If you know what's going on and know how society can be improved and happiness advanced, you tend to focus on how to get things done that will help health, safety, opportunity, justice, accountability of powerful institutions to the people they are supposed to serve.

Gates's net wealth is greater than the combined net worth of the poorest 40% of Americans (112,000,000 people).

Once you don't vote your ideals ... that has serious undermining affects. It erodes the moral basis of our democracy.

It's all these pundits, all these consultants, and the candidates, as if they're in a bubble leaving democracy off-limits.

The nation is faced with one of the most corporate-orientated anti-consumer Congresses in our history.

I think most people would like that: probably comes in about ninety percent. They see their public works crumbling, services inadequate, they have libraries and schools and bridges and highways that have not been repaired.

I always say there's no ticket of admission for active citizenship. Anybody can get through that gate, and anybody can ask that basic question that gets the ball rolling.