We should not be scrimping on investments in public safety. The lack of infrastructure spending is costing us lives in America. It's costing every commuter.

What more could you ask for in life than to be given an impossible challenge?

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

We have had in our nation a well-celebrated Declaration of Independence. But our success as a country will depend upon a new 'Declaration of Inter-dependence.' A belief in how much we need each other, how much we share one common destiny.

There is too much disagreement for disagreement's sake. In a time of persistent challenges that still call into question our most sacred aspirations as a country, we cannot afford shallow callous divisiveness in our public debate.

Here, we have a country that is making its veterans, people who are struggling with post-traumatic stress, people who are struggling with depression, who often they're only hope is their access to marijuana to treat these illnesses, and here we are criminalizing them for doing what's necessary to stabilize their lives as a result of their service. This is not who we are as a country. We are better than this.

Real courage is holding on to a still voice in your head that says, 'I must keep going.' It's that voice that says nothing is a failure if it is not final. That voice that says to you, 'Get out of bed. Keep going. I will not quit.'