For the past four years, there have arguably only been two main candidates for president, Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. Media coverage has pertained to these two individuals solely, pushing other possible candidates to the outside, ignoring their ideas and plans for the U.S. People like Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein have taken their forced-upon place at the back of American politics. This trend of ignoring the outliers and focusing on the most polarizing figures has created a world filled with extreme views and ideologies. It’s time we pay more attention to those who may have less of a mainstream presence but have the same amount (or arguably more) intelligence and passion.

Marianne Williamson is the perfect candidate for this new perspective on electing our next leader, and she already has run once before, in 2020. The most significant and different aspect of Williamson is her background. Instead of a career based solely on TV, in politics, or as a lawyer, Williamson has a past of humanity, as an author, spiritual leader, and as an activist. Some of her past achievements include co-founding the Centers for Living, an organization that provided house care services like cleaning and other chores to those who were unable to due to being afflicted with HIV. Another endeavor of hers was Project Angel Food which functioned under the Centers for Living, also helping out those with HIV by delivering meals in the Los Angeles area. She also hasn’t always been a Democrat, as she ran Independent for one of California’s state representatives.

Not being an out-right religious person, but a spiritual one, Williamson is accepting of all takes on the spiritual world, even once saying, “The Messiah is not a person but a point of view.” This is the type of person necessary to re-root American ideals in a loving and hopeful place, someone who appreciates variety in perspective and has the goal of being a symbol of unity. A main aspect of Williamson’s campaign is how she wants to harness the power of love, instead of hate, which would be a huge change in the structure of U.S. politicians.

Her views and legislative agendas mostly line up with that of Democrats: increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, investing in electric power, universal preschool, forgiving university debt, and banning assault weapons. What separates her from the rest, is the way she fights for these stances, understanding and respecting the fact that everyone has varying beliefs, but also maintaining the internal guideline that other people’s thoughts shouldn’t be imposed on others. Having more libertarian takes, Williamson opposes mass mandates for vaccines, including COVID vaccines, citing the same reasoning behind having the freedom to have an abortion, personal choice. 

She also carries a powerful characteristic that other candidates don’t, she has experienced the life of a normal U.S. citizen. Born in Texas to a father who was a veteran and a mother who was a volunteer, Williamson grew to love learning about the world. She dropped out of college, traveled around the U.S., pursued the possibility of becoming a singer, and admitted to indulging in recreational drug use. Compared to the timelines of both former president Trump and President Biden, Williamson is the closest to what it’s like to be a regular person living in America.

The next cultural and political revolution shouldn’t be one focused on opposition and disagreement, it should be one focused on humanity, progress, and the future of our earth, what we want the world to look like in 50 years, a place of acceptance and open mindedness. For too long the U.S. has been an individualist culture, not caring enough about what we can do for each other, hypnotized by the anger and frustration modeled on TV and in political debates, leaders that shame, leaders that yell, leaders that judge. What about a leader that loves?