The Wild Reed: November 2019

Friday, November 29, 2019

Carl Anderson: “Like a Song in the Night”

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This evening for "Music Night" at The Wild Reed I share "All I Wanna Do," one of a number of stand-out tracks from Carl Anderson's 1992 album Fantasy Hotel.

As anyone familiar with this site would know, Carl Anderson (1945-2004) is my favorite male vocalist . . . and Fantasy Hotel is definitely one of my favorite albums of his.

You know, I've said it before but it's worth repeating: I like to think that in some parallel universe Carl has the superstar status which in this universe was inexplicably denied him. This despite the fact that he possessed a vocal range, elasticity, and sensuality that matched, and often bettered, those of his contemporaries Freddie Jackson, El Debarge, Jeffrey Osborne, John Whitehead, Al Jarreau, and Luther Vandross. As the Funky Town Grooves website notes, “Carl Anderson was a singer with great range, clarity of diction . . . and that rare ability to sing flawlessly from a technical standpoint while still communicating character and emotion.”

I dare say that for most people, Carl Anderson is best remembered for playing Judas Iscariot in the 1973 film adaptation (right) and numerous stage productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar. (For more about Carl’s groundbreaking portrayal of Judas, click here, here, and here.)

Tonight, though, we're visiting a later part of Carl's career, checking into his Fantasy Hotel where a table set for two, complete with wine and candlelight, awaits us. As does, of course, the beautiful voice of Carl Anderson. . . . And, yeah, as Carl knowingly sings, it all works together to ensure that “it's such a lovely feeling.”

What makes it especially lovely for me is how Carl leaves the gender of his love interest to the listener's imagination. I always appreciate that in a love song, given that so few reflect same-sex attraction and desire. And in the case of this particular song, the dreamy screen cap at left from Richard Elliot's music video with Carl serves as an acceptable and beautiful image, wouldn't you say? . . . All I wanna do, indeed.

Regardless of what images you conjure as you listen to this wonderful track, be sure to enjoy it below. . . . And just a heads-up, it's followed by a review of Fantasy Hotel, in which Carl's tragically cut-short life is poetically compared to a “song in the night.” . . . Tragic, yes. But with a musical legacy that includes so many wondrous tracks, one can also say of Carl's gone-too-early life, What a song! . . . And (because of that) What a night!

I got my table set for two
Wine and candlelight
Just for me and you
I can't wait to taste your kisses
I want you close to me
You're so delicious

When you're not beside me
I get so down that I just can't think
When your arms are wrapped around me
That's when I become complete

Oh, all I wanna do is dance with you
All I wanna do the whole day through
Into the night
And I'm gonna hold you tight

All I wanna do is dance with you
I just want to have a love that's true
All of my life
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

And when I open up my door
You were looking oh so fine
You're what I've been waiting for
Nothing else compares with you
All the things you do to me
Make me feel brand new

Every time you touch me
When my body feels the heat
The temperature starts rising
To the fever of the beat

So all I wanna do is dance with you
All I wanna do the whole day through
Into the night
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

All I wanna do is dance with you
I just want to have a love that's true
All of my life
It's gonna be alright

You got me where you want me
It's such a lovely feeling
Just to know that you love me
You got me dancing on the ceiling

Every time you touch me
When my body feels the heat
My heart starts a pounding
Can't you see what you do to me?

All I wanna do is dance with you
All I wanna do the whole day through
Into the night
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

All I wanna do is dance with you
I just want to have a love that's true
All of my life
It's gonna feel alright

– Terry Silverlight and Ellison Chase

Following, with added images and links, is a 2005 review of Fantasy Hotel by the website SmoothViews, a site dedicated to "keeping smooth jazz in sight."

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Like a song in the night, vocalist Carl Anderson left us much too early. . . . In February 2004, he lost his fight to leukemia. Having appeared on countless albums over the years, Anderson had a unique voice that rose above his surroundings. Born a twin in the mountains of Bedford County, Virginia, Carl was raised by God-fearing parents. Carl often said that he got his boundless energy from his twin who died at the young age of eleven [months]. His music career took off after securing the role of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. He has graced the albums of such artists as Eric Marienthal [pictured with Carl in this post's opening image], Maynard Ferguson, Weather Report, Richard Elliot, Keiko Matsui, George Howard as well as Russ Freeman and the Rippingtons. One of his better known works was a disc entitled Fantasy Hotel. As a tribute to Carl, we would like to review that disc and pay homage to a great vocalist.

Released in 1992, Fantasy Hotel was the seventh solo release from Anderson. Produced by Russ Freeman and Andre Fischer for GRP Records, the disc had ten new songs including a single entitled “Once In A Lifetime Love.”

The first track “I Will Be There” features Carl's vocals as clear as ever. Accompanied by the background vocals of Leslie Smith, Anjani Thomas, and Maxi Anderson, this opener is up-tempo and showcases the talents of drummer Tony Morales and bass, keyboards and electric guitar of Russ Freeman. “If Not For Love” is a David Foster arrangement with a catchy refrain and deep background harmonies as well as the sax solo work of Dave Boruff. “Once In A Lifetime Love” is one of my favorites here. Morales and Freeman join the background ladies once again as Anderson's vocals soar on the refrain offering a sharp contrast to the syncopated verses. Freeman's electric solo blends nicely as they join towards the end to finish this one out.

“Love Will Follow” features an All-Star cast with Nathan East joining on bass, Gerald Albright on sax, and Mark Portman on keyboards. Freeman and Morales make sure this Kenny Loggins re-make showcase Carl's vocals. Albright's solo is refreshing as are the ladies' background vocals. The fifth song from Fantasy Hotel is the scat-like “Enough Said.” Carl reminds me a lot of Jarreau here and the presentation lends it to being a great live number. Alphonso Johnson's bass keeps this one driving along with some nice background vocals by the ladies once again, and Portman's keyboards. “All I Wanna Do” is arranged by Freeman and he plays everything here – keyboards, guitar, bass and drum programming – with Morales on occasional percussion. This one is catchy, and Anderson seems to be having fun with it. Freeman's keyboard work is remarkable, and sounds very much like background horns.

“The Closest Thing To Heaven” is the first one here arranged by Brad Cole and Andre Fischer. It's eerie to hear it now, and Carl's voice is so clear. This is a nice arrangement, and builds with a lot of emotion. “Lover's Mask” is an intricate intertwining of vocals and instruments. Anderson's vocals play off of each note until rising to an uplifting chorus. “I'm No Stranger” begins as a funky little number with some nice bass and percussion. Carl's vocals are strong and play nice against the background of Brad Cole's piano. This one builds until the end and is one of the better numbers here.

“Wish I Could Stay (Fantasy Hotel)” is dark while being accompanied by only a piano. It's almost as if he knew his time here would be short. It's reflective as well as wishful.

[In the album's liner notes] Carl writes, “Wish I could stay as time and reality intervenes; now it is past and only pictures remain. But reserved for you in the center of my soul is the garden suite at Fantasy Hotel.”

Thanks, Carl. Godspeed to you as you lift up your voice in the heavens above. As for the Fantasy Hotel, we'll be by often to check in.

– SmoothViews
June 2005

The Wild Reed's February 2019 Celebration of Carl Anderson:
• Remembering and Celebrating Carl Anderson
• Carl Anderson: “Pure Quality”
• Carl Anderson's Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar: “The Gold Standard”
• Carl Anderson's Judas: “A Two-Dimensional Popular Villain Turned Into a Complex Human Being”
• Carl Anderson: “Artist and Vocalist Extraordinaire”
• Playbill Remembers Carl
• Remembering the Life of Carl Anderson: “There Was So Much Love”

For more of Carl at The Wild Reed, see:
• Carl Anderson: “One of the Most Enjoyable Male Vocalists of His Era”
• With Love Inside
• Carl Anderson
• Acts of Love . . . Carl's and Mine
• Introducing . . . the Carl Anderson Appreciation Group
• Forbidden Lover
• Revisiting a Groovy Jesus (and a Dysfunctional Theology)

Related Off-site Links:
A Profile of Carl Anderson – Part I: A Broadway Legend with Lynchburg Roots – Holly Phelps (LynchburgMuseum.org, May 12, 2015)
A Profile of Carl Anderson – Part II: The Legend Lives On – Holly Phelps (LynchburgMuseum.org,June 10, 2015)
Carl Anderson – Jazz Legend: The Official Website
Carl Anderson Memorial Page
Carl Anderson at AllMusic.com – Ron Wynn (AllMusic.com)
Carl Anderson Biography – Chris Rizik (Soul Tracks)

Marianne Williamson on Live With Katy Tur, 11/29/19

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Thanksgiving Prayer

Acrobatic swallows
tasting the day
and the river itself.

The light of my lamp, the people
I have held in my arms,
the ones yet to hold.

All the old ones embraced by the earth
and young ones entranced by the sky,
any moment of justice.

One dog with soulful eyes,
all listeners and thinkers,
teachers and keepers.

All workers and doers.

The friendship of books and solitude,
skin and sinew, the struggle of beauty,
the step of a deer.

The cooling of day into dark.

A goldfinch crossing in pure air,
the sky and again
the sky.

– Linda Back McKay

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Come, Spirit!
• Michael Greyeyes on Temperance as a Philosophy for Surviving
• Something to Think About – November 23, 2017
• Something to Think About – November 24, 2011

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

After the Season's First Snowstorm, a Walk Through the Neighborhood

In much of Minnesota we're experiencing our first major snowstorm of the snow season of 2019-20. Here in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 8 inches of snow has fallen since 9:00 o'clock last night. A second storm, comprised of a possible rain-snow-ice mix, is forecast for Friday evening through Sunday.

Earlier today I took a walk through my neighborhood, which is the Seward neighborhood of south Minneapolis, and took the following photographs.

For the story behind the sign above at left, click here.

Notes Wikipedia:

The Seward neighborhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., is geographically southeast of downtown, consisting of the land bordered by Hiawatha Avenue to the west, Minneapolis Midtown Greenway (between E. 27th St. and E. 28th St.) to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and Interstate 94 to the north. Seward's bordering neighborhoods are Cooper to the Southeast, Longfellow to the South, East Phillips to the Southwest, Ventura Village to the West, Cedar-Riverside to the North, and Prospect Park/East River Road across the Mississippi River to the East. It is one of the neighborhoods that is part of the larger Longfellow community. Seward was named after former New York senator, governor, and US Secretary of State William H. Seward.

The neighborhood includes a number of local (and lively) businesses along Franklin Avenue including Zipps Liquors, Nomadic Oasis Barber Lounge, Steady Tattoo and Body Piercing, Soberfish Restaurant, and two cooperatives, Seward Co-op (a grocery store) and Seward Community Cafe. The neighborhood is also home to the Milwaukee Avenue Historic District, Northern Clay Center, ArtiCulture and The Playwrights' Center.

Related Off-site Links:
Even Bigger Storm Slams Minnesota This Weekend: Record-breaking Storm Heads for Minnesota Friday – Paul Huttner (MPR News, November 27, 2019).
“Bomb Cyclone” Whips Through the West as Winter Storms Snarl Thanksgiving Travel – Colin Dwyer (NPR News, November 27, 2019).
Thanksgiving Storms Dump Snow on Much of the US – and It Isn't Over Yet – Doug Stanglin (USA Today, November 28, 2019).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Just in Time for Winter
• Finn's View of November's “Deepening Cold”
• Winter Arrives! (2009)
• First Snowfall (2010)
• Winter Storm (2012)
• A Winter Walk Along Minnehaha Creek (2013)
• Winter's Return (2014)
• Winter Storm (2016)
• Autumn Snow (2017)
• Winter Beauty (2017)
• Winter . . . Within and Beyond (2017)
• December's Snowy Start (2018)
• Winter . . . Within and Beyond (2019)
• Winter of Content

Image: Michael J. Bayly (Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN).

Quote of the Day

[Barack Obama's recent statements reflect] the Beltway punditry consensus [that] dictates that Democrats must move center to appeal primarily to the white moderate swing voter or Trump supporter in the Midwest, rather than cultivate a multi-racial base and court non-voters.

Establishment and Wall Street Dems are misreading the winds of public sentiment if they believe moderation is a winning political strategy for 2020. There is no constituency for a presidential candidate who prescribes half-measures to put out a fire.

And polling indicates that. . . . The former president is mistaken if he believes that in appealing to the electorate, Democrats must tamp down their message and advocate for tweaks in the system rather than systemic reform.

– David A. Love
Excerpted from “Why Obama Is Just Plain Wrong
About Democrats Moving 'Too Far Left'”
Common Dreams
November 27, 2019

Related Off-site Links:
Obama Is Wrong to Push Democratic Party Centrism – Leland Nally (Common Dreams, November 26, 2019).
The Real Barack Obama Has Finally Revealed Himself – Luke Savage (Jacobin, November 27, 2019)
Amid National Surge, New Poll Shows Bernie Sanders Top Democrat in New Hampshire – Jon Queally (Common Dreams, November 27, 2019).
Obama Privately Considered Leading “Stop-Bernie Campaign” to Combat Sanders 2020 Surge – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, November 26, 2019).
Quit Saying That Bernie Sanders Can't Win — He May Be the Most Electable Democrat Running in 2020 – Matthew Rozsa (Salon, November 24, 2019).
Noam Chomsky: Democratic Party Centrism Risks Handing Election to Trump – C.J. Polychroniou (TruthOut, November 21, 2019).
“Majority of Americans Agree With Me and Bernie”: Michael Moore Makes Powerful Case for Medicare for All – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, November 21, 2019).
It’s Not Thanks to Capitalism That We’re Living Longer, But Progressive Politics – Jason Hickel (The Guardian, November 22, 2019).
Centrists Aren’t Political Realists. Leftists Are – Luke Savage (Jacobin, November 21, 2019).
OK Obama, It’s Time to Cancel Centrism – Sonali Kolhatkar (TruthDig, November 20, 2019).
New York Times Recycles Polling to Tell Dems Once More: Move to the Right – Julie Hollar (FAIR, November 14, 2019).
A Centrist Cannot Win in 2020 – Robert Reich (TruthDig, October 9, 2019).

UPDATE: Obama Looms Over Divided Democratic Primary – Max Greenwood(MSN News, November 29, 2019).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Quote of the Day – October 19, 2019
• Quote of the Day – April 24, 2019
• Quote of the Day – March 10, 2019
• Quote(s) of the Day – February 26, 2019
• Marianne Williamson on What It Will Take to Defeat Donald Trump
• Hope, History, and Bernie Sanders
• Progressives and Obama (Part 7)

Image: Julio Cortez-Pool / Getty Images.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Celebrating Polly Mann's 100th Birthday

Yesterday I attended Polly Mann's 100th birthday celebration in Minneapolis.

Described as a “relentless speaker of truth to power,” Polly is a longtime justice and peace activist and co-founder of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) – a non-profit organization dedicated to dismantling systems of militarism and global oppression, and one of the most active and influential justice and peace groups in the Midwest.

Polly’s also a very dear friend of mine and a great inspiration for my own efforts in making a positive difference in the world. Thank you, Polly . . . and Happy 100th Birthday!

Following is Polly's short autobiography from the website of Southside Pride, a free monthly newspaper locally owned and operated in South Minneapolis, and to which she still contributes the occasional column under the title, “Notes from the Desk of Peace Activist Polly Mann.”

I was born November 19, 1919, in the little town of Lonoke, Arkansas., and spent my growing-up years in Hot Springs, Ark. After high school I got a job in the Transportation Section of the Quartermaster’s Office (U.S. Army) in Little Rock. During my couple of years there I watched bayonet practice and troop trains depart for the war in Germany (very sobering experiences). As a result I became a pacifist, and that belief guided the rest of my life. I married a military draftee, a young lawyer from Minnesota, who shortly was sent by the military to a base in New Guinea. I then got a job with the U.S. government and went to Ecuador and Peru for a couple of years. When the war was over, my husband, Walter, and I lived in Minnesota where he practiced law and eventually was appointed judge. We (Walter and I and our four children) lived in Windom and Marshall. Upon his retirement we moved to the Twin Cities. He died in 2004. When we came to Minneapolis, a friend and I started an organization, Women Against Military Madness, which has 1,000 members, one staff person and a newsletter editor and is going strong. Today I write occasional articles for the newsletter, see my friends, and enjoy retirement.

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The following images and commentary are excerpted from my website Faces of Resistance: Images and Stories of Progressive Activism at the Turn of the Millennium (1997-2006).

Left: Marianne Hamilton, Polly Mann, and Lu Cossins on the occasion of their joint 80th birthday celebration - February 27, 2000. All three women have played significant roles in Women Against Military Madness (WAMM).

Right: Polly Mann, co-founder of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) – May 1999.

“For many years I thought militarism itself was responsible for war,” noted Polly in October 1999. “But slowly, very slowly, I have come to realize that militarism is itself not responsible for war. It is the mechanism, the servant, of a larger force - a force that is the dominant religion of American society. This religion is touted in every possible way. Half of Sunday’s newspaper is devoted to it . . . It’s most obvious churches are the shopping malls. This force, this god, goes by many names – the most obvious is money. Another is consumerism . . . Another term often applied is the American lifestyle – a term which implies the ability to buy anything you have the money or the credit card capital for. The doctrines of this religion go by many names: ‘free trade,’ meaning unrestricted trade, ‘the market economy,’ and ‘corporate globalization.’”

In April 1999 I invited Polly to speak to a class I was teaching at the College of St. Catherine-Minneapolis, entitled Spirituality and Social Justice. Following are some of the students’ responses to Polly’s presentation:

• War is something Polly is familiar with. She is originally from Arkansas where she worked in an Army camp [during World War II]. She expressed sadness while telling us about the activities of the camp. She said it was very emotional to see the trains leave with the soldiers. They had to say goodbye to their loved ones. She said the worst [part] was when they returned home. Many [of the soldiers] were dead and the rest wounded. It did not seem to matter that they were heroes. [Polly] also told of the fighting techniques the men were taught. Bayonet practice was hard for her to watch because of its brutality. During this time she decided that she would speak out against war, but living in a small town [made it] difficult.

• [In questioning and challenging militarism] Polly has had some negative experiences. She has been arrested because of protesting and [has been] put into jail. The WAMM office has received hate mail and threats. The positive side is how [her activism] effects the people around her. Personally, I think seeing her stand up makes me think I can do something like that with an issue I strongly believe in.

• Polly was a wonderful speaker and I really admire her . . . I left class feeling very uplifted and charged. She has inspired me to speak out against topics like war and to fight for what is right. I have always wondered what difference will it make if I argue for this or that? I am only one person and nobody will listen to me. Polly proved to me that I am not the only one out there. All it takes is for one person to start the ball rolling.

Left: “I feel bad, but I’m not angry,” says Polly of the events of 9/11. “I’m saddened, but I’m not angry because I understand that there’s a background to all of this. And also, I think of the 5,000 children who die every month in Iraq and I don’t see two inches in the newspaper about that. So, until every death is the same as a death of ours, we’re going to have trouble. Until we feel the equal pain for their loved ones that we do for the loved ones of Americans, we’re in trouble and we’re going to stay in trouble.”

Reflecting on the Bush administration’s war rhetoric and the strong support it seemingly has from the American public, Polly notes, “America is not a peace-loving country. It is a country filled with people who love their things more than they love their children. Our wealth has done us in.”

Related Off-site Links:
Polly Mann Is Still Taking on War and Racism at Age 96 – Randy Furst (Star Tribune, February 25, 2016).
Peacemaker Parishioners Stay Faithful to Their Mission in Minneapolis – Nadia Barnett (National Catholic Reporter, July 18, 2019).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Inspirational Polly Mann Turns 90
• Marv Davidov, 1931-2012

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Photo of the Day

Walking Away

If someone cannot reciprocate your love, if someone cannot give you what you truly deserve, you have to understand that aching for them to do so before they are ready is a form of self destruction.

Your heart is a vast and tender thing, you cannot keep trying to shrink it into what someone else needs. You cannot keep pouring your love into a vessel that cannot contain it. You cannot keep pouring your love into a soul that has not opened their eyes to all that they are receiving. You cannot keep pouring your love into a heart that is closed off to it. It will only leave you empty. You have to walk away. You have to let this person grow on their own terms, because you can’t love someone into their potential. You can’t love someone into being ready. They have to do that on their own.

And I know how hard it is to walk away from someone you deeply care for. I know how hard it is to lay all of that love down. . . . But in walking away you will learn how to pour all of the love that you were giving to the wrong person, back into yourself. And you will learn how to pour it into all that you desire in life, you will learn how to pour it into your growth, into your art, into your hope. You will learn how to stand up for your feeling, how to stand up for its value.

And when you teach yourself that you deserve to be loved, without having to beg for that love, without having to chase that love down, you open yourself to the kind of beauty that chooses you just as freely as you choose it. You open yourself to the kind of people who see you and immediately know that you are a rare and beautiful thing. You open yourself to new beginnings, to a future that unfolds in ways that don’t hurt or break you down, but rather, build you up, and show you just how worthy you are of having your heart held.

– Bianca Sparacino
Excerpted from “You Cannot Love Someone
Into Their Potential”
Thought Catalog
November 22, 2019

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Empty Beach
• Wendy Matthews: Free, Like the Wind
• In This In-Between Time
• Adnan . . . with Sunset Reflections and Jet Trail
• Adnan . . . Amidst Mississippi Reflections
• The Gravity of Love
• The Choice (and Risk) That Is Love
• Love as Exploring Vulnerability
• Dew[y]-Kissed
• The Path Ahead

Related Off-site Link:
Let Go of the People Who Aren’t Ready to Love You – Brianna Wiest (Thought Catalog, December 30, 2019).

Image 1: Michael J. Bayly.
Image 2: A. Ahmed A.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Marianne Williamson: “Anything That Will Help People Thrive, I’m Interested In”

Image: Jacob Martin

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Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson may not be in tonight's fifth Democratic presidential debate in Atlanta, but here at The Wild Reed I celebrate the fact that she's still very much in the race.

I do this by sharing (with added images and links) an insightful interview with Marianne that Tom Syverson conducted for Paste magazine. It was first published last Wednesday, November 13. Enjoy!

_________________________

Marianne Williamson on Building
an Economics of Love

Tom Syverson | Paste | November 13, 2019

In one of the most memorable moments of the first Democratic debate, Marianne Williamson said something about plans.

Responding to a question about healthcare, Williamson said, “I’ll tell you one thing. It’s really nice if you have all these plans. But if you think we’re going to beat Donald Trump by just having all these plans, you’ve got another thing coming . . . we’ve got to get deeper.”

In the second debate, she expressed the sentiment a bit more colorfully: “If you think any of this wonkiness is going to deal with this dark psychic force of the collectivized hatred that this president is bringing up in this country, then I’m afraid that the Democrats are going to see some very dark days.”

Both moments turned “she has a plan for that” on its head, drawing our attention to the fundamental blind spot of liberal expectations: the naïve idea that politics can be reduced to a straightforward policy debate, and that we can expect the people with the best ideas to prevail.

That stubborn misconception persists, even in the face of contradictory experience, structuring much of the discourse on the left-end of the Democratic primary and dashing our dreams, again and again. Indeed, the gap between the promises and products of democracy has been its crucial paradox for hundreds of years.

Marianne Williamson’s campaign can be understood as a progressive attempt to come to terms with this paradox, making a case for a new way of doing left politics, one less motivated by policy particulars and instead conditioned on collective emotion, moral leadership, and spiritual renewal.

But that doesn’t mean Williamson is without a plan altogether. In fact, her campaign website features a highly developed policy section, with detailed policy proposals across 25 different categories. Recently, I spoke with Marianne Williamson about some of these plans, and how economic conditions are inextricably bound up in the collective emotional register.

_________________________

Tom Syverson: In your book, A Politics of Love, you argue for a moral reawakening in our political culture, one based on love. But you also have several chapters on policy, including one proposing what you call an “economics of love.” What would it mean to adopt an economics of love, and why is it important to us now?

Marianne Williamson: Well, ever since the 1980s, the amoral economic system of trickle-down economics has been corrupting our government and hijacking America’s moral value system. It is a system that is amoral in that it posits short-term financial fiduciary responsibility to stockholders as the bottom line, even over and above any kind of ethical or moral consideration to the workers, to the community, to the environment. And this has completely broken our economics from its moral compass. And because, due to the undue influence of money on the part of these forces, they’ve corrupted our government. That means that there is neither an economic system nor government that has the back of the American people anymore. Quite the opposite. It means that we have split, for all intents and purposes, from a functioning government to a functioning corporate aristocracy. We have experienced a massive transfer of wealth into the hands of a very few Americans.

We had no major wealth inequality problem in the 1970s. Now we have wealth inequality greater than any time since 1929. This has decimated America’s middle class and it has left us with 1 percent of Americans owning more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. This is unjust, but more than being unjust, it’s undemocratic. Louis Brandeis, who was a 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.” So, this amoral economic system has had profoundly immoral consequences. From 13 million children who are hungry in the United States, 100,000 children who are homeless in the United States, a national security agenda that is dominated by profits of defense contractors, a healthcare system that is dominated by the profits of health insurance companies and big pharmaceutical companies.

On and on and on. It’s why we don’t have free college. It’s why we have this terrible college loan debt, why we don’t have universal healthcare. And until the people demand a fundamental interruption of the economic, social, and political patterns that dominate our culture, then this will simply continue. We might have a better version of it, but it is the new status quo. We have generations that don’t even remember when it was any different. And the status quo does not rise up to repair itself, the status quo by definition perpetuates itself. It’s time for the people to step in.

Image: Jacob Martin

TS: That’s a very interesting context to put us in. That’s exactly the problem we face today. One aspect of that chapter of your book in particular that struck me as very interesting, and that I haven’t heard anywhere before was, you proposed this idea that human creativity is really the driver of a healthy economy, as opposed to profit or work as such. Could you say a bit more about that?

MW: The idea here is that money does not come, or it does not emanate from, a bunch of corporate aristocrats high up on their Mount Olympus, somewhere dropping crumbs from their table in the form of job creation. That’s basically the principle that guides us now. You give everything to them because they’re the job creators. That is not where money comes from. Money instead comes from the creativity and the productivity of the American people.

And so, the principle that money comes from corporate aristocrats says, then what you need to do is give more money to the corporate aristocrats so that they will create jobs. Well, first of all they may and they may not. Number two, it’s a very paternalistic paradigm, because it says they’ll create jobs, but that doesn’t necessarily mean jobs that people most want. Look at how many people go to jobs they hate only because that’s where they have to go for their health benefits.

Look at how many people are in jobs that they hate, but it’s a career they have to go for because they don’t know any other way to pay back their college loans. Look at how many people have to work two and three jobs just to make ends meet. On the other hand, if you see that money comes from the creativity and the productivity of the American people, then you build your public policy, particularly your economic policy, around the principle of what would help people thrive beginning with childhood. We now know things about the brain of a child that we didn’t even know 50 years ago. We know so much about what happens in the brain of a child, for instance, before the age of eight. So I want a massive realignment of investment in the direction of children.

I want a Department of Children and Youth in order to take on the massive set of vulnerabilities and challenges of the American child. If we want economic prosperity 20 years from now, what we should do is front-end our resources. If we want greater prosperity, 20 years from now, we will do much more for a 10-year-old today. So, we need to stop basing our educational funding on property taxes and we need to set a national goal. And that national goal is that every school in America will be a palace of learning and culture and the arts. It is a completely different economic paradigm from seeing corporate forces as the origin of money to seeing creativity and productivity of people. Now, in both cases work is the engine. That’s not the question, the point is, which engine?

Image: Marianne Williamson‎

TS: I want to begin to bring us more toward the electoral context that we’re in, and the economic situation that has informed some of the narratives both coming out of 2016 and going into this upcoming election. So, it’s a bit of a cliche by now, but one of the big narratives to come out of 2016 was the idea that it was the precarious economic situation of middle-class or working-class Americans that had as big a hand in deciding the election as something like sexism or racism. What do you make of this narrative a few years later? And, if you would tend to agree with it, what would you say is the biggest source of that anxiety today?

MW: I believed it then, and I believe it now. There was a tremendous economic despair. It was tremendous economic rage, and that economic rage was absolutely justified, totally legitimate for all the reasons that I said earlier. Millions and millions of people registered that they were getting screwed; that this system was rigged against them, and it was in all the ways that you and I have already discussed. So, there were two candidates that named it. One was an authoritarian populist named Donald Trump. And one was a progressive populist named Bernie Sanders. And I felt strongly that that economically faced rage was going to express itself in a cry of populist despair. The only question was whether it was going to be expressed on behalf of the authoritarian or the progressive populist. And we know what happened. I don’t think Hillary Clinton didn’t care, but Hillary Clinton didn’t name it.

People want to feel that they’re seen and they want to feel that their pain is seen and they want to feel that their issues are validated. So, that was then, and this is now. The economic system is obviously no better. We have an administration that instead of making things better makes things worse, but then says that it made them better and in the most astonishing of ways. The emotional tenor of this moment that I share however, is not rage but exhaustion.

So, for the Democrats to take on Donald Trump in 2020, raging against Donald Trump, I believe is very, very unwise. I saw one of my fellow candidates on television the other day saying that he was going to prove that Trump is a fraud and a liar. And I laughed to myself thinking, “To who? Who doesn’t already know?” The question isn’t between those who think he is a fraud and a liar and those who don’t. It’s more between those who know he’s a fraud and a liar and find the whole idea outrageous, and those who know on some level that he’s a fraud and a liar but somehow feel that he’s a liar on their behalf. So, it’s okay.

I believe that if all we do is go on and on about Donald Trump, if anything, we’re making the mistake of Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton spent way too much time talking about how bad Donald Trump was and not enough time, in my opinion, talking about all the wonderful things that she would have done to make the country better. And so, I do not believe that raging against Donald Trump. . . . I heard another candidate saying she was going to prosecute Donald Trump. Really? To me that’s not the way we’re going to win. To me, people are exhausted hearing about it. They know who he is. The American people do not need me to tell them who he is. What we need to do is not only describe for people, but actually turn into an agenda, a political agenda for people that would actually put an end to an aberrational chapter in American history and allow us to begin a new one.

Image: Marianne Williamson‎

TS: One thing I find interesting about your campaign is that it seems to be very focused on choosing the correct political strategies based on what the current emotional context is and not the other way around.

You mentioned things like rage and despair in particular, which makes me think about the current state of mental health in the United States. And some might say that there’s a mental health crisis happening, particularly among young people. Reports coming out saying that millennials are dying more deaths of despair, which include suicides and overdoses, than any other generation. New information from the CDC suggests that generation Z is on track to do even worse.

And so, what I was curious to know your thoughts about was, I noticed in the healthcare section of your website, your platform, you mentioned promoting “non-pharmacological ways to treat mental health issues.” What are these other ways, in your experience, and is there an economic dimension to it, the way that we’ve been discussing so far?

MW: This is just one more area out of many where the system discusses symptoms and not cause. And one of the reasons the political system wants to talk about symptoms not cause is because they are the cause. When you have 93 million Americans living near poverty, think about how much tension and anxiety that translates into on a daily basis. When you have a younger generation who, for all intents and purposes, can’t see what global capitalism has ever done for them, think about how much tension and anxiety that translates into on a daily basis. When you look at how many millions of Americans, even those living in their 20s for goodness sakes, are dealing with tens of thousands and more of dollars in college loans that stretch out before them, like an endless sea of debt, how could there not be tension and anxiety? I’ll tell you what you do. I have a great idea for how to treat the mental health crisis, guys. Stop driving so many people crazy.

Anytime you have large groups of desperate people, there will inevitably arise levels of societal dysfunction, and that societal dysfunction arises from the fear, it arises from the despair. So, what we have to do is to address the despair.

When you have millions of Americans living every day, not knowing what will happen if they get sick, what will happen if their kids get sick, how they will pay for college, how they’ll help their kids pay for college, how they’ll ever get out from underneath their college loans; seeing basically no real path of abundance, possibility, and opportunity in front of them, what do you think that’s going to translate into, except hopelessness? So, then we put words on it like “anxiety disorder,” we put words on it like “depression.” Well, yes, but where does all that come from? It comes from the chronic feeling of disconnection and isolation, which is endemic to this kind of an amoral economic system controlling our society the way it does.

This is why the undue influence of money on our political system is the cancer underlying all the other cancers, and it is what holds this unjust economic paradigm in place. And until we address that, then there’s going to be that level of despair. People are traumatized; poverty is traumatizing, hunger is traumatizing, lack of opportunity is traumatizing, lack of hope is traumatizing.

Young people go to school every single day hoping this is not the day they will be shot in school. And the same governmental system that refuses to pass reasonable gun safety laws, the same governmental system that shows such obsessive obeisance to the NRA. The same economic system that refuses to reinstate the assault weapons ban, even though the assault weapons ban was the single most important deterrent to mass shootings during the time that it was in existence. That economic system has the audacity to say that it realizes there is a mental health crisis and they’re going to do something to fix it. They are the mental health crisis, and at this point part of the mental health crisis is that we would even think about electing some of those people back into office.

Image: Jacob Martin

TS: Related to this idea about carrying the everyday anxieties of your average person who’s out there struggling, one solution I’ve heard proposed before is universal basic income (UBI). And I noticed on your website that you’re a supporter of this, you –

MW: Yes I am.

TS: Following Andrew Yang’s work on it. And so, my question is, what is it about UBI specifically as opposed to other solutions, such as say a federal job guarantee, that makes you feel like it’s the best policy to highlight right now?

MW: I think that Andrew is correct about the tsunami coming [in] the next few years in terms automation. All you have to do is take a stroll around any town or city and you see signs of this. You walk into a drug store and instead of five clerks like there used to be, you’ll see one clerk. Instead, you check out in a computer kiosk. And it’s not like the people who lost their jobs as clerks at CVS took over to Rite Aid to get another job. Because at Ride Aid, they are also putting in the computer kiosks and cutting down on the clerks. We have nine states in the United States where trucking is the primary industry. Well, we’ll have driverless trucks. For somebody for whom that was their career for the last few decades, where is that person supposed to go?

So, this thousand dollars a month will stave off the level of catastrophic hardships that could blow up in our faces on levels that we are not currently imagining. Now, I want an entire World War II level mass mobilization to reverse climate change and that is going to create a lot of jobs. And then in addition to this, I want to have a referendum. It is to be a non-binding referendum where all Americans between the age of 18 and 26 will vote on the idea of a mandatory one-year national service.

Why all this? Because we need to initiate a season of repair that is nothing short of World War II level enrollment in turning a ship around, which is so much larger than any we can possibly even imagine.

Anything that will help people thrive, I’m interested in. That to me is the purpose of public policy. Anything that will help people thrive. So, yes, I want the universal basic income. I don’t have a problem with a federal jobs guarantee, although it can’t be just some cold bureaucratic assignment, where you can have this job, you might not like it, but we will guarantee you that. So, you can’t say the government didn’t give you a job. Even that’s just dealing on the level of symptom. I want to go deeper to the level of cause. Where we’re actually doing the things that are necessary. Whether it has to do with fixing a bridge, whether it has to do with building a school, whether it has to do with keeping a rural hospital from closing or building a new one, whether it has to do with aid in a rural school somewhere or an inner-city school somewhere. There is so much to do, we need to get about the work of doing it.

Above: Musician and artist Dave Navarro next to the "street piece" artwork he created earlier this year. In July Navarro publicly endorsed Marianne Williamson for president, noting that, "[This time] I am only voting with my heart and for who I see as a revolutionary thinker and leader in politics. While everyone else on that [July debate] stage was learning to debate and raise funds and campaign and manipulate their way through DC, Marianne Williamson was working with people who were suffering and bringing joy to their lives. Somehow it seems obvious to me. I’m not thinking about a four year game, I’m thinking about a long game for humanity!"

TS: On universal basic income, even among some of its supporters, one of the criticisms that often comes up is that providing a universal additional $1,000 per month might cause inflation. For example, if my landlord turns around and raises my rent anyway, then I’ll be back where I started. Do you see this as a realistic concern or do you think it’s economic fear-mongering?

MW: It’s economic fear mongering. We can give $2 trillion in a tax cut where 83 cents of every dollar goes to the very richest individuals and corporations. If we could do that, then we could give some money to people so that they can survive. Martin Luther King said, “If they give it to the rich, they call it a subsidy. If they give it to the poor, they call it a handout.”

Anytime we’re talking about using the levers of government to help people, there will be somebody shouting about it, putting it down, criticizing it because of the basic ideological opposition to helping people. That’s really what we’re talking about here. I believe you build up people. I say, “You build up people in order to build up your economy.” And those who say “You build up your economy in order to build up people,” they inevitably say, “In order to build up your economy, you build up your economy by building up the wealth of just a few people.” We’ve got to end that now. It has been a trickle-down catastrophe and we need to completely shift from an economic to a humanitarian bottom line. You build up people, that is the way to uplift your economy, as well as the span of your humanity.

Image: Marianne Williamson‎

Image: Julie Jeffries‎

Image: Julie Jeffries‎

TS: One more of your particular policy proposals that I wanted to ask about was, of course, your reparations plan. I think this is another area where you’re taking up a really unique and specifically economic policy to heal a collective pain in the country. So, if you could just explain a little bit about how that would work and how it might do something to help us move forward as a country.

MW: My plan is for $500 billion to be disbursed over a period of 20 years, and it would be dispersed to a reparations council. The reparations council would consist of somewhere between probably 40 and 75 people who represent a broad array of cultural, spiritual, political, economic, academic leadership among a population that are all descendants of American slaves.

The stipulation on the part of the U.S. government is that the money is to be used for purposes of economic and educational renewal. Beyond the specific question of who gets the money – whether it’s historically black colleges, whether it’s venture capital for black businesses, whether it has to do with real estate issues related to gentrification or, whatever – that would not be a decision to be made by white America and that’s part of the power of reparations. If I owe you money, I don’t get to tell you how to spend it. The idea of reparations is different from race-based policies for that reason.

Race-based policies alone answer an economic need for restitution and that’s a good thing, but it doesn’t carry any moral force beyond that. Reparations contain an inherent mea culpa. They contain an inherent acknowledgement of a wrong that was done and the debt that is owed and the willingness on the part of a people to pay the debt.

Image: Eric Ember‎

Image: Photographer unknown‎

TS: It’s like, we can’t just say we’re sorry, but we need to put our money where our mouth is.

MW: Well, I think that’s exactly the point. If you took $1,000 from me and then you had told me that you were really sorry about that, I would appreciate the apology. But I’d want my money back. So, when you’re in, let’s say, Alcoholics Anonymous and you have to take a serious moral inventory, you have to admit the exact nature of your character defects.

That’s what we’re talking about here. Racism was an original character defect, and it’s not enough for us just to atone. We must make amends as well. We dismantled segregation, we passed the voting rights act, even though that is being chipped at now as well. But what we have not addressed in any fundamental way is the economic gap that existed at the end of the civil war, which has never been closed.

Image: Chienhwe Carol Hong

Image: Marianne Williamson‎

TS: Thank you for that explanation. I do have just one last question for you and this one is about language in particular, what I’d call our vocabulary of political economy, these days. In the democratic primary it seems like there’s been a little bit of a language game going on, on the left end of the spectrum. Bernie proudly identifies as a socialist, Elizabeth Warren eschews the label and has been pretty clear about her belief in markets.

I believe the other day you added maybe a third iteration when you said you are “not anti-capitalist.” My question for you is, what are these words? Capitalism, anti-capitalism, socialism. Are they meaningful to you? Are they just language games or do they speak –

MW: No, actually they are meaningful to me and I’ve said from the beginning I’m for capitalism with a conscience. Some people believe that the kind of moral certitude that is necessary is impossible within a capitalist context. I don’t believe that.

I don’t believe that public immorality is necessarily inherent in capitalism. I believe that a virulent strain of capitalism, a virulent strain of it, namely trickle-down economics, has come to the forefront over the last 40 years. It’s interesting to note, however, that the main articulator of trickle-down economics, Milton Friedman, himself argued for UBI, himself said that none of that would be safe without a universal basic income. That idea goes back a very long time.

So, I believe, as I said, that that was a virulent strain of capitalism, not capitalism itself. I think that there are places where obviously the government, in my mind, obviously, the government should guarantee the well-being of people and should provide for the common good, as the constitution says. Obviously, we believe that in relation to the police, we believe that in relation to the fire department, and I believe that we should feel that in relation to healthcare.

But even there, I believe there should be some entrepreneurial opportunities, not for health insurance companies, but for doctors. So, when I reveal my healthcare plan within the next week or two, it will be a hybrid that is not quite out there on anyone else’s part yet. I don’t believe the problem in America is that some people can get rich. I think that’s a good thing that people can get rich in America. The problem we have today is that not enough people can get rich and I don’t think that the average person who creates wealth in this country wants to feel that they are doing so at the expense of other people having a chance. So, I believe that when ethics guides us and conscience guides us, not only in terms of our individual personal behavior but also in terms of business behavior and in terms of public policy, then we can have the best of both worlds.

Capitalism can survive but it will reclaim its moral compass. I’m reminded of when FDR said, “I’m not here to destroy capitalism. I’m here to save capitalism.” And I believe that those of us who want to hold capitalism accountable are the best news that capitalism could get. Because if capitalism does not reclaim its moral center, it won’t be Bernie or Elizabeth or Marianne who makes the change. They will have millions and millions and millions of people who are just growing up now who will storm the Bastille. Because you already have millions of young kids who are saying, “What the hell has global capitalism ever done for me?” Millions of American young people who are already saying, “What am I supposed to be afraid of in socialism, the free healthcare or the free college?”

So, you had the various powerful voices like Ray Dalio, Jeremy Grantham, even the Business Roundtable who have a knowledge that this has gone too far. When you’ve got the quintessential capitalist voices like the Business Roundtable saying that short-term profits should no longer be the bottom line of the American corporation, then you know. You’re in a very pregnant moment. This is a real sea change. We’re going to change. This country in the years ahead is going to go through big change. The only question is whether this will be change driven by wisdom or a change driven by chaos. And that’s why I believe that I’m the person for the job.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Marianne Williamson is running for president. More information about her campaign is available at her website. Tom Syverson is a writer living in Brooklyn. He can be contacted and harassed on Twitter.

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Following is a video of the speech Marianne delivered at the California Democratic Party 2019 Fall Endorsing Convention – Long Beach, November 15-17, 2019.

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UPDATE: The following message was shared by Marianne earlier today, November 21, 2019.

Watching last night’s Democratic debate was like going to a dinner party you hoped was going to be better than it was. It’s not that the people there weren’t nice; it’s just that nobody said anything all that interesting.

I was in Fairfield, Iowa, talking to caucus voters about things that the moderators from the corporate media weren’t going to touch at the Democratic debate. No one at the debate was going to talk about how the corporate aristocracy in this country actually works, why we have so much more chronic illness than do our counterparts in other countries, the overwhelming challenges and vulnerabilities of millions of Americans children, or why we do so much more to prepare for war than to prepare for peace.

No, those things don’t belong on that TV reality show because the debates, like all reality shows, are not really reality. They’re theatre scripted by the political industrial complex, casting politicians in the role of show ponies, promising everything and delivering little but the same old tired conversations that everybody knows we’ve all heard before.

Meanwhile, our democracy is under assault. Trump is still president. Another school shooting robbed us of our children. And the same old same old politics won’t even begin to do the trick next year.

But hey, the show must go on.

Unless we the people stop it. We the people have the power in our hands, and it’s time to use it. It’s time to burst out of the box that exists for no other reason than to feed the campaign industrial complex. All the “We had to limit the field” nonsense had nothing to do with political necessity, and everything to do with the DNC’s intent to control the process. That is NOT democracy.

It’s time to disenthrall ourselves of the idea that only those who the DNC have selected for the debate stage should be seen as viable candidates, and only the topics that the mainstream corporate media prescribe should be discussed as serious issues.

I am staying in this race to talk about things that strike at the root of what’s wrong in this country. I’m talking about ending an aberrational chapter of American history and creating the space for a new one. I’m talking about what it will take to initiate a season of repair. And I’m talking about them in a different kind of way. We need to do a whole lot more than convince people next year; we need to inspire them, or we will lose.

I feel deep affection for a few of the people on last night’s debate stage. The problem is not them. The problem is us. It’s time for us, the American people, to change the conversation from symptoms to root causes in a way that the political media establishment does not want us to do.

But this is not a moment to simply do as we’re told.

Something big is emerging in America today, much more powerful than the sterile political conversation that is sanctioned by the DNC. The way to defeat a new and never-before-seen force in American politics is to create our own new and never-before-seen force in American politics. It will take nothing less than that to win next year.

The 2020 election is going to be bold and dramatic. And so am I.

– Marianne

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Image: Edite Haberman‎‎