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Success is the American Dream. And that success is not something to be ashamed of, or to demonize.

The success that Americans are said to worship is success of a specific sort: accomplished not through hard work, primarily, but through the ingenious angle, the big break. Sit down at a lunch counter, stand back up a star. Invest in a new issue and watch it soar. Split a single atom, win a war.

I see success as bringing some confidence back to the American people that despite our differences, we can find some ways to move forward.

I think there are a lot of successful people in this country who connect amazingly well with the American people and have - and one of the reasons they are successful is because they connect well.

From a distance, the American political system is a remarkable success. We have accomplished the peaceful transfer of power for more than two hundred years, and that's unmatched by any civilization in human history. Up close, our political system still has all the ugliness and bad actors that you might suspect.

Liberal progressivism evolved after our Constitution. It has repeatedly failed all over the world so why do we think it could be successful here in the United States of America?

If we become one of those societies that attack success, why not come as certain there will be a lot less success? And that's not who we are.

We still have a lot of work to do in American culture. More open-mindedness is happening - in some cases rapidly, in some, slowly.

America still has the right stuff to thrive. We still have the most creative, diverse, innovative culture and open society - in a world where the ability to imagine and generate new ideas with speed and to implement them through global collaboration is the most important competitive advantage.

Many individuals are doing what they can. But real success can only come if there is a change in our societies and in our economics and in our politics.