US Presidency
2016

That's how we passed programs like Social Security and Medicare that lifted millions of seniors out of poverty. None of these changes happened overnight. They didn't happen because some charismatic leader got everybody suddenly to agree on everything. It didn't happen because some massive political revolution occurred. It actually happened over the course of years of advocacy, and organizing, and everyday, and deal-making, and the changing of public opinion. It happened because ordinary Americans who cared participated in the political process. Well, that's nice. I mean, I helped, but Look, if you want to change this country for the better, you better start participating. I'll give you an example on a lot of people's minds right now and that's the growing inequality in our economy. Over much of the last century, we've unleashed the strongest economic engine the world has ever seen, but over the past few decades, our economy has become more and more unequal. The top 10 percent of earners now take in half of all income in the in 1881.