I think most people who get into their 50s reassess what made sense and what didn't make sense.
We develop our propensity to forgive or not to forgive by what we see illustrated at the early ages of our development.
Healthcare reform is a paradigmatic case. It is self-evidently necessary and inevitable and has been on the agenda for 35 years, and the political class seems completely unable to respond to it.
There is nothing to be said for being crippled. You don't see the world better or clearer, nor do you develop some special set of skills by way of compensation.
Judaism for me is a sensibility of collective self-questioning and uncomfortable truth-telling. I feel a debt of responsibility to this past. It is why I am Jewish.
Obviously a primary liberal conviction is that we should be tolerant of other peoples' convictions. But if we believe in something, we had better find ways to say so convincingly.
I think if I'm controversial it's not because I set out to be. It's because I've never felt comfortable being part of someone else's mainstream community.
For Europe to play a part in the world on the scale of its wealth and its population and its capacities, Europe has to be united in some way, and Europe is not united.
They know what my standards are. They know what I need and how to get it to me, and they know how to communicate with me if for some reason they can't get it.
Whether it's destiny or fate or whatever, I don't think I could do a French Laundry anywhere else.
What interests me is trying to catch the reflection of the human being on the page. I'm interested in how ordinary people live their lives.
I do believe that enduring geological features are important, though I don't think I can be clear about exactly why.
In a very basic way, a prominent landmark such as Mt. Holyoke tells you where you are. They let you know that you're not the first person in a place.
Only when we can accept God as he is can we give up the desire for spiritual experiences that we can feel.
God will bring people and events into our lives, and whatever we may think about them, they are designed for the evolution of His life in us.
Votes in federal elections are cast and counted in a highly decentralized and variable fashion, with no uniform ballots and few national standards.
Responsibility for overseeing the implementation of election law typically resides with partisan officials, many with public stakes in the election outcome.
With the parties at virtual parity and the ideological gulf between them never greater, the stakes of majority control of Congress are extremely high.
While Republican voters have remained universally supportive of their President, Democrats and Independents are returning to a more naturally critical stance.
Second, the President's popularity has not translated into increased support for the Republican party or for the policies and approaches on domestic policy championed by the President.
Find a place that you are comfortable with. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Make a lot of mistakes.
