the position of Leader of the Free World. And I get it, I don’t know what four more years of Trump would’ve looked like, Biden hasn’t been the worst President in history– even Marianne Williamson said, “We all owe [him] a debt of gratitude for defeating President Trump in 2020” – but it’s not like he’s a golden goose.
It looks like Donald Trump will be running, once again, for President in 2024 (and if not him, then who? DeSantis?). I can’t say for certain if the Democrats will be so lucky as to beat him a second time with politics as usual, but, frankly, I don’t like their odds. The Democrats can’t rest on their laurels forever, they can’t keep fighting with the same establishment goons as they have for the past 50 years, they won’t survive it, and neither will America. If the Republican Party wants to fight with an outsider, someone with barely any experience but a message that resonates, then why don’t the Democrats do the same? Instead of bringing a pillowcase filled with raspberry jam to the knife fight, why don’t they bring a knife- or, better yet, a fucking gun? Marianne Williamson might not be the champion that anyone was expecting, but if given the chance she could be the champion we deserve.
I’m not a nihilistic person, I don’t believe America is forever doomed to be a depressing hellscape that I’m afraid to bring children into. I believe that change is possible, I believe that change is achievable, and I believe that change will beget a better America, but change is necessary. Establishment Democrat political claptrap doesn’t do it for me anymore, and it hasn’t done it for me for a long time. I don’t want to partake in a system that is dedicated to more of the same, and I can’t and won’t put my eggs into the basket of stagnation, they just won’t fucking hatch. Marianne Williamson believes in change, sweeping change, radical change, and I believe in her. She’s not a quack, she’s not a loon, but most importantly she’s not more of the same. So, come voting day (whenever the hell that is) I will be voting, and I’ll be voting for her as my Democratic nominee for President. And even if she doesn’t win the nomination, and she might not, at least I can say I voted with my heart for someone I truly believed in.
ugh holden u converted me