America glories in its tradition of the self-made individual. Political candidates compete to be a friend to entrepreneurs, and policymakers, imagining the next Microsoft or Google, design laws to back the innovator in the garage.

At some point he has to show that he has a vision of a better way. He can't just say 'The future is bleak, follow me.' Because no one will.

Reasonable people can reasonably disagree on policy.

My brother is one of my true heroes. Steady and sober where I am impulsive and emotional.

If we cannot come together to pause, to respect our dead and the heroic lives of meaning they led, then ours is truly a civilization lost.

Hypocrisy is the scarlet letter in politics.

A messy participatory process is representative democracy at its best.