Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson visited Emory University’s Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences Building on April 26 to speak with around 200 students at a Young Democrats of Emory event. Willamson previously ran for the 2020 Democratic nomination but withdrew from the race in January 2020, before the Democratic primary election.
Before running for president in 2020, Williamson served as the spiritual leader of Unity Church in Warren, Michigan. Williamson became an author, writing 13 books and becoming a frequent guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” with Winfrey calling Williamson her “spiritual advisor.”
Despite this persona, Williamson was accused in March of emotionally and verbally abusing her campaign staffers. In an interview with the Wheel after the event, Williamson denied these allegations.
“I’ve lost my temper at times,” Williamson said. “If anyone has ever experienced me as disrespectful or have been offended by my raising my voice then I’m sorry.”
Williamson began her Emory speech by noting that times were “not so desperate” when she was a teenager in the ’70s. To support this idea, Williamson explained that during this time the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association was a nonprofit organization and the average American worker could afford a house and for one parent to stay home. The candidate claimed that the “institutionalized greed” of energy, agricultural, chemical, weapons and pharmaceutical companies has created a “corporate matrix.”
Williamson added that she believes that it is time to put the “country back on track,” explaining that previous generations also fought against their particular circumstances, such as abolishing slavery, securing women’s suffrage and dismantling segregation.
“There are people in this country today …who only want to talk about what America has done right,” Williamson said. “And they have no real deep listening for what we do wrong and needs to be atoned for and what needs to be amended and repaired.”
If elected, Williamson’s goals would include offering universal health care, canceling college loan debt, tuition-free college and paid family leave. In her speech, Willamson also advocated for free childcare, guaranteed sick pay, a guaranteed livable wage and a “21st century economic Bill of Rights.”
Marianne Williamson talks to students at 2024 campaign event Photo by Natalie Sandlow/photographer
Additionally, Williamson condemned the Willow Project, a federal oil drilling endeavor in the Natural Petroleum Reserve on Alaska’s North Slope approved by U.S. President Joe Biden in March. The candidate said she would cancel the project, adding that it is imperative that the United States slows down its fossil fuel usage.
Williamson also said that it will be important to protect LGBTQ rights from attack in the next few years. After being asked about the U.S. House of Representatives’ decision to pass legislation on April 20 that would ban Transgender athletes from competing at schools that receive federal funding, the candidate said that such issues should be handled on a case-by-case basis.
“There are ways to scientifically determine whether or not, in terms of hormones and muscle mass, it is a fair contest,” Williamson said. “Whatever is a fair contest is what should determine what happens in that school.”
In terms of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Williamson said if she was elected she would support Ukraine but would not send them an unlimited amount of money. In her speech, she said she hopes Chinese President Xi Jinping could negotiate peace between the two countries, as he recently spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the first time since Russia’s invasion.
Williamson said that while she is pro-choice, she is not in favor of late-term abortions, calling them “misnomers,” or false cases used by those who are pro-life to ban abortion. She also emphasized that she intends to cancel all student debt if elected president, stating that Biden should have canceled all student debt at once, even if its constitutionality was questionable.
“If a person isn’t willing to break eggs, they should not run for president,” Williamson said.
To pay for many of the expanded entitlement programs she has proposed, such as canceling student debt, reparations for African Americans, universal health care and universal childcare, Williamson said she would add a wealth tax and cut down on military spending. Additionally, she said that she is willing to use some deficit spending, noting that is not the “boogeyman” it is made out to be.
“We can turn the ship around, but we must turn the ship around in a very wise way,” Williamson said during her speech. “We must turn the ship around in a very responsible way. We must turn the ship around in a way that shows honor and respect to everyone.”
Spencer Friedland (26C) is from Long Island, New York and is the Emory Wheel's Managing News Editor. He is a Philosophy, Politics and Law major and has a secondary major in Film. Spencer is also a part of the Franklin Fellows program at Emory.
