Marianne Williamson

  Marianne Williamson rose to fame as one of the premiere teachers of A Course In Miracles.  This is a new age spiritual text that the authors claim to be channelled directly from Jesus Christ.  When I was studying the text, I would explain it to people as Jesus came to author, Helen Schucman and allowed her to channel him so he could set the record straight in a way.  Basically he wanted to let us know we had misinterpreted what he said in the past, and this is what he actually wanted us to know.

A Course in Miracles is a tough read.  It is written in a sort of poetic language, almost Shakespearean.  After you read a sentence it can take a bit of processing to be able to understand it.  Marianne Williamson studied the text and was able to teach it in a way that is easier to understand for most people.  Her first book about A Course in Miracles, A Return to Love, was a best seller, making her famous in new age circles and landing her on Oprah.

After her fame she would travel around as a speaker on The Course, wrote many more books and has had a large following ever since.  She is an amazing charismatic speaker who can move a crowd with ease.  In 2014, she used this talent and following to cross over into politics and run for congress in California and then for president in 2020 and again in 2024.  She dropped out of this year’s race about a month ago and just announced last week that she is “unsuspending” her presidential campaign.  In a letter to the voters she wrote, “My ability to arouse in Americans the angels of our better nature is the most powerful antidote to Trump’s dark and authoritarian vision. I will respond to the cult-like personality of Donald Trump with a light-filled vision of hope and possibility. We will become once again a ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people’ at a time when corporate interests have taken Washington hostage.”

 So let’s take a look at Williamson as a presidential candidate.  Here are some of her policy positions…

Healthcare: Her campaign website states, “We need a single-payer healthcare system. The WHOLE HEALTH PLAN expands the healthcare debate, tackling not only how to pay for healthcare but also how to provide greater opportunities for health. The problem in America is not just that our current healthcare system fails to adequately treat sickness. The problem is our current economic system, based as it is on an inordinate focus on short-term profit, actually increases the probability of sickness.”

Immigration: Her campaign website states, “Immigrants are not our enemies. I don’t know any progressive who is arguing for open borders, but we are arguing for open hearts. This is so important to remember today as immigrants are often viciously scapegoated. Scapegoating immigrants, particularly Mexicans and Central Americans, is a deliberate dehumanization technique. Dehumanizing others has always been the required first step leading toward history’s collective atrocities. This is not the first time dehumanization has reared its head in our nation, and we must stand up against it now as other generations stood up against it in their time.” 

Criminal Justice: Her campaign website states, “America’s criminal justice system creates just results for some people, but it is terribly unjust for far too many others. Research has shown that our history of ‘tough on crime’ laws have been directly responsible for America becoming the most incarcerated nation in the industrialized world. These laws disproportionately affect minorities and low-income communities. And because we do so little to rehabilitate those who are incarcerated, we have created a revolving door at our jails and prisons. Within five years of their release, three-quarters of formerly incarcerated persons are arrested once again, usually for minor infractions. Criminal justice has become both a political and moral disaster.”

Economy: Her campaign website states, “A system that does not feel, which has no sense of ethical responsibility to people or planet, is a dangerous guide to America’s future. Living for our principles will provide more economic security than living for short-term corporate interests can ever provide. Our government should not be run like a business; it should be run like a family, where taking care of each other, and taking care of our home, are the values that guide us. America can create a care economy.”

Corona virus response: Her campaign website states, “According to studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), our country’s inadequate response to COVID-19 has resulted in over 1.1 million deaths and on average over 3200 people hospitalized daily. This means that the pandemic should return to status as a national emergency. Long Covid has caused both cognitive and physical impairments, and we must ensure those affected are protected in their workplace, as well as with the potential impacts to their housing and healthcare needs. As a country, we cannot compromise on relieving the trauma inflicted upon working people, and disabled and otherwise marginalized communities.” 

Abortion: Her campaign website states, “Regarding abortion rights, I am one hundred percent pro-choice. I believe the decision of whether or not to have an abortion lies solely with a pregnant woman, according to the dictates of her conscience and in communion with the God of her understanding. I trust the moral decision-making of the American woman, and I do not feel the government has a right to deny or restrict her decisions.” 

Sex and gender issues: Her campaign website states, “Our Declaration of Independence holds that the inalienable rights of, ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,’ are endowed to ALL humans by their creator at birth. In 2015, marriage equality became the law of the land, yet there is still no federal law explicitly protecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities from discrimination. These communities, therefore, do not enjoy the full breadth of freedoms that this country espouses to guarantee to each and every citizen. This is in direct violation of our founding principles.”

Williamson’s policies and rhetoric align with social work values as she calls for single payer healthcare, strengthening labor rights, halting new fossil fuel projects, and tuition-free public college. She’s spoken on reparations owed to Black citizens, the flint water crisis and stated that she reentered the race in part because we need someone who is serious about a ceasefire and aide in Palestine. A way her history aligns with social work values is the program she created in 1989 to deliver food to people suffering with life threatening illness.  Because of the AIDS crisis at the time the program directed much of their focus on getting food to people suffering with AIDS.  In 1999 Project Angel served its 2 millionth meal.

 Williamson is doing as well as she is because she has been able to reach young voters on social media.  If looking at polls of young people she is definitely getting enough votes to be relevant.  That is probably partly why the mainstream media doesn’t cover her. Mainstream media is going to stick to the same few issues and the status quo.

As much as mainstream media sees her as fringe, Williamson clearly does not want to completely dismantle the current system.  She wants to improve it and keep it in place; she’s definitely a capitalist and pro military. The labor rights policies Williamson wants are to strengthen capitalism and she has turned a blind eye to imperialism, stating that she wants “robust and equal support” for both Israel and Palestine.