Petaluma, CA
October 28, 2015
by Rich Scheck
Five years ago, I suggested to Marianne Williamson that she
forego a possible campaign for Congress from Northern
California and instead run for president.
She rejected my idea and instead chose to run for Congress in
Henry Waxman’s district 3 years later in the Santa Monica/Venice
area of Los Angeles.
Her campaign focused on reducing the role of money in politics.
Sadly, her efforts proved fruitless for a variety of reasons including
what I saw as her incongruent call for $1.5 million to fight “money
in politics” and her misguided belief that only a constitutional
amendment could reverse Citizens United.
Last week in Salt Lake City, Marianne stepped up boldly in ways
I have been yearning to hear from any prominent women in political
life and spoke directly to the excesses of the Military-Industrial Complex:
she spoke truth to power in a very compelling and inspiring way.
Marianne Williamson on women and religion
Marianne lamented her failure to protect the children of America by doing more to stop the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Other women did lead that fight including those belonging to Code Pink. And Cindy Sheehan has done her best to atone for her failure to save her dear son who was killed early in that war.
Williamson is finally grasping what I see is the deeper reality of what is rotten at the core of American political life: our morphing from a Republic into an Empire, a national security state beset by lies and corruption so profound and pervasive that we may well have passed the tipping point into tyranny.
As brilliantly described by Daniel Sanchez in this lengthy essay, the triumph of the
Wolfowitz Doctrine on behalf of the Neoconservatives, who have captured the leadership
of both political parties, has led to unending wars and the destruction of our liberties in ways most Americans are barely able to grasp.
Embracing the Dark Side for their Galactic Ambitions
Marianne’s talk was at the World Parliament of Religions and was directed mostly at the
role of women in religious organizations. As she makes plain during the course of her
presentation, her words are applicable to all walks of life, none more so than to public policy as it pertains to war, the ultimate abuse of women, their children and the beloved men in their lives.
Is all this too little, too late? Is her remorse at not encouraging women to oppose the Iraq
War with their bodies 12 years ago to protest sending troops there a belated expression of regret after the train of fascism has left the station leaving the Patriot Act, pervasive NSA spying, indefinite military detention and a much wider war in its wake? Perhaps.
But those longing for a more passionate expression of outrage from all our leaders, men such as Bernie Sanders, and women such as Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina, have little to chose from in the form of female politicians at this late stage of our imperial adventures.
Choosing to label Vladimir Putin the new Hitler demonstrates Hillary’s total lack of
judgment of international relations and diplomacy after her reckless support of George W.
Bush’s decision to invade Iraq.
Likewise, Ms. Fiorina’s hawkish proclamations of the need to confront the Russians in Syria and Ukraine rather than work with Putin for peace is doomed to failure in the further pursuit of foreign policies stemming from the Neocon lust for Pax Americana and global hegemony.
Will Ms. Williamson emerge as a true champion of peace? Can her message of female power elevate her sisters into the kind of actions that will change our country and restore sanity to the nation? Hopefully, yes.
It is my deepest wish that she succeeds in this endeavor, and that she continues to be the champion of feminine values that will transform our society to save future generations from the scourge of war currently plaguing our planet.