Marianne Williamson is different from any other Democratic candidate for president-- so the rest of them, and the establishment media, are all ignoring her. She wasn't on 60 Minutes or on with Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O'Donnell... or even CNN. Marianne has reached millions of people through her books and lectures, including four New York Times number one bestsellers. More people know who she is than the Starbucks Guy let alone some random member of Congress who thinks he or she would make a good president. In 2016 Marianne was a strong backer of and surrogate for Bernie Sanders and many of her positions today are very similar to his platform. Watch the announcement video above from Monday night and you'll hear the way she and Bernie have been inspired by many of the same ideals and goals. She approaches the issues, though from a different perspective. "What is it with this generation," she asked her audience. "It is time for us to rise up, the way other generations have risen up... Sometimes people are so cynical these days, as though other generations owed us something. Cynism is just an excuse for not helping. And whining in not an option. And getting all traumatized about how bad things are-- we are not porcelain dolls... The problems of America are like opportunistic infections. They could not have happened if we had a stronger immune system. Each and every one of is is an immune system. You can't complain that the thieves of democracy are at the door when we left the windows open and we left the doors open. Too many of us were too cool to care; too many of us thought 'well I'm not really political'; too many of us actually use an ersatz version of spirituality to justify political disengagement. Too many of us thought, 'well other people will be political and other people will take care of it.' Well, let me tell you, they're taking care of it plenty! ... Our democracy has stage 4 cancer and all that the traditional politicians are offering is a topical ointment."
There is an underground of people in America who are seeking higher wisdom. We are rich and poor, progressive and conservative, young and old. And what we share at this moment is deep concern-- concern about the direction in which our country is headed, the assaults on our democratic foundations, and the erosion of our human values.My campaign for the presidency is dedicated to this search for higher wisdom. Its purpose is to create a new political possibility in America-- where citizens awaken, our hearts and minds are uplifted, and our democracy once more becomes a thing about which we can all feel proud.
It's not a coincidence that the #1 issue listed on her website issues page is Child Advocacy. "America," she wrote, "hides beneath its psychic underbelly, millions of suffering children."
When it comes to health, hunger, addiction, education, and safety – we are shirking our responsibilities as a nation of parents. Child advocacy is not being addressed with the attention and care it deserves. Too many of our children are endangered physically and/or emotionally; this is a humanitarian emergency.Most Americans probably don’t appreciate the level of chronic trauma experienced by our children today-- but the chronic trauma goes unaddressed. Millions of children lack consistent access to sufficient and nutritious food, millions go to school each day in schools that don’t have working toilets, millions lack health care, and millions go to schools lacking the school supplies needed to teach a child to read.The United States ranks at or near the bottom on almost every indicator regarding governmental policies toward children today. Our youth homicide rates are more than ten times that of other leading industrialized nations. Social scientists now describe “war zones”-- areas in violently charged homes and communities-- where levels of trauma and post-traumatic stress among children are similar to those experienced by returning vets.There is nothing “post” about the traumatic stress of our children when it is re-triggered every day.How is not addressing these issues more forcefully anything less than collective child neglect? We must rescue our children from such crises no differently than if we were rescuing them from natural disasters.A small child can’t feed, clothe, or educate herself. Children cannot vote against special interests that profit financially from activities that harm their health, deny them education, or profit off their problems. Advocacy for our children isn’t a charity issue, it’s a justice issue.The United States is the only country in the world that funds its education system through property taxes, thereby ensuring that children in a poorer neighborhood will get a poorer education. This is the way a veiled aristocratic system denies power to anyone but the wealthy.Since our government has increasingly aligned itself with the interests of corporate power above the needs of its people, it should surprise no one that the interests of children fall to the lowest spot on its priority list. Youth advocacy groups are no match for the economic clout accorded to corporate interests.And this is hardly good economics. If our goal were true, long-range economic planning, there would not be one American in early childhood with anything less than the best-quality health care, education, and food.The way to take care of our economy tomorrow is by taking care of our children today.To ask for that doesn’t mean we’re asking for too much. There is no lack of money to do this. There is simply too much money going elsewhere.We now know that a child’s brain is infinitely more flexible, emotionally intelligent, and capable of learning and retaining information than an adult’s. The neuroplasticity in the brain of a child is at its height before the age of eight.The beginning of any system is all-important, and that is what childhood is. Once a beginning is set, things are far more difficult to change afterward.As long as there is a dearth of women in positions of political power, this chronic tilting of American priorities toward short-term economic interests as opposed to humanitarian values is understandable. As long as women are basically invisible, children are invisible as well.But women are taking more and more power with every election. A Williamson Administration would be not only a victory for women, but it would also be a victory for our children, and for our future as a nation.As president, I would advocate for economic justice for women.• Proper prenatal care, regardless of ability to pay.• Proper healthcare for pregnant women.• Maternal and Paternal leave.• Affordable childcare and Universal pre-K.• Elementary schools and secondary schools of high caliber for every American student.• Substance abuse treatment and family counseling for families in need.• Mental health services for children.• And best practices of all kinds in schools and in communities that properly tend to children.The long term benefits to these investments are incalculable. But that’s not why we need to make such investments. We need to do them for our very survival.
There are 20 other planks in her platform, from Climate Change, Health Care and Criminal Justice to Immigration, LGBTQ Rights, Gun Control and the Economy. "Every generation," she said, must discover God for itself. Every generation has to fall in love with democracy for itself. This is not something that any one person can just go to Washington and make happen. New paradigm leadership is not about saying 'I'll do it; send me to Washington.' New paradigm leadership is where the leader is holding the space for the brilliance of others... It's about empowering all of us."
