The Republican party does have a lot of work to do. But changing our principles is not a winning strategy. We need to modernize, not moderate.

When I ran for Congress I promised to help make health care affordable again.

I think the president can set a tone and say we're not divided by gender, age, race. We're all Americans and want the same things. We want the best things for our kids. We want the rules to be fair. If they work hard, get a great education, they should be able to join the middle class.

Unfortunately, we are finding the bureaucratic inefficiencies and red tape have a tendency to slow the efforts of individuals and communities working to rebuild.

Here's an idea: How about just 'Americans?' That has a nice ring to it, if you ask me. Placing undue emphasis on our 'separateness' is a step backward. Bring back the melting pot.

The Nation needs to take a new approach to our energy problems.

We don't measure our people's success in how they're doing in government. We measure how they are doing in the real world and the private sector economy.