Marianne Williamson 2024 Presidential Run
Since late January the independent news media has been reporting that Marianne Williamson may be running for president in 2024. This week she officially announced that she was running. Biden’s request to make South Carolina the first State to hold early primaries opens the door for Marianne Williamson to run in New Hampshire. As predicted by independent news media, her run is not being taken seriously by the mainstream news media.
When a reporter asked about the White House’s reaction to Ms. Williamson’s announcement, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, responded that she can’t ‘read Ms. Williamson’s ‘aura’ and wanted to ‘consult her crystal ball,’ which set the reporters off in peels of laughter. The derision was uncalled for. In addition, several news organizations: CNN, ABC, USNEWS, CNBC, have curiously used the same adjective, “long shot” in their headlines, to describe her presidential run. Is it a news headline or an editorial? A news headline might simply have been, ‘Marianne Williamson announces her campaign for president.’ She is getting a fair amount of attention for someone who they are suggesting should be considered a joke.
She is not coming for Joe Biden. She respects him and the job he has done. She is challenging him, because this is a democracy, or so we say, and she is entitled to an opportunity to improve on his record. Why does that make her a threat or a joke? Of course, people are free to express their opinions, but major news organizations are not people. When you are a large media outlet with a national audience, you have a lot of authority in the psyche of the public. Your words carry weight. You must be clear to your audience whether you are reporting news or expressing your opinion.
There has been a lot of discussion about how close we are to losing our democracy by the very people who are trash talking Ms. Williamson’s run. I guess presidential runs are beyond the democratic process. If you are not part of the machine picking winners and losers, you are an automatic loser. For those who rely heavily on their political savvy and their ability to think strategically, there is too much at stake. One of the down sides to sole reliance on strategic thinking is that at times you can’t see the forest for the trees. These same elites told us that Hillary Clinton was a shoo-in for president in 2016. It did not happen.
The Constitution states only three requirements for presidency:
Article II, Section 1, Clause 5:
No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
I would like to see an end to allowing the DNC to pick winners and losers for the presidential office. It isn’t democratic. That is not the function of the organization. That is the job of the primary voters. The DNC is supposed to assist democratic candidates, equally. Some have accused the DNC of favoring certain candidates over others because of their perceived elect-ability or because of their strong fundraising potential. Additionally, some have claimed that the DNC has used its control over the primary debate process and the distribution of campaign funds to limit the visibility and viability of certain candidates. Bernie Sanders was abandoned by the DNC in favor of Hillary Clinton, who had stronger ties with the organization. They believed that she could win, but they were wrong.
I supported Marianne Williamson’s run in 2020 with enthusiasm. If Biden wants to run again, he should. I am not concerned about Biden’s age. He should know if he has the stamina for another four years. The former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, knew when it was time for her to step down and she was 42. It is true that she governed a much smaller country and populace than the U.S. Biden will be 82 in 2024. Maybe he knows something that we don’t.
Marianne is 70 and she is not a politician, but she has a clear vision and platform. It is time to take very seriously the fact that there is nothing radical about universal access to health care. There is nothing radical about people earning a living wage. There is nothing radical about removing the crushing weight of student debt. There is nothing radical about affordable housing. There is nothing radical about families having access to sufficient nutrition. There is nothing radical about making reparations for hundreds of years of systemic racism. Allowing people, the dignity to pursue life, liberty and happiness is not radical. What is radical is the argument that we can’t afford to make the changes which would make these outcomes possible. We cannot afford to continue the status quo. It is not sustainable. We can no longer entertain the belief that only those who can afford these rights are entitled to them. It is becoming clear that when you attempt to hold a part of the population back, you hold the nation back too.
In her 2020 campaign for president, Marianne said something that really resonated with me. She posed the question of why is it that we believe “…Only people whose careers that have been entrenched for decades in the limitations of the mindset that drove us into this ditch are the only people we should consider qualified to take us out of the ditch?” It is the same as doing the exact same thing over and over and expecting different results. You are either not paying attention, or you are insane.
Many in the media have already taken the position that Williamson is not to be taken seriously, that she does not have the experience required to govern the country, because she speaks about such things as setting up a department of peace and protecting the lives of children, and Medicare for all. In 2020 they tried to paint her as crazy, an anti-vaxxer, and out of step with the real world. The 45th president was out of step with the real world and tried to bend it to his vision by lying. He idolized dictators. He said that he believed the Russian President’s intelligence over that of his own country. He lied to the public about the seriousness of a deadly pandemic that killed millions in this country. He planned and executed an insurrection and tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power between administrations. He called for the termination of the Constitution after losing the election.
Why is there such concern over Ms. Williamson running for office? Joe Biden has many assets. He is the incumbent. He has many years of public service. He accomplished much in his first term to influence the voters. Ms. Williamson doesn’t have these assets. Why attack her for running a campaign against the incumbent in a democracy? If she is not believed to be a threat, then why deride her run?
Below are links to interviews with Ms. Williamson by mainstream and independent media that show that she is no lightweight and that she should be taken very seriously. This is not a lark for her. Running for president is a heavy lift and not something most people enter lightly. She is passionate and sincere.
ABC News interview with Ms. Williamson
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/marianne-williamson-on-2024-campaign-new-dnc-primary-schedule-this-week-exclusive/ar-AA18foyo
Secular Talk, Interview with Ms. Williamson