Look, we ought to do this for our kids... We ought to have a high school so that every kid who grows up here - they're all our kids - gets a good high school education.

Community connectedness is not just about warm fuzzy tales of civic triumph. In measurable and well-documented ways, social capital makes an enormous difference in our lives...Social capital makes us smarter, healthier, safer, richer, and better able to govern a just and stable democracy.

Positive people have more friends which is a key factor of happiness and longevity.

How well you do in life shouldn't depend on how well your parents did.

Our national myths often exaggerate the role of the individual heroes and understate the importance of collective effort.

School performance, public health, crime rates, clinical depression, tax compliance, philanthropy, race relations, community development, census returns, teen suicide, economic productivity, campaign finance, even simple human happiness - all are demonstrably affected by how (and whether) we connect with our family and friends and neighbours and co-workers.

Young Americans are dropping out of religion at an alarming rate of five to six times the historic rate.