THE RACE GOES ON

It must be the Capricorn moon

I’m a history buff, and I’ve read everything I could get my hands on about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. FDR was tall, dark, rich and handsome, a nephew of Teddy Roosevelt, and at the height of his powers - until polio struck him at the age of 39.

Roosevelt’s heartbreaking attempts to walk again, his heroic though ultimately futile efforts, turned him into the man he needed to be to become the President he became. The “man who had everything” was transformed by the kindness and generosity of his fellow sufferers in Warm Springs, Georgia - people who under other circumstances he might never have even noticed. It was those experiences - his own pain, as well as bearing witness to the pain of others - that give him his extraordinary empathy for what people were going through during the Great Depression. His personal tragedy paved the way to his greatest political strengths. He knew what it meant to suffer, and to whatever extent humanly possibly he was committed to assuaging it in the lives of those around him.

None of that is to say that Roosevelt never made mistakes, because he did. And people suffered because of it. But the larger arc of his Presidency is the story of an administration dedicated to using the powers of government to help people thrive. Right now in the United States, the powers of government are too often used in ways that support the oppressor more than the oppressed, that perpetuate rather than push back against the overreach and undue financial influence of unfettered corporate power. And we, in our time, need a better deal for the American people. We need to remember the traditional Rooseveltian values of a party dedicated to advocacy for the working people of the United States.

I’m certainly not naive about corporatist Democrats, neoliberalism, or the corruption of the Democratic Party. More than most people, I have seen it all. But I’m also not naive about what it would take at this point to build quickly enough a third party effort to counter the wave of neo-authoritarianism running rampant through the Republican party. We do not have time for the Democratic Party to fail.

So despite it all, rather than just rant about where Democrats have gotten it wrong, I’ve decided to thrown my hat in the ring and do what I can to try to make it right. Friends on both Left and Right text me regularly to remind me as gently as they can, “Marianne, they’re just not into you,” like I’m a forsaken girlfriend who simply can’t give it up. But then we laugh together, because they know, as well as I do, that there’s something more going on here than some fool’s errand. I’m telling truths that I know in my heart are shared by many, many others. Something is wrong in this country, and we’re all longing to make it right.

I hope you’ll check out Marianne4dnc.com to read more about my race, and throw in whatever money you can to help me wage a successful campaign. It’s a short sprint but it still costs a lot of money, and I very much appreciate your support.

I made the video above after our first major candidate forum this evening, and the clips below are from the forum itself. I know you might be thinking, “My Lord, that woman never stops!” and I don’t have much more to say than “Yeah, it’s my Capricorn moon.” As long as God gives me the ability to say some things, you know I’ll be out there saying them.

This clip was my response to the question “What was the biggest mistake the DNC made in 2024, and how would you make things better?”

Here I was asked about Southern states and helping rural communities in particular.

Thank you for being on this ride with me. It means more to me than you can possibly know.