To be sure, the United States has profound problems, not least our faltering educational and physical infrastructure.

Great numbers of Asian Americans do not fit the model minority or 'tiger family' stereotypes, living instead in multigenerational poverty far from the mainstream.

Throughout this country's history there have of course been systematic efforts to create an official underclass.

True patriots measure themselves not by personal wealth or power but by the degree to which they contribute to the community.

When Bryan Price taught me how to throw a changeup, he made me see myself. All my life, I've been the equivalent of a fastball pitcher - trying to use blazing speed and brute force to wow the people around me.

The nativism behind the push to repeal or amend the Fourteenth is ugly and obvious.

What does purpose mean? It means the deepest desire for our short lives to mean something. . . . To speak a language of purpose is to return to first principles and to be able to answer, in plain English, the plain questions of Why? Why should we chip in to help someone else? Why should we defer gratification? Why should we care about the long term? Why should we trust anyone who seems to be limiting our ability to do what we want?