Article 2

That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted at least, most of the time. It’s a war I’m proud I opposed from the start — a war that should never have been authorized and never been waged. And I’ll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy — wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld — whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt.

And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose — our sense of higher purpose. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can.

A belief that we’re all connected as one people. The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Instead, it is that American spirit — that American promise — that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend. They could’ve heard words of anger and discord. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum: “Out of many, one.”