We feel free to disagree.
We are a family, and what is a family gathering without
debate?
We believe in fairness.
In America, the loudest voice does not always have the last
word, and every voice has a right to be heard.
We act with hope.
Not because life is perfect, but because we are free to face life,
and all its imperfections, on our own terms.
In a sturdy and tested framework of law and government that
only works because of the confidence we place in it and in
each other.
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning
to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my
lamp beside the golden door!
—Emma Lazarus
The land flourished because it was fed from so many
sources—because it was nourished by so many cultures and
traditions and peoples.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
The essence of America—that which really unites us—is not
ethnicity, or nationality or religion—it is an idea—and what an
idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and
do great things.
—Condoleezza Rice