How do we create a harmonious society out of so many kinds of people? The key is tolerance -- the one value that is indispensable in creating community.

More is required of public officials than slogans and handshakes and press releases. More is required. We must hold ourselves strictly accountable. We must provide the people with a vision of the future.

I get from the soil and spirit of Texas the feeling that I, as an individual, can accomplish whatever I want to, and that there are no limits, that you can just keep going, just keep soaring. I like that spirit.

I never intended to be a run-of-the-mill person.

We can certainly defuse the intensity of the anti-immigrant feeling if we can bring some reality to the discussion by showing that they are not using that many resources.

If we promise as public officials, we must deliver. If we as public officials propose, we must produce.

A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.