A Politics of Love audiobook

I've read A LOT of political, spiritual, and politically spiritual books over the decades and this one stands out for me as profoundly different and important at this specific time in history.This fantastic book lays out long shot presidential candidate Marianne Williamson's basic platform of ideas she is calling "The Politics of Love." And it may sound like a far-out hippie generation concept by a new age woo-woo guru but the book is grounded in historical facts and a holistic understanding of the American mind and soul in ways that reach much wider than the narrow paradigm of politics as usual. In the wake of the current administration's social and moral blitzkrieg upon the American landscape, Marianne hits home run after home run of righteous indignation, cultural understanding, and practical steps towards healing a broken America and a destructive political system.Here's a few choice quotes:"A smug, self-righteous, intolerant left-winger poses no less danger to the emotional fabric of this nation than a smug, self-righteous, intolerant right-winger." "The health and well-being of American children should be top on our list of national priorities. The means of self-actualization through education and culture should be available to every child, regardless of what neighborhood they live in. Their libraries should be fully funded temples of art and literacy. Their schools should be palaces of learning and joy. Their neighborhoods should all have safe and beautiful parks for them to play in.To ask for those things doesn't mean we're asking for too much. Not asking for them means we're asking too little. There is no lack of money to do this. This is simply too much money going elsewhere.Americans have become so habituated to skewed natural priorities that we're almost programmed to ask, 'But where would the money come from?''How would we pay for all that education and culture, health and safety?' ask those who have no problem whatsoever paying for ill-begotten wars and tax cuts for the wealthy. Such a question should be met with laughter from those who were never consulted as to how we would pay for a $2 trillion war in Iraq (which, among other things, created ISIS) or a $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthiest among us (which, among other things, is already adding to our wealth inequality)." "Nothing holds more promise for the twenty-first century than a radical rethinking of our responsibility to children and young adults. This country should undertake a massive realignment of our resources in the direction of the young. We should make college and technical school available to everyone. We should cancel most college debts. And why should we do all these things? To unshackle the American spirit, to release the chains that bind our circumstances, to liberate the potential in every citizen...America's problem is the problem of a constricted heart. As individuals we are a good and decent people, but as a society we have become rather mean. It is time to reconsider. It is time to self-correct." "We can change things on the level of effect over and over, but only when we change things on the level of cause are they fundamentally altered." "The South hadn't given up slavery voluntarily; it gave it up for one reason only--that it lost the war. They thus surrendered their slaves but not their anger. The last thing the former slave-owner class of Southerners was ready to do for a population they had kicked to the ground for hundreds of years was to say, 'Great, now let's be friends.' A cold and cruel dehumanization of black people before the war was replaced with hit and violent rage after it ended." "If you've kicked someone to the ground, you need to do more than just stop kicking; you have a moral responsibility to help them get back up. You can't just say to four million people who have had no experience other than that of forced labor, 'Glad you're free! Now good luck to ya! Hope you find a good job!" "A politics of love does not ask what's expedient; it asks what is right and then seeks to do it." "Scapegoating immigrants, particularly Mexicans, has been a primary fear tactic of our current president since the first day he announced his candidacy. Some took him seriously; some did not. Some saw the dangers of his rhetoric then; some did not. In fact, nothing is more dangerous than hate harnessed for political purposes. Scapegoating is a deliberate dehumanization technique. Americans had to see Africans as somehow less than fully human to enslave them. Americans had to see Native Americans as savages in order to acquiesce to the destruction of their culture. Germans had to see Jews as weeds in the garden of humanity in order to put them into death camps. Rwandan Hutus had to see Tutsis as animals; Chinese had to see students at Tiananmen Square as criminals; Croatians had to see Bosnian Muslims as enemies of the state; which is how Turks had to see Armenians and Myanmar has to see Rohingyas today. Dehumanizing others has always been the required first step in the commitment of history's collective atrocities. Demonizing others brings out the demons in those who demonize.""The plight of the modern refugee--the vast majority of whom are asylum seekers--is no different now than it ever was. What has changed is how anti-immigrant fervor has been weaponized in the modern era, taking a wrecking ball to something previously considered a point of pride for our country: that we're a nation of immigrants.""At a certain time, abolishing slavery in America would not have been a reasonable proposition. Gaining women the right to vote would not have been seen as a reasonable proposition. Ending segregation would not have been seen as a reasonable proposition. When it comes to disrupting what appears like an intractable status quo, reason alone isn't our guiding light.""Our powerlessness is feigned. We are not powerless at all. We are simply in the habit of disengaging from the things that matter most. We can change that."

Everyone regardless of their political beliefs should read this book. I am a little biased because I really do idolize Marianne Williamson but her ideas are so spot on for an evolving 21st-century culture. We MUST stop focusing on the materialism of the past and get back to caring about all humans if we are to move forward as a human race. I found myself nodding in agreement all the way through this book at how wise she is and if only all people thought this way of their fellow humans. It is no longer about winning and besting others but allowing all people to flourish by coming together. The current political climate is divisive and the only solution is to all work together to progress our society. She is surprisingly balanced in her viewpoints, in spite of being very left-leaning in outlook. She honestly gives a heartfelt diagnosis of what is going on in the world and smart solutions on what next. I hope more right-wing conservatives can put their viewpoints aside and read and absorb her message. She makes this very palatable for anyone with a heart.

I wanted to dislike this book. I wanted to think it was a cynical ploy to earn money off a presidential campaign publicity, but after reading it, I'm convinced that Williamson is a true believer in the power of love. She casts every issue as a battle between love and fear. Her framework of belief suggests that our problems as a nation are based on artificial dualities and divisions that don't accurately reflect our interdependent world.Williamson argues that refugees share the same humanity as U.S. citizens, so we need to treat them as human beings, not as enemies. She says something similar about the poor, while arguing for universal health care and affordable education. She presents a bold argument for assisting the African-American community through a reparations fund, claiming that we won't solve race problems until we make good on past promises the government made to former slaves.The toughest sell for a conservative audience is the idea that we live in a culture of fear that convinces us to spend more and more on the military and less and less on health and human services. To reverse this, Williamson proposes a Department of Peace (a la Dennis Kucinich) and a stronger State Department. Marianne quotes Teilhard de Chardin, "Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire." Her arguments for love-based politics may sound trite in our cynical age, but she is an intelligent and impressive writer and orator, and I guarantee that she'll get you thinking, and by the end of the book you may be a believer in political miracles.

Whether someone supports Marianne Williamson as a candidate or not, everyone needs this message of how we need to rediscover a politics of love, a politics that does not ignore our problems but faces them and commits to doing the right thing by solving them. She argues that what made America great in the past was when our politics was defined by love versus by fear or self-interest (civil rights, women's suffrage, even taken on Nazi Germany was done out of love for justice and peace). I wish all the candidates would read and quote from this book.

"A politics of love is bold because love is bold. A politics of love does not just ask what's expedient; it asks what is right, and then seeks to do it.""Love is a wiser, more evolved, and more powerful modus operandi than fear, if our goal is to bequeath a habitable world to our children and our children's children."She hits on everything that is wrong with America right now : the divisiveness, inequality of wealth, war vs peace, racism, islamophobia, anti-immigration in general. We need to listen to each other and not judge. We need to stand up for the oppressed.

Marianne Williamson won't be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020. However, her book is in the mainstream with other candidates. Not only does she cover much of the current socioeconomic ground on politically highlighted areas, she offers what appears to be heartfelt takes on improving our country through engaging the electorate. I didn't know if I'd like this, the first of her books I've read. It was much better than expected.

This is the world I want to live in.

This is a great view on another way to think! A great teacher!

Refreshing. Feasible. It just might work. Love. Imagine that!

This is the first book with solutions for how to mend a severely divided America. Uplifting, motivational and for some an education, for others confirmation, about what America is really going through.

Vital reading for allA book to change the way you look at politics and the news. A synthesis of politics and profound spiritual principles.

Everyone should read this bookI have read several of her books but this one is best. Should be required reading for all politicians and the press.