We need to enact fundamental tax reform. The weight and complexity of our 73,000-page tax code are crushing everyday Americans. We need to radically simplify the tax code so that we can re-start the real engine of growth in our economy. That means our tax code needs to go from 73,000 pages down to about three pages.

The truth is, I was afraid the day I walked into Stanford. And I was afraid the day I walked out.

I think more to the point, these pivotal times means something other than a politician. I understand the economy. I understand the world. I have a lot of foreign policy experience. I understand bureaucracies. I understand technology, and I understand leadership.

My mother taught me about the power of inspiration and courage, and she did it with a strength and a passion that I wish could be bottled.

Well I'm not a novelist. I've only written one book and that is a memoir.

When you don't respond to bad behavior, you get more of it.

Obviously the Senate is a federal office, but to get California's economy moving again we need to do some things in the federal arena.