Ours is not an ethnic identity, but a civic one. This means that for us, even more than for most people around the world, a sense of trust is not jus… - Pete Buttigieg

the cornerstone of American identity is democracy, the cornerstone of democracy is trust.

I had a professional background in economic development and was fluent in the language of business - even while having fought and bled politically for organized labor in the auto industry.

She described her new treatment with a topical chemotherapy that came in the form of a potent cream that she applied, wearing gloves, to burn off the cancerous areas — then she produced a package of the stuff from the bathroom so I could see how mundane this lifesaving medication looked. I blinked in disbelief as she held up what resembled a tube of toothpaste, and explained that each one cost over two thousand dollars. Or that’s what it would cost, if not for the insurance she had purchased through the health insurance exchanges that had been set up as part of Obamacare. I thought — and spoke — of that moment often, later, as I talked about why health policy was not a theoretical question for our family.

The more you know about exclusion, the more you think about belonging. We have a crisis of belonging in this country.