tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/marianne-williamson-72988/articlesMarianne Williamson – The Conversation2020-01-07T13:14:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1256342020-01-07T13:14:05Z2020-01-07T13:14:05ZCould a woman defeat Donald Trump? What political science research says<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308395/original/file-20200102-11951-1yp6gd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives onstage during a primary night rally at the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, June 7, 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/democratic-presidential-candidate-hillary-clinton-arrives-news-photo/538712572?adppopup=true">Getty/ Drew Angerer</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>U.S. presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/us/politics/sanders-warren-democratic-debate.html">got into a fight</a> this week. Warren reported that Sanders had, in a 2018 meeting, told her that he didn’t believe a woman could win over President Trump in the 2020 election. Sanders denied he said it.</p>
<p>But the two raised a question that many Americans may have asked. Can a woman win the upcoming presidential election?</p>
<p>Three women remain out of an original six in the Democratic primary for president: Sens. Warren and Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.</p>
<p>They may face a harder road than the men in the race. Research on candidates has shown that women encounter a number of obstacles in a political campaign.</p>
<p>Gender stereotypes work against women. Voters may be less likely to see them as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984317304988?via%3Dihub">leaders</a>, or may see them as credible only on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0093650215581369">“feminine” issues like education and child care</a>, and question their ability on “masculine” issues like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1554477X.2014.863697">national security</a>.</p>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12556">experiment</a>, Dr. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rfVwkrAAAAAJ&hl=en">Meredith Meyer</a>, associate professor of psychology at Otterbein University, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5GMIqMwAAAAJ&hl=en">and I</a> showed that women candidates are better off focusing on so-called feminine issues regardless of the voter’s beliefs about gender. </p>
<p>“People often form negative attitudes against those who deviate from gender norms,” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12556">we concluded</a>. “Female candidates who tend to focus on issues stereotypically thought of as feminine are generally more positively evaluated than those who focus on stereotypically masculine domains.” </p>
<p>This means that even though presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren enjoys widespread <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/most-2020-candidates-have-something-in-common-their-supporters-also-like-warren/">favorability</a> among Democratic primary voters, they may be reluctant to vote for her. Defeating President Donald Trump is an <a href="https://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2019/images/09/11/rel10b.-.2020.pdf">important concern</a> for these voters. As much as they might like Warren, they may prefer what they think is a safer bet for the general election. </p>
<p>But a man isn’t necessarily a safer bet than a woman.</p>
<h2>Missing pieces</h2>
<p>There are missing pieces in political scientists’ understanding of female presidential candidates that limit our ability to make confident statements about gender and electability.</p>
<p>If the Democrats nominate a woman, that woman will undoubtedly face challenges arising from sexism and gender stereotypes. </p>
<p>But the same thing would be true about any woman entering any male-dominated profession. Saying sexism exists isn’t much of a prediction. </p>
<p>There is much uncertainty about how gender would affect the viability of a female presidential candidate. It’s still not clear <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/476340-ranking-the-democrats-who-has-best-chance-of-winning-nomination">which Democrat actually has the best chance</a> of winning in 2020, and it’s actually not clear that gender matters much. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308382/original/file-20200102-11919-8xjdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308382/original/file-20200102-11919-8xjdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308382/original/file-20200102-11919-8xjdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308382/original/file-20200102-11919-8xjdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308382/original/file-20200102-11919-8xjdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308382/original/file-20200102-11919-8xjdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308382/original/file-20200102-11919-8xjdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308382/original/file-20200102-11919-8xjdzx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg at the July 30, 2019 candidate debate in the Fox Theatre in Detroit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Election-2020-Debate/d15a9d2470f6478199c784ded62fb843/49/0">AP/Paul Sancya</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>The data problem</h2>
<p>Political scientists study campaigns to see how various circumstances might affect the outcome of an election. </p>
<p>For example, a researcher might want to know the best way to encourage people to vote. To answer this kind of question, a researcher will look across multiple races, measuring a wide variety of factors. Comparing and contrasting similar and dissimilar factors in candidates, messaging and other aspects of campaigns allows researchers to create statistical models about what factors matter in a campaign. </p>
<p>Scholars then take those findings and make predictions about similar campaigns. Congressional races are especially useful for this task because there are 435 races every two years, which means we can collect data on a large sample of candidates and campaigns within a tight time period. </p>
<p>But it is difficult to be certain about what matters in presidential elections because they are so unusual. Presidential campaigns are very different from other kinds of campaigns. Voters and media pay far more attention, and this attention can alter the campaign effects. </p>
<p>This means that research on congressional campaigns doesn’t necessarily apply to presidential campaigns. </p>
<p>Political scientists can try to generalize by looking at presidential elections on their own, but this becomes a problem because there are so few of them, and politics – voters, campaign techniques, life, the universe in general – have changed over time. Collecting data during a campaign can tell you what happened in the <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691174198/identity-crisis">last presidential election</a>, but that doesn’t necessarily tell about future campaigns. </p>
<p>Put simply: The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1952">1952 Eisenhower v. Stevenson</a> campaign does not tell us much about the 2020 presidential election.</p>
<h2>The Hillary problem</h2>
<p>Obviously, it is even more difficult to have a general understanding of how gender affects presidential candidates. </p>
<p>Hillary Clinton is the only <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-conventions/hillary-clinton-becomes-first-female-nominee-major-u-s-political-n617406">woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination</a>. She’s also the <a href="https://cawp.rutgers.edu/levels_of_office/women-presidential-and-vice-presidential-candidates-selected-list">only woman to ever come close</a> to being elected president.</p>
<p>It is difficult to make scientific statements that can be generalized to a larger group, let alone predictions about future events, when you start with a sample size of one. In practice, much of the research about “female presidential candidates” is research about Hillary Clinton. </p>
<p>Researchers are left asking how much of voters’ response to Clinton was due to her gender and how much of it was due to her as an individual. There is little doubt sexism played a role: Research suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/polq.12737">sexism</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfy003">motivated</a> some voters on President Trump’s behalf in the 2016 election. </p>
<p>But did Hillary Clinton’s gender alone guarantee that sexism would be a mobilizing factor in 2016? Did her unique personal history encourage more sexism, or did the public’s familiarity with her actually decrease the importance of sexism relative to her own personal conduct and reputation? </p>
<p>Is it even possible to separate sexism from evaluations of Hillary Clinton?</p>
<p>Scholars don’t know the answer to these questions because they have no one to compare with Clinton. </p>
<h2>The Trump problem</h2>
<p>Adding to scholars’ confusion is that the 2020 Democratic nominee will likely face President Trump, who is also a unique kind of candidate. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://academic.oup.com/poq/article/82/S1/799/4963814">their work on the 2016 election</a>, scholars <a href="https://www.isr.umich.edu/cps/people_faculty_nvalenti.html">Nicholas A. Valentino</a>, <a href="https://www.carlywayne.com/">Carly Wayne</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=author:%22Oceno%20Marzia%22">Marzia Oceno</a> find that sexism and anger combined to mobilize turnout on President Trump’s behalf in 2016. However, they point out that there is really no way to disentangle how much of sexism’s mobilizing effect was due to Clinton, and how much may have been due to the president’s own sexist <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/9/20906567/trump-karen-johnson-sexual-assault-mar-a-lago-barry-levine-monique-el-faizy-book">behavior</a> and campaign <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/08/07/trump-says-foxs-megyn-kelly-had-blood-coming-out-of-her-wherever/">rhetoric</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/politics-and-gender/article/gendered-nationalism-and-the-2016-us-presidential-election-how-party-class-and-beliefs-about-masculinity-shaped-voting-behavior/1F3F3AC0CBEA6F4AC4D89C4CA1FF8409">Research</a> indicates that some respondents felt their national identity was tied to stereotypical masculine traits and worried that Americans were becoming too soft and feminine. These so-called “gendered nationalist” voters responded favorably to Trump’s hyper-masculine rhetoric. </p>
<p>Since it is unlikely the president will alter his rhetoric in the 2020 campaign, it seems fair to assume he will do well with these voters again. Sexism could still be a mobilizing force for Trump voters regardless of whether or not the Democrats nominate a woman.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308383/original/file-20200102-11946-1xrymsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308383/original/file-20200102-11946-1xrymsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308383/original/file-20200102-11946-1xrymsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308383/original/file-20200102-11946-1xrymsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308383/original/file-20200102-11946-1xrymsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308383/original/file-20200102-11946-1xrymsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308383/original/file-20200102-11946-1xrymsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308383/original/file-20200102-11946-1xrymsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Trump autographing a woman’s chest after a campaign rally in 2015. Sexism could be a motivating factor in Trump’s favor in the 2020 election.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Divided-America-Gender-Gap/17a0b748acb64bb6961d936d95f0aca9/11/0">AP/Cliff Owen</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Partisanship drives voting decisions</h2>
<p>Research on female candidates often looks at views rather than votes. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12556">experiments</a>, we studied how voters responded to male and female candidates who used gender stereotypical and nonstereotypical campaign appeals. We showed participants campaign messages from male and female candidates and measured how respondents rated the candidates on warmth, competence, authenticity and likability.</p>
<p>This approach works well if you are thinking about how candidates might fare in a primary election where policy differences between candidates may be less important than voters’ feelings about the candidates.</p>
<p>But in a general election, and particularly in a presidential election, partisanship is often the key determinant of <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691174198/identity-crisis">vote</a> <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691163635/the-gamble">choice</a>. If a voter’s only interest is selecting a nominee most likely to win a general election, then gender may not matter. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qib9frUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Kathleen Dolan’s</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912913487949">work</a> on female congressional candidates shows that party identity seems to carry more weight with voters than gender identity. While her work focused on congressional elections, it suggests that Democrats who may prefer a man to a woman will still vote for a female Democrat, any female Democrat, rather than Republican President Trump.</p>
<p>But mostly, researchers are left with speculation in this area. </p>
<p>Maybe voters won’t be as willing to volunteer or donate money for a female candidate. Maybe media coverage for a woman would be different than it would be for a man, which could have some indirect effect on voters. You could even speculate that a female president would face unique obstacles to her policy agenda due to gender stereotypes.</p>
<p>But we don’t really know. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on Jan. 7, 2020.</em></p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125634/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathaniel Swigger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Predictions about how a woman presidential candidate might fare in 2020 are largely speculation, writes a political scientist, because there isn’t enough experience to base those predictions on.Nathaniel Swigger, Associate Professor of Political Science, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1233992019-10-06T12:28:22Z2019-10-06T12:28:22ZMarianne Williamson and the religion of ‘spirituality’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295598/original/file-20191004-118217-1pezlku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=48%2C0%2C5400%2C3597&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Democratic presidential candidate and author Marianne Williamson acknowledges applause after speaking at the New Hampshire state Democratic Party convention in September 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Marianne Williamson recently <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/09/13/to-her-texas-supporters-marianne-williamson-has-already-won_partner/">burst onto the political scene</a> as a somewhat unconventional candidate vying for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in the United States. </p>
<p>While she has never garnered more than two per cent in the polls and did not qualify for <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/whos-in-and-whos-out-of-the-october-debate/">the third debate</a> — meaning it’s likely her run will come to an end soon — her remarks during the first two Democratic debates, as well as her personality and unconventional campaign parlance, have provoked many media responses. </p>
<p>What distinguishes Williamson from other candidates is her personal and professional background. Prior to her foray into politics, she was an internationally renowned self-help and spiritual author and speaker, known for penning bestsellers like <a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780060927486/a-return-to-love/"><em>A Return to Love</em></a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.marianne2020.com/my-story">A child of the 1960s</a>, Williamson was significantly involved with the New Age and Human Potential movements, even spending time working <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-esalen-institute-and-the-human-potential-movement-turn-50_b_1536989">at Esalen Institute in California, the American “mecca” of alternative spirituality.</a></p>
<p>Today, she’s known as <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/02/marianne-williamsons-esprit-de-orb-corps">Oprah Winfrey’s spiritual adviser</a>, and remains an outspoken advocate of mindfulness meditation, yoga and therapy as ways to achieve spiritual and social transformation. </p>
<h2>Calling for an awakening</h2>
<p>Williamson unapologetically infuses her interest in spirituality into her political campaigning. </p>
<p>On her website she calls for a <a href="https://www.marianne2020.com">“a moral and spiritual awakening”</a> in America, speaking to those who are “seeking higher wisdom.” And in her closing statement at the first Democratic debate, she proclaimed that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JA6gYXEdwY">she will harness love</a> to defeat President Donald Trump.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">NBC News.</span></figcaption>
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<p>A number of pundits <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/30/opinions/marianne-williamson-christian-faith-hypocrisy-bailey/index.html">have mocked Williamson</a>. But the more common reaction is puzzlement: many just don’t know what to make of a renowned spiritual and self-help teacher running to lead the Democratic Party. </p>
<p>I believe this is largely because few are familiar with the history of alternative spirituality in North America and its ties to progressive politics.</p>
<p>We have seen a dramatic rise over the last few decades in the number of North Americans who self-identify as <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/11/10/16630178/study-spiritual-but-not-religious">“spiritual but not religious.”</a></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-spiritual-87236">What does it mean to be spiritual?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Those in this group, while certainly diverse, have deep spiritual interests, often champion something like the existence of a higher power, remain wary of orthodoxy and place a premium on individual autonomy. </p>
<p>It is these people to whom Williamson appeals. And while they might view themselves as seekers who don’t adhere to traditions, there is a longstanding tradition of alternative spirituality in the West.</p>
<h2>Metaphysical movements</h2>
<p>In <em><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/spiritual-but-not-religious-9780195146806?cc=ca&lang=en&">Spiritual but not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America</a></em>, religious historian Robert Fuller sheds light on the various metaphysical movements that emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries in America. </p>
<p>These include <a href="https://swedenborg.com/nce-minute-swedenborg-theologian-who-wasnt/">Swedenborgism</a>, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/transcendentalism">Transcendentalism</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/spiritualism-religion">Spiritualism</a>, <a href="https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/mesmerism-the-discovery-of-animal/9781927077313-item.html">Mesmerism</a>, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/theosophy">Theosophy</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-you-should-know-about-the-new-thought-movement-72256">New Thought</a>, each of which — despite being relatively unknown to most people — have significantly shaped the “spiritual but not religious” trend. </p>
<p>These movements were certainly theologically different, but nevertheless, like Williamson and her followers, they postulated the existence of unseen forces and championed the importance of both mystical experiences and individual freedom. If channelled appropriately, those forces could purportedly lead to self-empowerment. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-you-should-know-about-the-new-thought-movement-72256">Why you should know about the New Thought movement</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>The influence of these movements was far from marginal in American society. They often attracted well-known writers, politicians and artists. Ralph Waldo Emerson, often called America’s national poet, was an avowed <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/20884/the-american-transcendentalists-by-edited-and-with-an-introduction-by-lawrence-buell/">Transcendentalist</a>, as was <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/henry-david-thoreau-1773664">Henry Thoreau</a>, committed civil rights activist and author.</p>
<p>Others who belonged to some of these movements include psychologists William James and Carl Jung, philosopher Rudolf Steiner and biologist Alfred Russell Wallace. </p>
<h2>The spiritual is political</h2>
<p>Historian Leigh Eric Schmidt of Princeton University usefully traces the historical ties between these movements and progressive democratic politics in the U.S. in <em><a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520273672/restless-souls">Restless Souls: The Making of American Spirituality</a></em>. </p>
<p>Schmidt observes that many of the leaders and spokespeople of these movements were ahead of their time, both socially and politically. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295618/original/file-20191004-118200-tuenxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295618/original/file-20191004-118200-tuenxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295618/original/file-20191004-118200-tuenxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295618/original/file-20191004-118200-tuenxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295618/original/file-20191004-118200-tuenxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=787&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295618/original/file-20191004-118200-tuenxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295618/original/file-20191004-118200-tuenxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295618/original/file-20191004-118200-tuenxc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=990&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), an important leader of the 19th century women’s rights movement in the United States, is seen in this 1890 portrait.</span>
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</figure>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-essential-margaret-fuller-by-margaret-fuller/9780813517780">Margaret Fuller</a>, an early Transcendentalist and confessed mystic, was also a staunch advocate for women’s rights in the early 19th century. So was <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374532390">Elizabeth Cady Stanton</a>, a women’s suffrage activist who sought to claim the privilege of autonomy for the female sex in <a href="https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2585"><em>The Woman’s Bible</em> </a>, published in 1895. </p>
<p><a href="https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_617.html">Walt Whitman</a>, the famous American poet and writer - as well as a “curious inquirer into clairvoyance and Spiritualism” - championed, in cosmopolitan fashion, “the good in all religious systems,” according to Schmidt.</p>
<p>Felix Adler, a Reform Jew and founder of the Society for Ethical Culture, published in 1905 <a href="https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-essentials-of-spirituality/9781141327409-item.html"><em>The Essentials of Spirituality</em></a>, wherein he championed the importance of “doing justice to that inner self” in order to do “justice to others.” </p>
<p>Finally, Ralph Waldo Trine, proponent of New Thought and author of the successful <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/303893/in-tune-with-the-infinite-by-ralph-waldo-trine/"><em>In Tune with the Infinite</em></a>, depicted God as a spirit of infinite life akin to a “reservoir of superhuman power.” </p>
<p>And though <a href="http://ralphwaldotrine.wwwhubs.com/">Trine’s doctrines</a> were eventually appropriated by entrepreneurial and materialist ministers such as <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/power-of-positive-thinking-norman-vincent-peale/1101102278">Norman Vincent Peale</a> in the mid-20th century, Trine himself was a staunch progressive and social reformer. He was also a committed vegetarian, playing an active role in the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. </p>
<h2>Why is Williamson so mind-boggling?</h2>
<p>In light of this history, Schmidt concludes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The convergence of political progressivism, socioeconomic justice, and mystical interiority was at the heart of the rise of a spiritual left in American culture.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s therefore worth asking why a candidate like Williamson so boggles the modern-day mind. </p>
<p>In part, it has to do with the way alternative spirituality developed over the 20th century. The New Age movement of the 1970s was arguably the most prominent. And while the “New Age” label may today be out of fashion, many ideas that were once championed under its banner remain strikingly popular. </p>
<p>In fact, it’s likely that many who call themselves “spiritual but not religious” subscribe to a set of ideas and engage in a variety of practices that were once central to that counter-cultural movement. And carrying forward a long-standing tradition, these ideas tend to appeal to the left.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/being-a-progressive-christian-shouldnt-be-an-oxymoron-96617">Religion, after all, is increasingly associated in the U.S. with social conservatism</a>. In turn, for many progressives, <a href="https://theconversation.com/millennials-abandon-hope-for-religion-but-revere-human-rights-90537">especially millennials</a>, “religion” is no longer considered a viable option. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295451/original/file-20191003-52837-1c9digi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3658%2C2436&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295451/original/file-20191003-52837-1c9digi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3658%2C2436&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295451/original/file-20191003-52837-1c9digi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295451/original/file-20191003-52837-1c9digi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295451/original/file-20191003-52837-1c9digi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295451/original/file-20191003-52837-1c9digi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295451/original/file-20191003-52837-1c9digi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295451/original/file-20191003-52837-1c9digi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Williamson waves during a climate change summit in Washington, D.C., in September 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So for those with spiritual interests, the cosmopolitan and inclusive spirituality of Williamson has an obvious appeal. </p>
<p>Of course, one of the tenets of New Age thought, at least in its most radical form, is that politics is a distraction from what really matters: self-transformation and spiritual enlightenment. </p>
<p>This may be why the image of Williamson as president is so difficult to entertain: we tend to think spirituality and politics just don’t mix. </p>
<p>But that’s at odds with the actual history of spirituality in America. Perhaps those who are “spiritual but not religious” will stop drawing a line separating the spiritual from the political. And if this happens, maybe the thought of a Williamson presidency won’t seem so implausible.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Galen Watts receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>The way Marianne Williamson is being dismissed as a viable presidential contender is at odds with the actual history of spirituality in America.Galen Watts, PhD Candidate in the Cultural Studies Graduate Program, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1194232019-06-28T13:38:13Z2019-06-28T13:38:13ZFighting words for a New Gilded Age - Democratic candidates are sounding a lot like Teddy Roosevelt<p>There was a Republican on the Democratic Party debate stage – a Progressive Republican who sometimes liked to “speak softly, and carry a big stick.” Did you notice him?</p>
<p>“When I say that I am for the square deal,” <a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/new-nationalism-speech/">said</a> the politician, “I mean not merely that I stand for fair play under the present rules of the game, but that I stand for having those rules changed so as to work for a more substantial equality of opportunity.”</p>
<p>You would be forgiven if you confused President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1910 speech for something said by one of the candidates running in the Democratic Party presidential primary in 2019. </p>
<p>Ours is the <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2019/4/1/18286084/gilded-age-income-inequality-robber-baron">New Gilded Age</a> of ostentatious, unaccountable wealth and growing inequality, and current politicians sound a lot like their predecessors. The Gilded Age – the name given to the period after the Civil War to about 1900 – was characterized by massive industrialization and wealth accumulation in the hands of the few and at the expense of the many. “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/robber-baron">Robber barons</a>” like J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Andrew W. Mellon and John D. Rockefeller controlled entire segments of the economy and were answerable to no one. Roosevelt sought to reign them in.</p>
<p>There are generational and policy differences between today’s Democratic candidates, but all 20 who made it onto the debate stage over two nights in Miami professed a Rooseveltian understanding of the ills facing the nation. </p>
<p>And – though no one used the term exactly – all promised Americans <a href="https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Learn-About-TR/TR-Encyclopedia/Politics%20and%20Government/The%20Square%20Deal">what Roosevelt promised the country</a>: a new “square deal.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281772/original/file-20190628-94724-1yta1zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281772/original/file-20190628-94724-1yta1zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281772/original/file-20190628-94724-1yta1zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281772/original/file-20190628-94724-1yta1zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281772/original/file-20190628-94724-1yta1zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281772/original/file-20190628-94724-1yta1zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281772/original/file-20190628-94724-1yta1zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281772/original/file-20190628-94724-1yta1zh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Theodore Roosevelt in 1910.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU2MTc1MTA1MiwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMjM5Mzk5MDIwIiwiayI6InBob3RvLzIzOTM5OTAyMC9odWdlLmpwZyIsIm0iOjEsImQiOiJzaHV0dGVyc3RvY2stbWVkaWEifSwib0FKVnl1eW9MOXF5MUVOTGNVcXJpTjdza1hjIl0%2Fshutterstock_239399020.jpg&pi=33421636&m=239399020&src=uZ5dNi2p4wz8FID7G6flOQ-1-1">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Control ‘the mighty commercial forces’</h2>
<p>According to Democrats, the ills of America today, like the ones in Roosevelt’s era, can be traced to unrestrained capitalism and corruption. </p>
<p>As Roosevelt said in 1910, <a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/new-nationalism-speech/">“special interests” exerted a “sinister influence”</a> over the government. To fight corruption, he said, “the citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have called into being.” </p>
<p>Roosevelt would take political power away from corporations because “there can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains.” Ending corruption would “be neither a short nor an easy task,” but, Roosevelt promised, “it can be done.”</p>
<p>And so he did. Roosevelt instituted regulations on corporations in order to balance the interests of the people with those of capitalism.</p>
<p>Roosevelt’s solutions to reining in abusive corporations should <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/full-transcript-first-democratic-primary-debate-2019-n1022816">sound familiar to those who watched the Democratic debates</a>: conserving natural resources, controlling corporations through regulations and protecting consumers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281779/original/file-20190628-94704-dnigsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281779/original/file-20190628-94704-dnigsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281779/original/file-20190628-94704-dnigsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281779/original/file-20190628-94704-dnigsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281779/original/file-20190628-94704-dnigsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281779/original/file-20190628-94704-dnigsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281779/original/file-20190628-94704-dnigsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281779/original/file-20190628-94704-dnigsg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Gilded Age political cartoon, ‘The protectors of our industries,’ showing prominent industrialists sitting on the backs of workers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3g03108/">Library of Congress; Bernhard Gillam, artist</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Echo chamber</h2>
<p>The Democratic candidates appear to share Roosevelt’s diagnosis of the problems facing the nation. </p>
<p>Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren opened the two-night debates with an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/27/transcript-night-one-first-democratic-debate-annotated/">echo of Roosevelt</a>. </p>
<p>“When you’ve got a government, when you’ve got an economy that does great for those with money and isn’t doing great for everyone else,” said Warren, “that is corruption, pure and simple. We need to call it out. We need to attack it head on. And we need to make structural change in our government, in our economy and in our country.” </p>
<p>Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders likewise opened the second night’s debate with a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/28/transcript-night-first-democratic-debate/">echo of Roosevelt</a>. </p>
<p>“We have three people in this country owning more wealth than the bottom half of America,” said Sanders, “while 500,000 people are sleeping out on the streets today. We think it is time for change, real change.” </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281783/original/file-20190628-94684-6v6hur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281783/original/file-20190628-94684-6v6hur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281783/original/file-20190628-94684-6v6hur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281783/original/file-20190628-94684-6v6hur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281783/original/file-20190628-94684-6v6hur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281783/original/file-20190628-94684-6v6hur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281783/original/file-20190628-94684-6v6hur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281783/original/file-20190628-94684-6v6hur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren at the first night’s debate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Election-2020-Debate/1f580eeaa5d24900a76b458b2bcca5b7/9/0">AP/Wilfredo Lee</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/27/transcript-night-one-first-democratic-debate-annotated/">echoed Roosevelt</a>: “Right now, we have a system that favors those who can pay for access and outcomes. That’s how you explain an economy that is rigged to corporations and to the very wealthiest.” </p>
<p>New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/27/transcript-night-one-first-democratic-debate-annotated/">echoed Roosevelt</a>, “I think we have a serious problem in our country with corporate consolidation. And you see the evidence of that in how dignity is being stripped from labor, and we have people that work full-time jobs and still can’t make a living wage.” </p>
<p>Former Vice President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/28/transcript-night-first-democratic-debate/">echoed Roosevelt</a>, “Look, Donald Trump thinks Wall Street built America. Ordinary, middle-class Americans built America,” said Biden. “What I’m saying is that we’ve got to be straightforward. We have to make sure we understand that to return dignity to the middle class.” </p>
<p>California Sen. Kamala Harris <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/28/transcript-night-first-democratic-debate/">echoed Roosevelt</a>, “Working families need support and need to be lifted up. And frankly, this economy is not working for working people. For too long, the rules have been written in the favor of the people who have the most and not in favor of the people who work the most.” </p>
<p>Warren, Sanders, O'Rourke, Booker, Biden and Harris would all give Americans a new square deal.</p>
<p>Democrats like Biden blamed President Donald Trump for exacerbating the problems of the New Gilded Age with his <a href="https://publicintegrity.org/topics/business/taxes/trumps-tax-cuts/">tax cuts</a> and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/interactives/tracking-deregulation-in-the-trump-era/">deregulation</a>. They accused him of putting profits over people. </p>
<p>Trump, for his part, has expressed admiration for the first Gilded Age.</p>
<p>In a March 25, 2016 interview with The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/us/politics/donald-trump-transcript.html">New York Times</a> Trump said that at the turn of the 20th century, “that’s when we were a great, when we were really starting to go robust…there was a period of time when we were developing at the turn of the century which was a pretty wild time for this country and pretty wild in terms of building that machine, that machine was really based on entrepreneurship etc., etc.” </p>
<p>Trump hoped to make America “great,” just like the Gilded Age when the robber barons ruled.</p>
<h2>Tackling corruption</h2>
<p>Throughout the two debates, Democrats didn’t just echo Roosevelt in their diagnosis for what’s wrong with the nation, but they also echoed him on the solutions. </p>
<p>Candidate after candidate argued that the problems of the New Gilded Age will only get worse unless the nation restrains corruption and gives Americans a new square deal. </p>
<p>As Warren noted, “We’ve had the laws out there for a long time to be able to fight back. What’s been missing is courage, courage in Washington to take on the giants. That’s part of the corruption in this system.”</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Mercieca does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The problems facing America are unrestrained capitalism and corruption, said the Democratic presidential candidates over two nights of debates. Or was that really Teddy Roosevelt speaking?Jennifer Mercieca, Associate Professor of Communication, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.