It is not easy to stand up against your constituents or your friends or colleagues or your community and take a tough stand for something you believe is right. Because you always want to keep working and live to fight another battle and it might cost you your career.

Most of the books that I've written have been focused on, sort of, the individual, and sort of, either a voice, a personal voice, or a kind of transforming event where they step forward to fight for something they value.

To the extent that we are all educated and informed, we will be more equipped to deal with the gut issues that tend to divide us.

Many people remember that spirit that President Kennedy summoned forth. Many people look to me as somebody who embodies that sense of possibility.

I've campaigned for people. I've campaigned across the country for people. I have supported people in local elections. I do work with groups and causes. So, I feel like I am a participant and a civically-engaged citizen.

I grew up in a household where reading was encouraged. My mother believed in the power of words, and my father obviously did too.

I can see both sides of term limits, and I think, in different positions, term limits make more sense than in some others.