Anti War Activists

"We should have total public funding of federal campaigns. That is the only way to get the dark money out of politics. As president that will be my first piece of legislation to submit because the undue influence of money on our politics is the cancer underlying all other cancers."

"The US will be a violent society until we decide to be nonviolent. Our task, if we do decide that, is to proactively and intentionally wage peace."

"The military has more than 130 bands with more than 6000 musicians, costing about a half-billion dollars a year. Meanwhile the National Endowment for the Arts gets $155M, a paltry amount compared to other advanced democracies. Arts & artists should be robustly funded & supported!"

"As long as health ins & Big Pharma determine so much health care policy, gun manufacturers so much gun safety policy, oil & gas companies so much environmental policy & defense contractors so much defense policy, we’re functioning not as a democracy but as a corporate aristocracy"

"A person disconnected from empathy is a sociopath, but making that all about the president is to displace our outrage & responsibility from where it belongs. Our public policies have lacked empathy for decades. He did not create the spiritual void; the spiritual void created him."

"The United States is number two in the world for hosting child pornography websites. Dangers to our children should be a top priority, yet only half the money appropriated to fight crimes against children online has been given to the effort."

"Economic system of the US was created & designed before women had a voice in the public realm. We do have a voice now; it’s important that we use it not to fit into the system but to change the system. The main engine of our economy should be the care & nurturance of our children"

"The ground on which we’ll unite as Americans is the higher ground of moral repair. Not Left or Right, or even Democrats or Republicans. We’ll unite as Americans, having come to realize that aligning public policy with the goodness in our hearts is our best and only path forward."

"Purity of heart will not make us poor. The exaltation of poverty as a spiritual virtue is of the ego, not the spirit. A person acting from a motivation of contribution and service rises to such a level of moral authority, that worldly success is a natural result. Give all your gifts away in service to the world. If you want to paint, don’t wait for a grant. Paint a wall in your town that looks drab and uninviting. You never know who’s going to see that wall. Whatever it is you want to do, give it away in service to your community."

"We are no longer ambitious for ourselves, but are rather inspired by the vision of a healed world. Inspiration rearranges our energies. It sources within us a new power and direction. We no longer feel like we’re trying to carry a football to the finish line, clutching it to our chest and surrounded by hostile forces. We feel instead as though angels are pushing us from behind and making straight our path as we go."

"The news isn’t how bad things are. The news is how good they could be. And our own activity could be part of the unfolding of Heaven on earth. There is no more powerful motivation than to feel we’re being used in the creation of a world where love has healed all wounds."

"There comes a time, not too long into the journey to God, when the realization that the world could work beautifully if we would give it the chance, begins to excite us. It becomes our new motivation."

"If we’re not working in order to get rich, then why are we working at all? What are we supposed to do all day? Just sit home and watch TV? Not at all, but thinking so is a temporary phase many people go through — when the values of the old world no longer have a hold on us, but the values of the new don’t yet grab your soul. They will."

"The thought system that dominates our culture is laced with selfish values, and relinquishing those values is a lot easier said than done. The journey to a pure heart can be highly disorienting. For years we may have worked for power, money and prestige. Now all of a sudden we’ve learned that those are just the values of a dying world. We don’t know where to search for motivation anymore."

"How could Leonardo da Vinci not have painted? How could Shakespeare not have written? In Letters to a Young Poet, Rilke tells a young writer to write only if he has to. We are to do what there is a deep psychological and emotional imperative for us to do. That’s our point of power, the source of our brilliance. Our power is not rationally or willfully called forth. It’s a divine dispensation, an act of grace."

"If we wait for the world’s permission to shine, we will never receive it. The ego doesn’t give that permission. Only God does, and He has already done so. He has sent you here as His personal representative and is asking you to channel His love into the world. Are you waiting for a more important job? There isn’t one."

"A miracle worker is an artist of the soul. There’s no higher art than living a good life. An artist informs the world of what’s available behind the masks we all wear. That’s what we’re all here to do. The reason so many of us are obsessed with becoming stars is because we’re not yet starring in our own lives. The cosmic spotlight isn’t pointed at you; it radiates from within you."

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

"Candidate suppression is a form of voter suppression."

"As a nation, we have slithered like snakes across the floor to whatever hole where money lay, sacrificing the depths of our own humanity as we did so. And we are surprised now at the various crises among us? What should surprise us is that this didn't happen sooner. Just as the face of a fascistic president could have belonged to anyone, so the consequences of our spiritual malfeasance could have come in any form. Am I saying that America is reaping its karma? You bet I am, but that is never the end of the story. For just as the law of cause-and-effect is inviolable, so is God's mercy. When we come clean with the God of our own understanding—atoning, owning, admitting, all those words that ultimately mean the same thing—the darkest storm clouds are dissolved by light. But not immediately, and not until then. America is down on its knees this time. But that's not the bad news; it's the good news."

"When people say the government should be run like a business, tell them that in many ways it already is—and that's the problem. Our government should not be run like a business; it should be run like a family. A business might rightfully put its short-term profits first, but a functional family puts the well-being of its children first. That's not a relative truth; it's a moral absolute... Our system was designed before women had a voice in the public realm, and raising children was deemed to just be "women's work." But we certainly have a voice now, and we need to raise it on behalf of every mother's child.... In any advanced mammalian species that survives and thrives, a common characteristic is the fierce behavior of the adult female of the species when she senses a threat to her cubs. Ours are threatened now, and we need to get fierce."

"Millions of our kids (40 percent of all girls in Chicago public schools...) show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, and the COVID-19 crisis is quickly making that worse. Schools across the country are working to adopt "trauma-informed" teaching methods. Meanwhile, there is an average of only one school counselor for every 455 public school students... Consider the psychological and emotional effects of going to school each day well aware of school shootings and worried that the weird antisocial kid in class might want to kill you. Make no mistake about it, many of these children will be broken human beings 20 years from now."

"A record 14 million children in America are not getting enough to eat... even before the pandemic, in the richest nation in the world, about 13 million children went to school hungry every day. A report from January found more than 1.5 million public school students were experiencing homelessness, the highest number in over a dozen years. Millions of children attend classrooms where there aren't adequate means to teach them to read by the time they're 8 years old—in which case, their chances of high school graduation are drastically decreased and chances of incarceration are drastically increased."

"America doesn’t need another president. We’ve had forty-five of those, and look how that’s turned out. We here at The Stanford Occasionally know what this country really needs is a spiritual advisor, a candidate who can reveal our own Inner Light and lead the nation to self-actualization. That candidate is Marianne Williamson."

"In ‘A Course in Miracles’ there is a line: ‘The Christ in you cannot be crucified,’ What that's saying is that the truth of who you are cannot be affected by lovelessness because you were not created to be the effect of lovelessness in yourself or in others. That means if I am identifying with the attacks on me, then, by definition, I am identifying with the false self."

"We don't believe that because you pray with someone they're not supposed to go to the doctor."

"If the US really wants to see a peaceful political transition in Venezuela it needs to help create the conditions for effective dialogue, which means supporting moderate factions on both sides that seek a peaceful transition and supporting existing efforts to promote dialogue, in particular those being led at the moment - with some success - by the Norwegian government. The historical record shows that when the US government engages in aggressive intervention to remove a leader that it dislikes, its efforts generally backfire or lead to unforeseen political and social developments that are not easy to resolve. The best policy in Venezuela and most places is to support efforts that allow the country’s citizens to decide on their political future (even if it’s not exactly the sort of future that the US favors)."

"The United States should have an equal and simultaneous support for both the legitimate security concerns of Israel, and the human rights, dignity and economic opportunities of the Palestinian people... I do not believe the settlements on the West Bank are legal. Also, I would rescind the president's affirmation of sovereignty of Israel over the Golan Heights. I understand the occupation of the Golan Heights, but only until there is a stable government in Syria with whom one can negotiate. According to international law, the occupation of a territory does not give the occupying country a right to annex it. Also, according to international law, the resources of the occupied territory are to be used for the good of those living there. I also do not support the blockade of Gaza."

"Nuclear weapons are a symptom of conflict, fear, insecurity, and a drive to dominate. Denuclearization will follow more naturally and easily with decreased tensions and improved relationships. Sanctions are a form of economic warfare with a high rate of failure. Punitive, coercive policies do not always achieve the best outcomes. Sanctions harm innocent people, escalate conflicts and can put us on a path to war. They can provoke targeted populations to rally round the flag, support hardliners and inflame resentment against America. We can achieve superior outcomes with clear-eyed respect and steps towards thawing the ice."

"I haven’t heard anybody on this stage who has talked about American foreign policy in Latin America... There is an injustice that continues to form a toxicity underneath the surface, an emotional turbulence, people heal when there’s some deep truth-telling."

"We need to talk about more than just the health care plan. We need to realize we have a sickness care rather than a health care system. We need to be the party talking about why so many of our chemical policies and our food policies and our agricultural policies and our environment policies and even our economic policies are leading to sick people to begin with."

"What reparations carry that race-based policies do not, is that reparations carry spiritual force there is an inherent mea culpa it is more than just economic restitution, its more than just economic restitution... It is a moral and an emotional and a psychological effect of reparations because it is an inherent acknowledgment of a wrong that has been done and a willingness to right it. … You simply cannot have the future you want if you are not willing to clean up your past ... And its time for us to put some things to bed on that issue. Its time. The civil war was over in 1865."

"The underlying cause has to do with deep, deep, deep realms of racial injustice, both in our criminal justice system and in our economic system... The Democratic Party should be on the side of reparations for slavery for this very reason... I do not believe that the average American is a racist, but the average American is woefully undereducated about the history of race in the United States."

"What I have proposed is $200 to $500 billion (in reparations) to descendants of slaves/ I think anything less than $100 billion is an insult... We should have a reparations council, board of trustees as it were, selecting this counsel – very, very significant because it has to be a board of trustees ... [that] white America trusts and black America trusts... I don’t think the average American is a racist — actually, I don’t at all, but I do think the average American is vastly undereducated, uninformed"

"I've been really tryin, baby Tryin to hold back these feelings for so long And if you feel, like I feel baby Come on, oh come on, Let's get it on."

"There's a poem in I Am Becoming ["Invoke Mercy Extraordinary"] - it's about Marvin Gaye because I love his music and I think there was an extraordinary pull in him between the flesh and the spirit. These two things operated in him very strongly. He has a record called 'What's Going On' which is a most loving piece of work - the concern for humanity, the earth and ecology - it was such an incredibly beautiful piece; it was levitating; it was going to incredible heights. I think if he had continued in that direction he would have ended monastery or on a hill by himself. But always that pull between the flesh and the spirit, that fight."

"My baby ohhh Come take control, just grab a hold Of my body and mind; soon we'll be making it Honey, oh we're feeling fine You're my medicine. Open up and let me in. Darling, you're so great; I can't wait for you to operate."

"Get up, Get up, Get up, Get up, let's make love tonight Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, Wake up, 'cos you do it right."

"Ooh, baby let's get down tonight Baby I'm hot just like an oven I need some lovin' And baby, I can't hold it much longer It's getting stronger and stronger And when I get that feeling I want Sexual Healing. Sexual Healing, baby Makes me feel so fine Helps to relieve my mind. Sexual Healing baby, is good for me Sexual Healing is something that's good for me."

"Distant lover, ooo, sugar How can you treat my heart so mean and cruel? Didn't you know, sugar, that I dream Of what I spent with you? I treasure it like it was a precious jewel, oh baby. Lord have mercy!"

"Ooo remember, baby, how you made me feel just like a king? Ah, I've been waiting I'm ready for you to start doin' the things So I'll know you're mine. You're so fine, so petite, oh candy sweet. Ah, I've been waiting. Come here, baby, get to this."

"Won't you rather make love, children As opposed to war, like you know you should?"

"Oooh, oh, how many eyes Have seen their dream? Oh, how many arms Have felt their dream? How many hearts, baby... Have felt their world stand still?"

"Oh, If I should die tonight Oh baby, though it be far before my time I won't die blue, sugar yeah 'Cause I've known you."

"Stop beatin round the bush, Let's get it on."

"I've come of heart, baby, but now I'm cool I didn't make it surely, playin' by the rules I've come of heart, baby, but now I'm fine I'm checkin' trouble, sure movin' down the line I've come of heart, baby, but that's OK 'Cause Trouble Man don't get in my way."

"Crime is increasing Trigger happy policing Panic is spreading God know where we're heading Oh, make me wanna holler They don't understand."

"Rockets, moon shots Spend it on the have nots Money, we make it 'Fore we see it you take it Oh, make you wanna holler The way they do my life Make me wanna holler."

"Oh mercy, mercy me. Ah things ain't what they used to be. What about this overcrowded land? How much more abuse from man can she stand? Oh, na na... My sweet Lord... No."

"Woo ah, mercy mercy me. Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no. Where did all the blue skies go?"