The Pompitous of Love

David Brooks ("Marianne Williamson Knows How to Beat Trump") says this is no time  for wonkiness:

It is no accident that the Democratic candidate with the best grasp of this election is the one running a spiritual crusade, not an economic redistribution effort. Many of her ideas are wackadoodle, but Marianne Williamson is right about this: “This is part of the dark underbelly of American society: the racism, the bigotry and the entire conversation that we’re having here tonight. 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.

Laugh all you want, you know, but I think there's something to it. I mean I wouldn't call it a "dark underbelly" (underbellies are usually pretty pale in most species, I believe), but don't we all feel something apocalyptic about this atmosphere? Psychic force, collectivized hatred, crisis, something hideous at our hearts that never dared to show itself before and now looks triumphant behind our incompetent and criminal emperor. Is it wackadoodle to see a cosmic struggle of some kind going on in the here and now?

Marianne Williamson, a noted lecturer on esoteric subjects

She began regularly lecturing on A Course in Miracles in Los Angeles and New York City, and eventually in other cities in the U.S. and Europe.^[18][19]Williamson said that reading the book was her "path out of hell" as she had been "mired in a series of unhappy love affairs, alcohol and drug abuse, a nervous breakdown, and endless sessions with therapists", according to a 1992 Skeptical Inquirer article. The piece also reported on Williamson's professed fringe beliefs, including that the "Voice" described in A Course in Miracles came from Jesus, that "nothing occurs outside our minds", and that "sickness is an illusion and does not actually exist".^[20] The Course is said to have been channeled over seven years by Helen Schucman, "an emotionally tortured psychologist", according to the Los Angeles Times. Williamson has stated that it "contains no holes", and that by consulting the Course every problem can be solved.^[21]

and author of numerous books including A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles (1992), Healing the Soul of America (1997), and most recently A Politics of Love: A Handbook For a New American Revolution (or "pompitous of love" if you prefer) and a presidential candidate, looks extremely fresh and vivacious for 67, says things like "Stand in the Light of your greater becoming. Surrender to the flow of life moving through you", and emphasizes that she does not tell people they don't need doctors, though I'm pretty sure she used to do that, is literally the perfect Brooksian politician, and I'm not surprised he's entranced. She's the spirit of the classic American self-help book made flesh and transmitted into the sociopolitical sphere. She's everything he's been writing in recent years in the alternate columns when he's not writing standard conservative talking points.

Wackadoodle, as he says, but her fundamental message, that we can all eliminate disease, win friends and influence people, turn our lives around with these seven simple spiritual exercises, and be the very best us we can possibly be, is what America is all about, when it isn't about "the cancerous politics of fear and divisiveness" afflicting us at the moment. And just forget about health care, banking regulation, voting rights, and wealth inequality and focus on what really matters: "imitate the heroes of our past and live out our deepest spiritual commitment: where some have sown hatred, let us now sow love".

Just follow this one effective rule, and you too can rebuild the moral infrastructure of our country! At least if you're a Democrat, because all the Republicans seem to have been raptured, they're not mentioned anywhere in the column:

it falls on the Democrats to rebuild the moral infrastructure of our country. That does not mean standing up and saying, “Donald Trump is a racist!” 500 times a day. It means reminding Americans of the values we still share, and the damage done when people are not held accountable for trampling on them. The values are pretty basic and can be simply expressed:

Unity: We’re one people. Our leader represents all the people. He doesn’t go around attacking whole cities and regions.

Honesty: We can’t have deliberative democracy without respect for the truth. None of us want congenital liars in our homes or our workplaces.

Pluralism: Human difference makes life richer and more interesting. We treasure members of all races and faiths for what they bring to the mosaic.

Sympathy: We want to be around people with good hearts, who feel for those who are suffering, who are faithful friends, whose daily lives are marked by kindness.

Opportunity: We want all children to have an open field and a fair chance in the great race of life.

Except for the 35% or so who took over the political party you've been beckoning them into for half a century, who don't value unity if it means unity with black people, city people, people who read books, etc., who couldn't care less about congenital liars showing up on the TV of politics, who think human difference is scary, who think those who are suffering probably deserve it, and who want to make sure some children have less of a chance than others. Will they all just melt away in the sunshine of your goodness?

I don't know, but it seems to me that in a similar fictional situation we all remember, the humans and elves, dwarves, hobbits, ents, and so on ended up having to fight for more or less these same values, and it took quite a bit of logistical planning as well as, no doubt, hurtful rhetoric designed just to make the orcs feel bad. Just "reminding" people wasn't going to do the trick.