A politics that is not sensitive to the concerns and circumstances of people's lives, a politics that does not speak to and include people, is an intellectually arrogant politics that deserves to fail.

When too many Americans don't vote or participate, some see apathy and despair. I see disappointment and even outrage. And I believe that out of this frustration can come hope and action.

If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them.

Our aims in political activism are not, and should not be, to create a perfect utopia. What we seek is more simply to improve the quality of human life while at the same time respecting the natural environment which sustains it: 'Not a heaven on earth but a better earth on earth.' This is not at all a timid agenda, far from it. The work ahead of us is enormous!

The Democratic Party has lost much of it credibility with working class and low-income people. It retards progress toward presenting a genuine alternative.

We must regain our vision and hope and move our country forward on an agenda of peace and justice.

There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.