My wife and I unlike many intellectuals spent five years working on assembly lines. We came to fully understand the criticisms of the industrial age in which you are an appendage of a machine that sets the pace.

And in my own life in my own small way I've tried to give back to this country that has given me so much. That's why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities. Because I believe that each of us - no matter what our age or background or walk of life - each of us has something to contribute to the life of this nation.

Old minds are like old horses you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.