When one of your loved ones goes out of your life, you think what he might have done with a few more years,” Joe Sr. had written to his friend. “And … - Joe Biden

Don’t kid yourself: The pain and scars from that day run deep. I said it many times and it’s no more true or real than when we think about the events of January 6th: We are in a battle for the soul of America. A battle that, by the grace of God and the goodness and gracious — and greatness of this nation, we will win. Believe me, I know how difficult democracy is. And I’m crystal clear about the threats America faces. But I also know that our darkest days can lead to light and hope.

Eavan Boland … was a daughter of Dublin, Ireland, and she made a career as a poet in Palo Alto, California. And she taught at Stanford University. And this was one of her last poems. And a line in the poem goes, "Remind us again now that history changes …That it belongs to us. It belongs to all of us." We gather this week in San Francisco at an inflection point in history. One of the full new challenges that's — not only challenges but new threats as well. But we have to never forget that we can change and bend the arc of history for the better if we make up our mind to do it, that together we can harness the power of the Pacific to grow our economies, to uplift our workers, to protect our planet, and to connect our people to one another and the future of greater prosperity and dignity for all. So much of history of the world will be written in the Asia-Pacific in the coming years. We must never forget that it's a history that belongs to all of us. Hopes that have always brought us forward. Hopes that, in fact, we share — 3 billion people … that we represent share in common. Hopes and aspirations that have brought us together here today.

We must reform the tax code — not by giving the biggest tax cuts to billionaires, but by making them begin to pay their fair share. We need to get dark money — that's that hidden funding behind too many campaigns' contributions — we need to get it out of our politics. We need to enact an 18-year time limit — term limit — time and term — for the strongest ethics ref- — and the strongest ethics reforms for our Supreme Court. We need to ban members of Congress … from trading stock while they're in the Congress. We need to amend the Constitution to make clear that no president — no president — is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office. The president's power … it's not absolute, and it shouldn't be. And in a democracy, there's another danger to the concentration of power and wealth. It erodes a sense of unity and common purpose. It causes distrust and division. Participating in our democracy becomes exhausting and even disillusioning, and people don't feel like they have a fair shot. But we have to stay engaged in the process. I know it's frustrating. A fair shot is what makes America, America. Everyone is entitled to a fair shot — not a guarantee, but just a fair shot, an even playing field — going as far as your hard work and talent can take you. We can never lose that essential truth — remain who we are. I've always believed and I've told other world leaders America can be defined by one word: possibilities. Only in America do we believe anything possible, like a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, sitting behind the — this desk in the Oval Office as president of the United States. That's the magic of America. It's all around us.