I am not opposed to government efforts to stop terrorist plots. We are still seared by the memory of 9/11, and we should be.

As a life-long liberal who has engaged in protests against the government and for civil rights, I am saddened at efforts by some of my fellow liberals to silence commencement speakers with whom they might disagree on some issues.

Academic freedom and free speech mean the right to consider ideas with which you might disagree.

If pluralism and academic freedom are to be used to defend liberal speakers and ideas, they ought to be equally valid for conservative views.

Liberal arts colleges have traditionally provided a forum for debating ideas. Avoiding controversy and 'playing it safe' by not inviting - or disinviting - speakers with 'controversial' views stifles debate.

Putting fear into people is the principal goal of terrorists, and they have been successful.

Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis had enormous talent, and Elvis was the major contributor to an entirely new genre of music. Sometimes their exploits were distasteful to people, but they left behind an enormous body of work that endures.

Not only has celebrity dumbed down our politics, it has become intertwined with it.

I would be delighted not to see another celebrity, regardless of their political beliefs, come to Washington to make yet another appeal for some cause about which they know little.

Too many younger people seem to prefer following celebrities instead of doing the work required to get an education that will someday lead to a job. If students today spent as much time on math and science and history as they do following these shallow celebrities, they might actually become contributors to society someday.

Hillary Clinton is in political trouble and perhaps even legal trouble over her use of private e-mail accounts and bypassing government-issued accounts containing substantial amounts of information that belongs to the federal government. But ultimately, I don't think this latest controversy will hurt her presidential ambitions.

In presidential campaigns, experience as a candidate is an invaluable asset.

When issues emerge that might harm a campaign, like the Clinton e-mails, you have to get all the facts out right away, but not before you have all the facts.

I've been involved in five presidential campaigns, once as national campaign manager for Walter Mondale.

We've come a long way from the days of Jim Crow, and yes, we elected a black president, but racism lives.

Politicos talk a big game about bringing jobs to devastated cities like Detroit, but rarely succeed.

Republicans need to stop complaining about blacks voting over 90% for Democrats. If they're not willing to compete in those neighborhoods, they will keep losing those voters.

The media role in highlighting racial incidents only serves to exacerbate tension. We rarely write about racial harmony.

Republicans just don't get that their idea of scandal is not what the average American thinks is a serious scandal.

There have been plenty of Republican efforts to go to the extreme scandal zone. Impeaching Bill Clinton was a classic example. Fortunately, the Senate had enough sense to acquit Clinton, and the American people were behind him in huge numbers.

If politicians of both parties would spend more time legislating and less time attacking each other, we would all be better off.

As tragic as Benghazi was, its importance pales next to killing Osama bin Laden.

Most federal employees perform their tasks honorably and well.

I think a flat tax has merit. Anything would be better than the current tax code.

Jim Crow laws stripped blacks of basic rights. Despite landmark civil rights laws, many public schools were still segregated, blacks still faced barriers to voting, and violence by white racists continued. Such open racism is mostly gone in America, but covert racism is alive and well.

When a black man is stopped by a cop for no apparent reason, that is covert racism. When a black woman shops in a fancy store and is followed by security guards, that is covert racism. It is more subtle than 1960s racism, but it is still racism.

I salute South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Lindsey Graham for their calls to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the Statehouse.

When I worked in the White House in the 1970s and '80s, I was often stopped within the White House by agents checking my credentials. They were very observant and would stop anyone they didn't recognize.

Disney World is exactly the wrong description of how the Secret Service should operate in public. Their jobs are not about pleasing adults and children, but rather protecting the president and the first family.

The vast majority of Secret Service agents are incredibly competent people.

Ideological purity does not now, nor has it ever, produced results.

Very few undocumented workers come here to be unemployed.

There is no doubt that terrorists acting under the banner of Islam have declared war on us.

I don't have a problem with stepped-up surveillance as long as we follow the rule of law.

We need to gather intelligence, but we need to do so legally.

If we have intelligence on the location of terrorist training centers, it is insane not to act.

High-quality health care is not available to millions of Americans who don't have health insurance, or whose substandard plans provide minimum coverage. That's why the Affordable Care Act is so important. It provides quality health insurance to both the uninsured and underinsured.

Republicans want to use Obamacare in the 2014 elections against Democrats who voted for it. They want to see it fail, even at the expense of people's health.

A few states have taken redistricting out of the hands of partisans and put them in the hands of fair-minded committees. Every state should do the same.

It should be mandatory that any tax breaks go through appropriate committees and be voted on separately by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The U.S. military cannot fight Iraq's war for them.

Like many other Americans, I'm tired of the U.S. taxpayer paying for foreign wars, especially when the countries we defend have raked in huge oil profits.

Our first priority should be to protect the homeland. If we don't, a future generation might ask, 'Who lost America?'

The decision in McCutcheon v. FEC is a devastating blow in efforts to rein in out-of-control costs of campaigns.

I strongly favor shortening the campaign season and putting more primaries and caucuses on the same day, preferably regionally.

An early attempt at education choice was charter schools. These were meant to attract the best and brightest students and provide them a level of education they often could not find in their local school districts. The problem is that, of the thousands of charter schools, many are outright failures.

Schools alone are not to blame for underachievement. The breakdown of the family, poverty, and decaying cities with eroding tax bases have made a good public school education nearly impossible in many parts of the country.

I have long been an advocate of school choice, but I also believe the problem lies with school administrators and union leaders who refuse to believe there is such a thing as a bad school.

Charter schools are not a panacea.