If You Are Doing Well,

This Idea That Once You Get Into Politics You Are Now Signed Up For Lifelong Duty Being In Elective Office, Makes A Fundamental Error - And That Is Believing That The Only Way You Can Hold Progressive Views And Implement Them Is In Elective Office.

I Represented Many Of These Kids As They Become Young Adults In The Criminal Justice System When I Was A Public Defender. One Way Of Reaching Out Is By The Mind Of Experimentation.

I've Run For Office, And I've Stood On Street Corners, While People Walked By Me And Didn't Want To Talk To Me, And Did Not Think I Was A Credible Candidate. And Then Four Years Later, I Was Nearly Elected Mayor Of San Francisco, So I Know What It Takes.

I Think That When We're Talking About Youth Violence, We're Talking About Kids Who Don't Have Opportunities, So They're Engaged In A Certain Degree Of Lawlessness, Because We As A Society Have Failed Them.

Running For Office Is Important, And You Don't Really Need More Than To Be Right On The Issues, And To Be Able To Articulate What It Is You Believe. You Don't Need A Certain Background. You Don't Need To Be A Lawyer. You Don't Need To Have Some Professional Degree.