Ms. Williamson hello. Hello. Welcome to the Des Moines Register political soapbox. The politics editor for the paper, and we will go over the rules again, because we have to be iowa nice here. Art of iowa nice means you dont hold up signs, because then people behind you cant see. We also dont jeer, but feel free to cheer if you want, and be nice to each other. Now, author Marianne Williamson. [cheers and applause] thank you, thank you. Thank you. Ms. Williamson thank you. This is an extraordinary experience, and i am aware, particularly as a woman, that we cant do this everywhere. I am aware that if i said the fraction of things that i sometimes say and critique our governmental policy that there are countries where i might be taken off to prison, even tortured. So i am not only very aware of right we have to say what we think, but at this point in our history, we need to remember that we have a profound responsibility to say what we think. I am running for president because i think so
[cheers] what you think about the slate of candidates . [applause] we have a good group coming ahead. Are you ready to hear them . [applause] ok, were going to do a little bit of tightening if you can. If you have an empty seat next to you, filled up. If you folks are looking for a chair in the aisle, come and sit in the seat right now. Just come in and still fill the seat. Tighten up your seats. Give a good old north iowa hug and get close and cuddly. That is what i was all about. [laughter] here we go folks. Now we going to give a coveted beacon award. The beacon award would not be possible if it were not for gary sinton and dean gand putting this award together 12 years ago. [applause] every year we have given the beacon award to amazing people from a federal level, statelevel, and national level. Barack obama got a got it Hillary Clinton got it, ted kennedy got it. Then sharon seckman got it last year. A big handout for sharon seckman. Our very own Amanda Raymond got it. We have gi
And that is the american spirit i met so many islands approached me about gun safety and doing something about background checks and assault weapons ban and magazines. It has been unbelievable. And i told them all the story of when i sat across him the president after parkland, advocated for gun safety. Nine times he said he wanted universal background text. The next day he goes and meets with the nra, and he folds. As your president i will not fold. [cheering] an economic agenda for this company should unite rural and urban. That is why i have been out there talking about yes, the farm bill. Also childcare. We know the issues. Also housing and education. And hospitals and making sure that we have enough mental only 64eds when theyre in the state of bio. That is not acceptable. And i will end this practice of privatizing medicaid. This is wrong in the state of bio. State of iowa. It all starts here with this change. Because you iowa gave us the granger movements that took on those big
President ng for because i think our country is running out of time. But i also think it is not too late. A moment thatin is even more serious than what the Trump Presidency represents. You have to ask yourself, how does a guy like donald trump even get within cheating distance of the white house. That doesnt happen in ordinary times. It happens in crisis and weve seen it. Living with School Shootings and Climate Change, and an economy that doesnt work for most of us, where gdp can go up and Life Expectancy can go down. Something is deeply troubled in this country. It means were not going to be able to fix it by recycling the same arguments that have dominated washington as long as ive been alive. Weve got to do something completely different. [applause] now im excited to be in this part of iowa because this is a great place to remind the country and each other that there is no such thing as a permanently red state or county precinct. [applause] but we got to find a new vocabulary, cal
Our politics is stuck somewhere in the 20th century. Our hearts are in the 21st century, but our politics need to become more alined with where we are as people. I dont see a problem with the American People. I think we are a good and decent people, i dont think we are any better than anybody in any other country, but we have a real problem on our hands, ladies and gentlemen, and that is that our politics is not currently aligned with our deep goodness. Tax policies which make it easier for rich people to get rich and harder for everybody else to even make it, that is not aligned with our goodness. Policies that stay in place so that millions of American Children live in chronic trauma so that millions of American Children go to School Every Day in classrooms that dont even have the adequate school spliles with which to teach a child to read. If a child cannot learn to read by age of 8, and they are in iowa too, if a child cannot learn to read by age of 8, the chances of High School Gr