Agape Love in American Politics
Agape Love in American Politics
Two presidential candidates, Cornel West and Marianne Williamson, followed spiritual career paths. Can their campaigns manifest enough agape love to cancel far-right cruelty?
We have two qualified spiritual advisors running for US President: Marianne Williamson and Cornel West. It makes sense. The country needs a morality boost and a dose of agape love. The current American political landscape is corrupt and cruel, due to:
The out-of-bounds corporate power that forces profit over people
A narrow-minded white nationalist Christian movement
Agape Love and Public Servants
Agape love is an admirable quality in a public servant. But it is absolutely essential for an American democracy—where people look out for their own interests, while they respect the rights of others.
Agape love is unconditional. It is stable. It does not fluctuate because of emotional feelings, or yearnings for personal security and/or gain. Agape is a principle that is independent of the people, places, or circumstances involved. It is impartial.
You can see agape love in President Biden's favorite goal: to put people back to work in good-paying jobs. (Check out the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Chips and Science Act.)
Bernie Sanders highlighted agape love, when he asked his New York City crowd at a 2019 rally, "Are you willing to fight for someone you don't know?"
Cornel West and Marianne Williamson
Both Cornel West and Marianne Williamson have announced their candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. Each one has followed a career path centered on spirituality and morality. They both know something about agape love.
Each candidate challenges an amoral corporate power structure that creates runaway financial inequality. And each candidate is well equipped to broaden the narrow social values held by Christian white nationalists.
Cornel West is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary. He is a professor of philosophy, with a special interest in religious life and public institutions. He also taught at Harvard, Yale (briefly), and Princeton. He is a longtime, left-wing political activist.
West is running as a third-party candidate, with the People’s Party. The slogan of his presidential campaign says, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” His Platform policies include:
True democracy
A revitalized economy
Medicare for All
The end of wars
Civil liberties expansion
Environmental protection and climate action
Marianne Williamson is a spiritual self-help author and lecturer. No one blends the spiritual, psychological, and intellectual better than Williamson. She served as minister in the Unity Church for five years. 2024 is her second run for president.
The Williamson presidential campaign slogan is, “Dedicated to the people.” She is running as a Democrat. Her FDR-infused policy platform surrounds a 21st Century Bill of Rights that covers:
The right to a job that pays a living wage
The right to a voice in the workplace through a union and collective bargaining
The right to universal quality health care
The right to a cost-free higher education
The right to good, affordable housing
The right to a clean environment and a healthy planet
The right to a meaningful endowment of resources at birth
The right to sound banking and financial services
The right to an equitable and fair justice system
The right to cultural and civic involvement in democratic life
Agape Love to Cancel Cruelty
Many Americans are troubled by the cruelty of a far-right movement that promotes life-threatening abortion bans, callous anti-trans laws, and migrant trafficking trickery. It is baffling, and dangerous, that Christian nationalists—who proclaim God’s grace (undeserved favor) for their own salvation—show little grace to people who are outside their cultural circle.
Neither Marianne Williamson, nor Cornel West, may have a good chance to win their elections. But their campaign narratives should inspire millions of people with the vision of a kinder, more just, American morality.
We need an antidote to the cruelty. Hopefully, people will lend each of these candidates a respectful ear. Both West and Williamson demonstrate a mature, insightful agape love. And that is what it’s going to take, to cancel the oppression and cruelty that is sweeping the United States.