If you look at great human civilizations, from the Roman Empire to the Soviet Union, you will see that most do not fail simply due to external threats but because of internal weakness, corruption or a failure to manifest the values and ideals they espouse.

The War on Drugs is a war on people, but particularly it's been a war on low-income people and a war on minorities. We know in the United States of America there is no difference in drug use between black, white and Latinos. But if you're Latino in the United States of America, you're about twice as likely to be arrested for drug use than if you're white. If you're black, you are about four times as likely to be arrested if you're African American than if you are white. This drug war has done so much to destroy, undermine, sabotage families, communities, neighborhoods, cities.

Leadership is not a position or a title, it is action and example.

2016 is an election like I've never seen before. And I think it reflects the fact that many people have a dissatisfaction with politics as usual. So I think this is a time where both parties should be humble, reach out to each other and try to find ways to build on common ground to serve the concerns, the rightful frustrations of the American people.

Marriage equality is not a choice. It is a legal right.

What I don't want to see my Democratic party do is to begin to talk down towards white men, as if their concerns are not legitimate and that we shouldn't be listening to a lot of their aspirations and hopes as well.

The world you see outside of you will always be a reflection of what you have inside of you.