Episode 165 – Coronavirus, Policy Failures, Is our Democracy in Danger? w/ Marianne Williamson

the human experiences in session my name is Xavier katana my guest for today is marianne williamson marianne is an American author spiritual leader politician and activist she has written 13 books including for New York Times number one bestsellers she is in the

she's the founder of project angel food a volunteer delivery service food delivery program that serves homebound people with HIV and AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses she's also the co-founder of Peace Alliance a non-profit education and advocacy

organization supporting peace building projects she later received national attention attention attention as the results of her frequent appearances on the Oprah Oprah Winfrey Show and she is quite regarded as Oprah's spiritual advisor Mary Ann is such a pleasure

thank you so much for being here you you spent some time running for the Democratic National Convention so I can't think of a better time to have you here than tonight with everything that's going on in the world today welcome to hxp thank you thank you so

much for having me so Mary Ann I mean let's let's just lay the foundation a bit you know if you could tell us what brought you into the line of service and what brought you into this frame of work why did you decide to run for the nomination I grew up in a generation you

know we would when I was in college we would read Alan Watts and ramadasa in the morning and we would go to vietnam war anti-war protests in the afternoon the cultural generation revolution at that time the 60s and the 70s was all of the above it wasn't bifurcated between

spiritual social political it was sexual it was musical it was political it was spiritual and that's always been my comfort zone that when you're seeking to change change just multi-dimensional as my life developed my what felt to me like the

greatest service that which just unfolded in front of me had to do with teaching metaphysical principles and writing about metaphysical spiritual principles particularly those based on set of books called A Course in Miracles but I'd been raised with a lot of

political reference and activism and that had always been important to me it had just been sort of the minor chord and the major chord interprofessional E had had to do with my work in the spiritual world and from that came activism having to do with nonprofit

organizations the things you mentioned I was very active during the AIDS crisis founded aids organizations and so forth peace organizations etc and I my political evolution is mirrored in a story I once heard that was written by Protestant theologian and the story I

don't know what the title would be but for me it's the story of the transition to a conscious form a good Samaritan to a conscious Samaritan I was a good Samaritan in the sense that the Good Samaritan was someone who saw a beggar and gave the moms but the Good Samaritan

continued down the road and saw another beggar and gave them alms and then the Good Samaritan continued down the road and saw another beggar and gave them alms and the way the story goes is that at a certain point the Good Samaritan said to himself why are there are so

many beggars so what I've seen and that to me means he became a conscious Samaritan he asked what is going on systemically here that this continues to be the case for so many people and what I've seen in my career over 35 years is that something started to change

in the eighties but at first it was situational first of all I had to do with something like AIDS which had nothing to do specifically with the social economic system although it did with the slowness of the system to respond but what started to happen then let's say after

2000 etc there is a level of despair there's the level of economic tension and economic anxiety that is experienced by what seems to be the average person in a way that makes no sense in the richest country in the world so I began to see up close and personal the ravages

that so many people are experiencing simply because the resources of this country have been squeezed too much into the hands of too few and so it felt to me like we that the people who are seeing this up close and the people who have a deeper understanding of cause and

effect and how these things operate on deeper systemic levels should be the last people sitting out these larger questions and so I began to realize how many of these these reduce ravages that people experience are due to simply bad public policy if people can't get it if

people are living with chronic tension and anxiety because they don't know what will happen if they get sick they don't know what will happen if one of their children get sick they don't know how they'll send their kids to college they don't know how that will get out from

under these college ones they don't know how they'll ever be able to get in the game in their life then they can see every therapist and every coach and every plural person and meditate all they want but we've got to deal with the fact that that's treating the symptoms

we've got to treat the cause and to me that meant that meant a much higher level of consciousness within the political field that I didn't see and out of that I thought well if you want to hear those things said maryann oh you're gonna have to say them and so I

did Wow and you know you so you know very much so you have been in the belly of the beast and you've seen you know the inner workings of the system you you got in front of the bullet as it were you - you've got into the line of fire and you know now you've seen sort of the

pratfalls of what it's like you know to run for president and you know what did you what did you see the inner workings of the system how did how did you relate to the way things are set up when you when a person runs for office the system is even more

corrupt than I feared but the people of the United States are even more wonderful than I would have hoped that was my experience the what we have is a campaign media industrial complex and it amount to the equivalent the modern equivalent of backroom you know men with

cigars who in the backroom were deciding who the candidates would be that's what happened in 2016 and the Democratic Party and we know how that worked out and it's basically what happened here as well but let me be very very clear and also very careful here the overriding

need I believe numero uno is to make sure that Donald Trump does not get a second term that is where I live in my heart is where I live in every part of me so I don't want any criticism of the system to be mistaken for any comment that I believe you know we

should not support the Democratic nominee but this is a very serious problem I'll tell you that I know what my experience was which was that after the second debate i am i hi was the most googled person in in 49 states and you saw my name and a lot of media and then

three days later after the second debate boy the hatchet came down somebody had clearly said clearly had said get that woman off the stage and the way I can say it so clear it's because it was so clearly strategized all the words were the same clear talking points she's an

tiebacks which I'm not actually I and you know you we're living at a time when if you the most nuanced conversation you can have the slightest questioning of anything having to do with Big Pharma and boy they come at you so she's anti Docs it was said that I'm anti medicine

which once again could not be further from the truth anti science which once again could not be further from the truth she's dangerous she's crazy she's a grifter like we're talking about some you know which is in the Middle Ages here or something and that that

narrative was created it was every way you could you couldn't open a computer you couldn't look on television that somebody wasn't talking about how I'm this dangerous crazy wacko and so that's how it works they they get rid of you if they don't like it and you say is there

a day yeah there's definitely a day and however however there are two different political universes and this is this is extremely important there is that that I've just described the pundits and media and the political operatives and the DNC and all of that

yep it's true it's real however there's another political universe and that other political universe is magnificent and I saw that as well and that has to do with the voters particularly the voters in those early primary states Iowa New Hampshire South Carolina and

Nevada the people in those states are very aware of the importance of their their vote and they I'm telling you they are up to the job and to stand in front of voters in those states it's it's it's a humbling experience it is such a privilege they

are tough on you but rightfully so they kick the tires but rightfully so they ask you tough questions and you've got to know what you're talking about and what I was very clear about was that if the DNC had just gotten out of the way you know those those debates are

nothing but a reality TV show it's ridiculous we had 20 people at the beginning or 21 some very very intelligent people with very very good ideas but what the DNC did was they created bars that made it and only people in their club could possibly make

it with a token here okay I mean it was so obvious to anybody like really stepping back to look at this and you know the political parties are not even mentioned in our Constitution George Washington warned us against them in his farewell address saying that they would form

factions of men who would be more concerned with their with their faction than with their country now I think that in 2016 for instance if the DNC had not put their fingers on the scale it would have been either Hillary or Bernie but I think whoever it was the people would

have felt good about the vote and I think that Trump would not be president today so then I think the role of the DNC should be to facilitate democracy it shouldn't be to dictate democracy shouldn't be manipulate voters I believe and going forward you know this is this

is going to be true with everything related to the coronavirus - we're going to have to make a lot of changes on the other side of this and I believe for instance that everybody who is a serious candidate for president should have been given the equal amount of time in front

of the voters and so forth so anyway that was my experience my experience I experienced the vilification chin I experienced the demonization it's very odd to be hated for being someone that you're not you know there there are reasons for people to dislike me based

on my policies or even based on maybe some truths about me I'm certainly not a perfect human being but the narrative that was created that's it's not even who I am so that was my experience but that was then and this is now and I haven't endorsed Bernie Sanders and because I

believe that his policies I mean obviously every person who runs for president does so thinking well I'd be the best you know once I was out and I do regret leaving actually because I could have through New Hampshire and when I saw what Yang and steyr the votes they got

in in New Hampshire and I thought well I got it done that I thought that that was the amount that you leave because it's do you Milly aiming to stay whatever it was what it was and now we got we got a much bigger fish to fry and then just our own personal dramas

now I have endorsed Bernie Sanders but as I said whoever the Democrat is I will be there with all my heart and with all my soul I think that this president his policies are nothing short of a menace in it and a true threat to our democracy and I am filled with passion as I'm sure

many of your listeners are we're making sure that there is a he goes into retirement as of November so you know Mary and I truly respect and appreciate your experience and your perspective of you know what you experience on the campaign trail and and with the

Democratic convention the nomination the way it works I mean it does seem like it is very much rigged and so I think getting that inside sort of perspective I think is crucial so I you know thank you for helping me set the stage now if we fast forward to

present day we are up against the wall against you know a pandemic global pandemic that you know is now an everyday reality for us where we are in a crisis now and it seems like the policies of the current administration are so backwards that you know it's

putting people's lives in danger would you agree with this yes unfortunately I would agree with him and you know I wonder to know how what do you think we should be doing differently right now in regards to the coronavirus well there are a couple of things here first

of all is personal and second is political on a personal level we all have to take care of our own nervous systems as we go through this you have to emotionally and psychologically change gear in order to be able to emotionally psychologically

survive this and thrive in the experience we are a very adrenaline driven Society it is the the common manner of things for people to run around like chickens with our heads off chopped off and a lot of the rushing around that we do really at the deepest

level is a way of avoiding some of the deeper work that we need to be doing as human beings on the planet at this time Blaise Pascal the French philosopher said that all of man's problems can be a stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone so this is is forcing us

to be reflective it's forcing us to go deeper it's forcing us to maybe read some of those books that we've always talked about how we wanted to read but never one got around to it's forcing us to be available should we wish to deeper conversations with friends and loved

ones that maybe we had thought it's forcing us if we really want to get through this to not make it only about ourselves to realize that there are people for most of us who were in far more of a risk category than we are people who are older people who live

alone people who have underlying conditions that this is definitely time to check in with your friends and I have if if people go - Marianne calm I have quite a few video sharings and meditations also I'm making one of my meditations just putting them out there

for people meditation is a way to literally emit different brainwaves so that the fear and panic that is among other things so depressive of your immune system begins to dissolve otherwise this thing can emotionally overwhelmed people and so that's what I

meant by taking care of your own nervous system now secondly however there is a political issue a big political issue here this virus did not emanate did here in the United States but there is a huge political issue that has to do with how unprepared we were

why we were so unprepared and the almost criminal neglect that was displayed by our government which allowed weeks to pass by before we even began to get on top of it the way we needed to and which in some ways is a trajectory that continues today that has to do with the

fact that for the last 40 years as we know there's been this massive transfer of wealth in this country change and tax laws through corporate subsidies through the unbelievable undue influence of money particularly corporate money on our government we have transferred huge

amount of wealth into the hands of the proverbial one percent so that one percent control more wealth in the bottom 90% now where's that money come from the money has come from withdrawal of resources to education withdrawing of resources to to public investments and

that public investment is investment in the common good we and we have we have laid aside what has traditionally been an accepted balance in the United States between the the protection of individual liberty and protection of the common good and we've moved so far in the

direction of individual liberty but remember that individual liberty for instance the individual liberty of capitalism it can only be it can only be enjoyed by those who have the capital to participate but when people are so living you've got tens of millions of

Americans who have been living with chronic tension and anxiety because of the things I said they don't know what they'll do if they're if they get sick or their kids get sick or how they'll send their kids to college or how they'll get under these kundur these

college loans back took us to a place where 40% of Americans did not have the means to cover an unexpected $400 expenditure we were in that place before this crisis so when you said we're in a crisis for those people they already were in a crisis let's remember that we talked

about lockdown there were people who tens of millions of Americans who were economically locked down before this so when you say that that money was withheld from those resources one of the things that was held from withheld from are all the various agencies that you

don't necessarily hear about on a daily basis you only hear about them when something goes wrong everything from The Weather Service to the CDC and the FDA you know we had the Boeing max disaster why because the FAA was to under the thumb of Boeing we had the opioid crisis

why because FDA is to under the thumb of Big Pharma and on and on and on we have so many of the environmental dangers that we have why because they because the EPA has been under too much the thumb of fossil fuel industries etc we had 47 pandemic centers and the

president had closed 37 of them he has been he has been withdrawing resources from the CDC etc and then even when it happened and even when we have in America we have in every area and every area of problem we have the geniuses here we have the best practices we know

what to do but what but but the president is among a group of people who are so ideologically obsessed with allowing the marketplace like the marketplace has become some false God in America start 40 years the whole idea of trickle-down economics was the idea that

marketing forces market forces should be the organizing principle of the unit of Western civilization certainly American civilization and government should get out of the way which means deregulate they called all regulations job killers well excuse me they were health

regulations and safety regular so that even when this began and that's what we're living through right now even today when the president had signed the defense production Act this is what FDR did after after Pearl Harbor after Pearl Harbor FDR brought together all of the

car manufacturers and that I need this many planes and I need this many tanks and I may need as many ships and the car manufacturer said well President Roosevelt we are patriotic Americans and as soon as we've sold the cars we need to sell we're gonna get together and

we're gonna build those cars and we're gonna build those tanks I'm gonna build those ships are looking to build those planes and President Roosevelt said gentlemen I don't think you understand you will not be building cars until I get this many ships and this many tanks

and this many planes it was a mimicry of that which led us years later to pass a defense production Act which gave President Trump the the power should he have chosen to to say to all kinds of industries get these ventilators may get these respirators may get these masks

made before you do anything else now what happened he got pushed back from a from business and I I want to know who those we need names of who gave him that push back because people have died because of that push back and President Trump gets on it says oh it's

so great they're all calling me and they want to help well of course they want to but this is a national emergency we can't take that time so you have the governor such as Andrew Cuomo in New York saying we need this material and the president even iterating today we're

not a shipping clerk go get your own because he is so ideologically opposed to the federal government directing anything as opposed to letting the free market do its thing beep in a moment like this of national emergency so that's the moment we're living it now

when you said what does the average individual do with the every individual should do you know Martin Luther King said we are materially passive but we are spiritually active let's be intellectually active right now everybody needs to be clear about the

issues that I just talked about everybody needs to be clear about what is the argument going on even right now in Congress where there are those who say no we need to have this multi-billion dollar bailout of these huge industries now remember these huge

industries already got the two thousand seventeen two trillion dollar tax cuts where we three cents of every dollar went to the very richest Americans and corporations so even as is the President himself has said they have a cushion the people we need to be

bailing out are those people who have no cushion and honestly don't know for sure if they will be able to eat a week from now yes so when you say what can we do for obviously in your own community find out what's happening in your community

how you can help drop off groceries many people are volunteering make masks I mean there are all kinds of things on different and it's beautiful what you're seeing people being there for each other but we also have to recognize the lack of conscience and ethics that not only

has been part of public policy but is even now and the people need to be loud and the people need to be aware and the people need to be very active you know we I I I talk about this stuff so much I don't know if I already mentioned it on the pass but you went oh I know what it

was you and I talked about it before the podcast yeah Tennant lieutenant governor of Texas said the other day that he thinks that there are grandparents in America who would be willing to die so that their grandchildren would have a better economy in the future that's Jim

Jones talk that's saying literally die we should die for a particular kind of economic order and by the way know those kids need their grandparents is who they need yes Oh so every America needs to be deeply aware we need to be aware of what's happening

who's saying what and in November and that's gonna be a problem too we could all the voter suppression effort which could be aided by this thank you very much we need to remember who got it right right now and make sure they're in Congress they're in the White

House and they're in the Senate and those who are talking in ways that would destabilize the lives of so many millions of Americans further please make sure they retire from political office Wow I mean there's there's so much there Mary and I loved each and every single

one of your words because you're so clear you're so pinpointed on exactly what we need to do to look at this we need to communicate more clearly this is something that you said to me and we need to be very precise on you know what's going on in the system what has

been going on in the system and what we need to do to adjust and to fix this so that it doesn't happen again and you know it seems like we are in a crisis of of and where we're we're screaming out for you know this battle cry of visions and you know we we need

to be very careful how we respond to this because if we don't respond in the right way we're gonna be catapulted back into the system that led us here in the first place well as you and I were talking about before the podcast it could even be worse than that because

you know William bar our Attorney General was floating just the other day the idea of suspending just for this period of time certain constitutional protections also another thing I have some concern about I have to say you know everybody's

talking about bringing out the National Guard we need to have a bit sophisticated conversation and ask very meaningful questions what exactly are they coming out for know on one hand they're coming out to build field hospitals great I'm all for that they're

coming out to be able to help with with medical situations I'm all for that but let's be very clear here where the thing that I'm very concerned about in addition to the medical issues have to do with not only how are sick people going to self-harm those but how are

well people going to survive this how wealthy people going to survive this who don't have the money and aren't working now I believe what we should have is I think it should be a $2,000 stipend every week that this is that this lasts for every American I think we should

immediately halt all those college loans etc we should be talking about you know you see all those trucks that everybody's showing on the online and everything all these videos of people are seeing all these trucks coming in and they're gonna have National Guard's

people well we need to be really careful here what are they going to be allowed to do what are they not going to be allowed to do if you tell me they're going to be building full field hospitals etc I'm so glad they're coming but they're going to are they going to

be patrolling the streets I mean what are they going to be doing exactly because if things get too rough I'm sorry but you know Americans are so reactive we own it we wait until the problem happens and we talk about what are we going to do we need to be

responsive in this moment we need to be several steps ahead that's how we got here was because collectively we don't talk several steps ahead so let's say there are food shortages that's what I'm concerned about what if people cannot get food there could be food riots I

want to know the National Guard is not going to be squashing the rioting of desperate people I want to make sure they will not be rioting which is why money has to get to people quickly so so we have all of these things that we need to be thinking about and I think that

the conversations that we're having among ourselves your podcast is an example am i putting out videos on my sites etc a lot of people are the conversation the buzz the people that people are the things that people are talking about makes a lot of difference

and Americans are very good about that when we get a buzz about something when we're having a conversation about something there's nothing we can't do the problem is that we are too easily distracted and we're too easily 'lord away from the conversation about

things that matter most yeah I mean Marianne I'm not sure if you've heard of this yet or not but I just read an article today I posted it in our community there you know this the stimulus bill that they're they're passing you know it's it blows my mind

because the the 1.5 trillion dollars that they were able to with you know the swipe of a pen it was immediately released that they were gonna put out 1.5 trillion dollars but when it comes to helping people like normal people like you and me you know

it's taking them so long but something that I saw in you know to your point was that the stimulus when it comes out it's going to create a new digital dollar you know so now I I think you know in this idea that things can be worse you know this third option that when

it's reassembled when it all comes back together that perhaps they can push us into more control um you know how about a cashless society for you I don't know I hear so much I see both sides you know it's almost like you know there's a part in the course in

miracles' where it says nothing in the material world is unholy or holy except as determined by the purpose it is given the consciousness of people so I agree with what you're saying you could say things about the digital dollar I don't care what the policy is if it's in the

hands of conscious people it's going to be one thing if it's in the hands of unconscious people is going to be another thing and I think that what we have to be is extremely alert that you know this is how we got here people checked out from politics people thought

oh you know there are other people handling those things other people are thinking about those things and not voting and not participating this is you know so much of what is of what is happening now including the fact that our position president this did not come

out of nowhere this the this this this deeper problem has been accumulating for 40 years now where our government has been so taken hostage by forces that were just there they it is capitalism without a conscience yeah it is capitalism completely untethered

to any ethical and moral concern for people or for planet but in too many cases we we weren't careful when we voted or we didn't vote so there's only one antidote to any of this and that is a mass awakening of the American people and when Jefferson said that the only

safe repository for power in the United States is in the hands of the people boy the older I got the more I realized that is so true you know it's kind of like when I think that women are told us a lot that if you know you're attacked in a parking lot or anything like that just

start yelling just start yelling Martin Luther King said that your life begins to end and the day you stop talking about things that matter so we have plenty of time we have plenty of time to to read about what's going on to read about the intelligent you know read the

intelligent voices don't check out whatever you do don't check out this is as important a moment in American history as we have ever had I agree I think this is so crucial of a moment now more than ever now is I mean if anything I think you know I've always

felt Marianne that this is there was something on the the threshold that we were you know on the precipice of something huge massive that was gonna change everything and you know now it's here it is here and you know what I see with people you know I get it I

understand their GABA receptors are full with cortisol they're stressed out people are stressed their 401ks are eviscerated they have nothing left you know the financially they're hurting everyone is sort of locked you know in their houses and you know I mean

that's that's if people are you know doing their job in in response to this virus I mean there are people in Florida and they're on the beach you know it's it just shows a lack of respect a lack of responsibility a lack of leadership I mean there's so many things

wrong with the way people are perceiving this and it's I think it's crucial now because Marianne I mean I don't think that we're the worst of it has hit us yet and I'm not trying I don't want to scare anyone you know I'm not I'm not trying to fear porn this whatsoever I'm

just being as much of a realist as I can be and you know based on the data that we see it seems like you know the worst of this is yet to come you know when they tell you when they tell you that there's no more room in the hospitals because you know there was not

enough action taken and you know no matter what you cannot go there you will not be seen it's it's a very frightening possibility it's a frightening it's so you know I understand that people are panicked you know I I had a moment to go to the the grocery store the other day

and it was so eerie so post-apocalyptic I mean everyone was so panicked there there each staying six feet away from each other you know what I understand I get it and you know they but you know there was this palpable fear that you just don't you don't I've

never seen before experience I think also a palpable recognition that we're all in this together and so this is a you know there's a line that every problem comes bearing its own solution I think we also have a common sense of our vulnerability right now not only a boner

ability in common with other people in this country but a sense of our common vulnerability with people around the world now remember social change does not come about and never has because the majority wake up and get it the majority didn't

wake up one day and say let's end slavery the majority didn't wake up one day and say let's give women the right to vote the majority didn't wake up one day and let's end segregation in the American South social change comes about because of a few people usually considered

outrageous radicals by the status quo of their time who have a better idea so let's remember many people are awakening right now yes you're right there are a lot of people who are just going into isolation and fear and panic but they're out of people having deeper

conversations deeper thoughts deeper recognitions now than ever before let's let's remember that a lot of a lot of what's most important is not visible to the physical eye so when you said it's going to get worse you know hello at the during during World War two when

Churchill famously said this is not the end this is not even the beginning of the end it's but it is the end of the beginning you know Roosevelt and Churchill and those guys didn't talk to people like they were children they didn't pretend this wasn't going to last a while you

know I have felt for a long time I've talked about how in America we have a crisis of adulthood too many generations since World War two too many generations didn't have to go through anything didn't have to cut their teeth didn't ever grow up too many American men have

acted and been like little boys to American women have acted and been like little girls we're not going to be immature children after this man and you know what there's a there's a lot in of course in miracles' where it says it isn't up to you what you learn it is

merely up to you whether you learn through joy or through pain the the human race must evolve we will not survive we must otherwise we must shift from an economic to a humanitarian bottom line the the guarding principle of American public policy has got to

shift from that which creates short-term corporate profit to that which helps people thrive we must get there or we will not survive and it is experiences like this it is proving it not even that are going to that is proving to us even right now with what's

happening with the president and others saying yeah we don't really need to direct it you know what we can let the private sector handle this people are dying because of that Oh so this is deep it's transformative but you know where there's love there cannot

be fear just like where there's light there cannot be darkness darkness is the absence of light it's not a thing of itself and fear is simply where the mind goes when it's not concentrating on love the question is who can I help how can I be of service how can I contribute and

we are being called to co-create and you and I are doing what we can here on this podcast by having a conversation we're joining our resources yours and mine and we do our best to have a conversation that matters you know Werner Erhard said you can live

your life one of two ways you can either live your life out of circumstance or you can live your life out of a vision so if all we do is react to circumstance that's one way to live but if you're living your life out of a vision you were understanding where things are

wrong and you are you are creating a vision for what you want things to be on the other side of this and yeah it's tough and you know what all that means is that we need to toughen up now it's so true it's so pristine and I mean it we you know we are we were a culture

of you know people at the most minor inconvenience you know we would you know throw a fit you know you're sure in your car you're you're aging out you know at the most little thing so you know I want to rewind a little bit I want to talk about you know what you say about the

American government and democracy you know I want to talk about you know on your website you talk about you describe the American government as a little bit more than a system of legalized bribery where you say that it's abandoned its primary function as stated in the

Declaration of Independence you know what function is it that the American government has abandoned and you know how has the influence of corporations and autocracy how are those things playing into what democracy has been abandoned well first of all I

want to make clear I'm a romantic about American democracy so my criticism of what has occurred in no way as a statement that I don't believe in the possibilities of American democracy I very much believe in the possibilities of American democracy and

we have too many people in America today we seem to have these two major categories one are people who only want to talk about what we've done right and have no listening for what what the shadows are that we need to correct and there's another category though which I

believe is just as unbalanced people who only have a listening for what America has done wrong and don't have any any listening for what we've done right we haven't done everything wrong so let's go back to the beginning in our Declaration of the independence it says

and that is think of the Declaration of Independence as our mission statement it says that we are as as Lincoln would refer to it later dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal it says that all men are created equal it says that

all men are endowed by God all men have god-given inalienable rights to life and to liberty and to the pursuit of happiness then it says that instance that governments are instituted to secure those rights now that was radical in 1776 and it's radical today because

it was a complete repudiation a complete overthrow of them anarchical and aristocratic system in the monarch achill and aristocratic system the idea was that God had given power to the king and his rich friends the aristocracy and that they were entitled to the major

resources and no one else was we were completely turning that paradigm on its ear instead we would create a society in which all men had the inalienable rights of God of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that governments are instituted to secure those right and

wait for it that the people have the right should that government not be securing those rights it is the right of the people to alter it or to abolish it that was extraordinary it created a this was not just a step forward and the political possibilities

on earth but also morally and spiritually it was the idea that we would to the best of our ability create a society in which all people would have a chance to soar that's where it began which was an extraordinary an extraordinary light within you

humanity's consciousness but it's also where it got gnarly because out of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence 41 of them were slave owners so what that means is we have always from our very beginnings been both we have this character illogical by

polarity in the DNA of the a of the of the United States we are on one hand built on principles more aspirational and more enlightened than any that have ever been the founding core of a nation and we have been from the beginning we have had forces that represented the

most wicked the most violent transgression against the principles on which we purport to stamp that is the American story it is played out generation after generation and you know what no less in ours than than any other now if you look at it over time we tend

to self-correct we had slavery but then we had evolution we had the institutional and the institutional suppression of women but then we have women's suffrage we had the institutionalized violence against black people in the American South and then we had the civil rights

movement it's simply our turn and so much of what we are experiencing today is the struggle that is simply playing itself out again in our time one of the difficulties of this one is that the slave owner was obviously a slave owner the person who denied women

rights was obviously the person who was denying women of right right the segregationist was obviously a segregationist today those who represent this kind of corporatism corporate control without without conscience they are sometimes you know they're the ones

wearing the really nice pinstripe suits and talking about how much they love America so today it's not one evil institution it's more like that we just have to surgically remove which other generations have done and brilliantly today it's more like a cancer that is

metastasized because it's an economic mindset which is made short-term corporate profit this this this false God under under the the this masquerade that this trickle-down economics would be good for everybody that all oh there would be the small group of people that

would make so much money but it would be good because there would be the job creators so all that money would trickle down now after 40 years we see what happened it hasn't trickled down and lifted all boats the way they said it would it has

created millions of people without even a life vest so that's where we are today and it was starting in the 1980s that this that this it came out of the University of Chicago there's this whole idea that from market principles completely untethered to any kind of

government regulation to the organize our society although I want to mention something that I think is very interesting Milton Friedman who was the main articulator of the trickle-down economic theory he himself said that the only way it would be safe is if there

was a universal basic income but the forces the Koch brother type forces that promulgated it they didn't want that part so then that started in the 80s with the Reagan presidency and so many of the forces around that but then what happened within ten years of that that

really put the nails on the coffin of our better nature at least for a while is the undue influence of money so you first you have the Supreme Court saying that money was free speech and then of course a few years ago Citizens United which gives unlimited power of

corporations to influence and that's what turned our our government into a system of legalized bribery and so at this point I'm reminded of the JFK quote those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable we need a political

nonviolent peaceful revolution and overthrow of the corporatist hostage-taking which has been diminishing and corrupting our democracy for years now Brandeis Louis Brandeis the late Supreme Court Justice said you can have large amounts of money concentrated in the

hands of a few or you can have democracy you cannot have both yeah I mean it's amazing I think you you answered my next question was gonna be you know if there is a main threat to our democracy would you say that it is you know hands power in the the hands of the

few or you know corporate lobbying and you know gerrymandering and you know what you know what can we do to you know lessen the impact of this this negative influence on you know normal regular elections we have got to show up in November with such a massive wave what

concerns me are too many people who are already saying no if it's not Bernie I'm not gonna vote oh whatever please please please please please we must you know people say well I'm not gonna vote for the lesser of two evils I suggest you do vote for the lesser of

two evils because one evil is handleable you know one woman I remember in the last time when she was going to vote their party [ __ ] Mary and you cannot make me vote my fear and I remember saying to her I wish you would because this is a case where we must in November

we must we must show up and I know listen I've been you you said earlier I've been in the belly of the beast pretty literally if anybody has a right to say those [ __ ] I do I get it I know I know what it's like to know I know that game is played I don't care

right now that doesn't matter we have a more serious issue at hand and that is the the power of the presidency in the hands of Donald Trump and so when you say what what do we have to do look do we have problems that we're gonna have to deal with the way the Democratic

Party has been so taken over by corporatist elements in there yeah we do we have a problem with the DNC yeah we do do we do we have things to discuss about after this next election of whether or not you know what about third parties you know abolition came from the

abolitionist party women's suffrage came from the suffrage party Social Security came to the Socialist Party should there be discussions all of those discussions should happen however none of it will be possible if Trump wins again and you better believe we're good we we

have yes do we have a very very serious problem on our hands yes we do do we have the specter of voter suppression yes we do do we even have the specter that certain forces are going to use the pandemic as an excuse to make it even harder for the will of the people to be

registered in this year yes we do show up for the for the struggle that's all I can say show up we have to show up you know even when you talk about whether it was the Russians when you talk about whomever whatever the only places where elections can be messed with

are in states where it's closed so you just got to make sure it's not even close you've just got to be involved even if it means that the Democratic candidate is someone you're like I cannot believe it came to this I don't care I don't care

by the way Joe Biden is a very nice man you're nice to me on the campaign his wife is very very lovely you know what be doing to have to go into that conversation I just cannot stress enough how important it is the answer to your question and that is that we simply must

make sure that Trump does not get a second term yeah I mean Mary Ann I I really feel your struggle I just you know at the outset of this conversation we said I think we agreed that it's so corrupt it's it's like the secret handshake thing and and then you you

clarified your answer and you said you know if it's not close it's harder to mess with right but then also I heard I read uh during the research for the show I read that you I think I mean if it was correct that you declared a coup that you said clarify that thank you because

I did the lead at five minutes later because it was it was not the best choice of words what I was referring to remember when I said earlier in our conversation tonight I about what I would I myself experienced that someone clearly said get that woman off the

stage and that this false narrative was created about me and you know everywhere you looked on crazy and anti back so I'm anti medicine I'm anti science all that we do even gantt that gay for goodness sakes okay you know awful stuff so I've

seen how it works I did not like what happened the night before Super Tuesday in that last debate people who did Judge was clearly not planning to leave the race Amy Klobuchar was clearly not planning to leave that race the fact that the night before Super Tuesday

all of a sudden Buddha jet is out and I'm endorsing Biden Koba car is out endorsing Biden Beto comes out in Texas I'm endorsing Biden I didn't like that I didn't like because it was like with bear spray when you're hiking and you are you have bear spray let's say or

Montana or someplace or like Beartooth Mountains and you have to have bear spray but yeah the bear has to get really close before you can before you can spray what happened by doing that night before Super Tuesday it didn't even give people a chance to process it

was to me I know some people say no they just did that it was not I remember down a Bosch on a CNN had just said it was just this organic thing that happened no it was not an organic thing that happened it was very strategized and I didn't like that so I didn't call

the vote a coup I called what happened the night before a coup it was however it wasn't the kind of language I should have used and um and I that's why I deleted it five minutes later but you know it's interesting I I'm a writer you edit but

in Twitter world born once you've tweeted it so having said not a good choice of words it was a drama I didn't like I didn't appreciate it I didn't think it was cool and it had the signature of clearly it was this huge massive stop Bernie thing and I didn't

like it and I don't like it but that is not a reason not to just surrender our democracy to those people that is not a reason to surrender our democracy okay well I mean thank you for clarifying that I did find that choice of words a bit curious and I mean it it's just very

charged you know I was not it was you know I look back at it I actually had received a phone call from somebody in the Bernie campaign would you please take that down and I looked at it and realized oh my goodness yeah that was not cool on my part

no I I regret that so mariann if we can switch gears a bit you know and talk about you know health and wellness and how people can sort of connect in with themselves because now I think is a time where you know more than ever you know when you were so tired that you were

working from your 9:00 to 5:00 and you came home and you're exhausted and you don't have time to read that book you don't have time to spend with your kids you know you don't you say you don't have time for all this stuff now you have time to do all those things now you

have time to really connect with yourself and and look for that part of yourself that you've lost over the years and you know so so how can we encourage people to do more of that you know do we need to meditate do we exercise more you know how can we

connect into that part of our self our spirit by that that higher self of ours that's out there in there I've talked quite a bit about that and written about it I hope once again that people will go - Marianne calm because I have my videos and check out my my sharings on

Instagram the first thing and also I've downloaded my my meditations this is extremely important if you meditate even five minutes in the morning that will help to fortify your immune system it will help to fortify your nervous system in moving

through this it's very very important that we take responsibility for our emotional and psychological well-being as we go through this there is no more powerful tool than meditation prayer mindfulness that's number one number two the important issue is to remember it's

not just about you there is a temptation to isolate in our own fear but as I said earlier where there is love there cannot be fear make this about checking out checking up on other people people who are more at risk and even if not physically of despair then you might be

and also when you were talking about your kids while you have time to be with your kids now use this time this this period will be over this will not last forever but mine up for the gold that is available to us now and I have quite a you know I have some videos about this

so I hope people will go to Maryanne calm and I have guided meditations I have quite a bit of sharing on what it will take to emotionally and psychologically be the people we need to be who as we go through this you know sometimes you can't control your

circumstances but you can always control who you to be within the circumstance sure that's that's a conversation we need to be having now perfect Maryann I mean this absolutely flew by and I mean I we've we we touched on the things that I really wanted to talk about but you know

is there anything that you'd like to say for the people that are gonna hear this there's going to be an immense people amount of people that listen to this episode so you know if there's maybe a message for them that you have you know now is that time to kind of reach out

and anyone that's listening to this that you know anything that you'd like to take that in well I think I just want to thank you I think that what you and I are doing tonight and what the listeners are participating in is they hear this podcast is the kind of thing we all need

to be doing we're trying to have deeper conversations than usual and in every moment you create the future in the present so it's in the vertical you know we're very limited on the horizontal plane right now but you're never limited in the vertical how how deep you grow I

think there are a lot of people thinking about relationships right now some forgiveness going on some deeper more intimate conversations going on this is the time to realize everything that has happened on our planet is a reflection of the people we have been the planet

will change as we change as we allow ourselves to become more deeply committed to love then we won't by definition become more deeply committed to being of service and abuse to each other and we must evolve into a higher more powerful more practical love

you know when you and I were children we learned about evolution and we learned that when a species began to exhibit behavior that was maladaptive for its survival that one of two things would happen it would either mutate or it would go extinct

well that's what's happening on the planet today our collective behavior is maladaptive for the survival of the species we too much too recklessly too irresponsibly and we are actively involved in the destruction of our own habitat we will involve now we will evolve or we

will continue to march closer and closer to the precipice so you know we all know the word opportunity and China means I mean of crisis means both danger and opportunity so I think as we're all in our own minds right now and in our own way go deep

into our hearts and dedicate ourselves to be of use and to be of service at this time of opportunity the more things could happen including even miraculous things than most of us could even imagine Marianne thank you so much for your time I sincerely

appreciate if you just want to say your website one more time for the people listening Marianne calm Marianne calm ma RI ne and I know that you were supposed to be touring at this time but you're sheltering in place now you know absolutely I'm sheltering in place I

have a very generous friend who I happen to be visiting when this happened and he said wanted to hook her down here so I'm grateful for the opportunity and the friendship it's someone I've known for 30 years he's an old friend what are the godfathers to my daughter and I I'm a

fortunate woman and very grateful that is a great point to end it on guys you heard it here I mean what an amazing program with Marianne and you know she has like you heard she's been in you know the the center of all of this and she it's I think it's really amazing to hear

her perspective and to get an idea of you know what we're dealing with so I really appreciate her time and for you guys who are listening to this and