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I Do Not Believe That Marijuana Is A Gateway Drug, And Having Been A Mayor Trying To Keep My Community Safe, If There Was Any Drug That Was Driving Violence, More Than Marijuana, It Was Alcohol Which Is Legal. And So I Just Don't Think This Is A Gateway Drug. And By The Way, If You Regulate It You're Actually Going To Overcome A Lot Of Problems With People Having To Go To The Streets To Buy Their Drug. You Don't Know How Dangerous That Is.

-Cory Booker

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I Do Not Believe

Cory Booker

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I Do Not Believe That Marijuana Is A Gateway Drug, And Having Been A Mayor Trying To Keep My Community Safe, If There Was Any Drug That Was Driving Violence, More Than Marijuana, It Was Alcohol Which Is Legal. And So I Just Don't Think This Is A Gateway Drug. And By The Way, If You Regulate It You're Actually Going To Overcome A Lot Of Problems With People Having To Go To The Streets To Buy Their Drug. You Don't Know How Dangerous That Is.

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2016 Is An Election Like I've Never Seen Before. And I Think It Reflects The Fact That Many People Have A Dissatisfaction With Politics As Usual. So I Think This Is A Time Where Both Parties Should Be Humble, Reach Out To Each Other And Try To Find Ways To Build On Common Ground To Serve The Concerns, The Rightful Frustrations Of The American People.

If You Look At Great Human Civilizations, From The Roman Empire To The Soviet Union, You Will See That Most Do Not Fail Simply Due To External Threats But Because Of Internal Weakness, Corruption Or A Failure To Manifest The Values And Ideals They Espouse.

When You Have A President In His Campaign Who Ran Saying Things That Not Are Just Contrary To A Fact, But Literally Threatening To Use Presidential Power In A Way That Would Erode The Rights And Privileges And Equality Of Large Sections Of Americans, God Bless The Protestors.

I Visited The Ethiopian National Project Which Was Created By The Government To Fully Integrate Ethiopian Jews Into Israel's Society. They're Still Facing A Lot Of Challenges With Poverty, Unemployment But The Ethiopian National Project Is Really Doing An Extraordinary Job In Empowering The Ethiopian Community To Be Successful.

Cynicism Cripples Our Imagination And Limits Our Ability To See Faint Possibilities Amidst Glaring Problems.

I Sit In The Senate, And See What Republicans Are Often Advocating, It's Those Kind Of Tax Loopholes For The Richest Of The Rich Or, Frankly, For Corporations And Giving Incentives For Them To Move Jobs And Opportunity Overseas.

We Should Not Be Scrimping On Investments In Public Safety. The Lack Of Infrastructure Spending Is Costing Us Lives In America. It's Costing Every Commuter.

Leadership Is Not A Position Or A Title, It Is Action And Example.

One Of The Very Hallmarks Of Our Nation Is The Ideal Of E Pluribus Unum. It Is A Concept That Richly Flows From The Highest Ideals Of Our Nation.

You Should Be Able To Afford Health Care For Your Family. You Should Be Able To Retire With Dignity And Respect. And You Should Be Able To Give Your Children The Kind Of Education That Allows Them To Dream Even Bigger, Go Even Farther And Accomplish Even More Than You Could Ever Imagine.

Greatness Is Helping Others Realize They Are Great, Beautiful And Capable. Genius Is Seeing The Wonder And Possibility In Those Others Ignore.

What I Don't Want To See My Democratic Party Do Is To Begin To Talk Down Towards White Men, As If Their Concerns Are Not Legitimate And That We Shouldn't Be Listening To A Lot Of Their Aspirations And Hopes As Well.

First Class In Life Has Nothing To Do With The Clothes You Wear, The Car You Drive Or The House You Live In. First Class Is And Always Will Be About The Content Of Your Character, The Quality Of Your Ideas And The Kindness In Your Heart.

Can You Every Single Day Tell A True Testimony Of Who You Are? That's Really What Life Is About.

If Donald Trump Governs The Way He Campaigned, It'll Be A Disastrous Presidency. This Is A Chance For Him To Be Magnanimous, Humble. To Work Across The Aisle. If That's The Kind Of President We Have, That's Fine. But If Not, I Want Our Dnc Chair, I Want Democratic Senators And Congresspeople, Citizens, We Need To Resist.

We Want Everybody To Think About What's In Their Interests. And I Believe That Our Democratic Party Platform Has A Better Vision And Better Actually Pathway For White Americans, As Well Black Americans, Latino Americans, Women, And So Forth, To Be Successful.

Marriage Equality Is Not A Choice. It Is A Legal Right.

Marriage Equality

In Life, It Is Never The Big Battle, The Big Moment, The Big Speech, The Big Election. That Does Not Change Things. What Changes Things Is Every Day, Getting Up And Rendering Small Acts Of Service And Love Beyond That What's Expected Of You Or Required Of You.

No Matter What, We Always Have The Power To Choose Hope Over Despair, Engagement Over Apathy, Kindness Over Indifference, Love Over Hate.

The Change We Seek For Our Nation Is Not The Choice Of An Individual But Must Be The Calling Of A Country.

If You Want The Things People Don't Have, You Have To Do The Things Other People Will Not Do.

Give The Respect You Want To Receive; Embody The Grace You Hope To Encounter; And Help Others With No Expectations Whatsoever.

When American Citizens Pull Together, There Is Little We Can't Accomplish.

I Caution Anyone Who In Their Protest Becomes The Very Thing That They're Protesting Against. Meaning Turning To Hateful Speech, Violating Principles And Ideals That Are Sacred In America. We Need To Raise Our Voices, But We Do Not Need To Indulge In Hate.

Dream Big & Have Huge Ambition, But Never Forget Life Is Lived In Small Moments And Sustained By Simple Acts Of Love.

We Have Had In Our Nation A Well-celebrated Declaration Of Independence. But Our Success As A Country Will Depend Upon A New 'declaration Of Inter-dependence.' A Belief In How Much We Need Each Other, How Much We Share One Common Destiny.

You Cannot Find What You Do Not Seek. You Cannot Grasp When You Do Not Reach. Your Dreams Won't Come Up To Your Front Door. You Have Got To Take A Leap If You Want To Soar.

The War On Drugs Is A War On People, But Particularly It's Been A War On Low-income People And A War On Minorities. We Know In The United States Of America There Is No Difference In Drug Use Between Black, White And Latinos. But If You're Latino In The United States Of America, You're About Twice As Likely To Be Arrested For Drug Use Than If You're White. If You're Black, You Are About Four Times As Likely To Be Arrested If You're African American Than If You Are White. This Drug War Has Done So Much To Destroy, Undermine, Sabotage Families, Communities, Neighborhoods, Cities.

Before You Tell Me What You Teach And Preach, Show Me How You Live And Give.

For An Economy Built To Last We Must Invest In What Will Fuel Us For Generations To Come. This Is Our History - From The Transcontinental Railroad To The Hoover Dam, To The Dredging Of Our Ports And Building Of Our Most Historic Bridges - Our American Ancestors Prioritized Growth And Investment In Our Nation's Infrastructure.

If You Understand The Black Lives Matter Movement, There's No Central Leadership Of The Movement. This Is An Organic, Grassroots Movement All Around America.

I Love Talking About The Challenges [newark, Nj] Has Because Of The Way They Are Always Brilliantly Disguised As Opportunities.. .the Biggest Global Challenge That There Is Is A Challenge Of The Spirit, A Challenge Of Our Vision, A Challenge And A Test Of Our Ideals, Of Who We Say We Are Going To Be.

We Live In A Gender-biased World. I Know We Have A Lot. But I Do Know That This History We're Making, When Hillary Clinton Will Accept The Nomination, I Think It's Going To Go Good Steps In Helping This Country Heal From Its Past And Grow Towards Its Future That's More Inclusive, More Accepting And More Realizing That Every American Has Value And That Discrimination Has No Place In Politics, In The Workplace Or Anywhere At All.

Give More Than Is Expected, Love More Than Seems Wise, Serve More Than Seems Necessary, And Help More Than Is Asked.

Our Platform Calls For A Balanced Deficit Reduction Plan Where The Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share. And When Your Country Is In A Costly War, With Our Soldiers Sacrificing Abroad And Our Nation Facing A Debt Crisis At Home, Being Asked To Pay Your Fair Share Isn't Class Warfare - It's Patriotism.

Speaking As Somebody Who Voted Against Tpa And Has A Lot Of Suspicions About Trans Pacific Partnership That Are Reflected In Our Concerns About What's Hurting The American Economy And What The Opportunity Is To Grow, I Have To Say I Like A Person Like Hillary Clinton Who Is Willing To Analyze The Facts. I Have Met No One Smarter Than Her In Politics.

As You Put Your Sights On Your Goals — No Matter How Great And Compelling They Are — As You Look Into The Distance, Don’t Forget What Is Right In Front Of You Today. No Matter How Great Your Dreams, No Matter How Great Your Destiny, The Biggest Thing You Can Do In Any Day Is A Small Act Of Kindness.

If We Cannot Provide Excellent Educational Opportunities To All Children, Safe Communities, Quality Health Coverage, Or Robust And Fair Avenues Towards Wealth Creation, Then Our Nation Will Increasingly Be In Peril.

We Now Know From A Princeton Study That Superfund Sites Are Causing Higher Rates Of Birth Defects. We Now Know That There's No Excusing The Lack Of Moral Urgency To Do Something About This Environmental Crisis. We See Flint, Michigan, For Example, And The Attention It's Gotten, But What Most Americans Don't Seem To Realize Is That This Lead Problem Is Not Confined To Just Flint. There Are Over 3,000 Jurisdictions That Have Twice The Lead Levels In People's Blood Than Flint Does. We're Now Seeing More People Being Exposed To The Truth About Environmental Injustice In Our Country.

I Think That We Need To Have An Honest Conversation In This Country. This Idea That Somehow We're Beyond Sexism, Beyond Racism Is Just Wrong. And This Is Where Having An Honest Conversation With White Men About Their Issues And Their Concerns, And Having Honest Conversations About The Experiences That African-americans Are Still Having, Despite Who's The President Of The United States, In The Criminal Justice System That We See In Sentencing, We See In Policing And A Lot Of These Issues.

Don't Speak To Me About Your Religion; First Show It To Me In How You Treat Other People. Don't Tell Me How Much You Love Your God; Show Me In How Much You Love All God's Children. Don't Preach To Me Your Passion For Your Faith; Teach Me Through Your Compassion For Your Neighbors. In The End, I'm Not As Interested In What You Have To Tell Or Sell As I Am In How You Choose To Live And Give.

Here, We Have A Country That Is Making Its Veterans, People Who Are Struggling With Post-traumatic Stress, People Who Are Struggling With Depression, Who Often They're Only Hope Is Their Access To Marijuana To Treat These Illnesses, And Here We Are Criminalizing Them For Doing What's Necessary To Stabilize Their Lives As A Result Of Their Service. This Is Not Who We Are As A Country. We Are Better Than This.

I Still Remember How Upset I Was In The Aftermath Of President Obama's Election, Where People In Republican Leadership Didn't Say That, "hey, I Want To Focus On The Issues And Values Of Our Country," But, "my Number One Goal Is To See That Barack Obama Is Not A Two Term President." That To Me Is Outrageous. I Would Never Do That. My Number One Goal Is To Fight To Protect Poor People, Ethnic And Religious Minorities, Working Class Folks.

Remember That The Biggest Thing You Could Do Today Is A Small Act Of Kindness.

No Matter What, We Always Have The Power To Choose Hope Over Despair, Engagement Over Apathy, Kindness Over Indifference, Enthusiasm Over Lethargy, Love Over Hate. This Is Our True Freedom. Whatever Life May Throw At Us, We Have The Freedom And Ability To Choose Our Attitude. And I Believe It Is In Those Moments Of Choice That We Manifest Our Destiny.

There Is A Tremendous Amount Of Corporate Villainy Going On In The Us, Where Corporations Are Doing Things That They Know Are Causing Harm, And They Wouldn't Do This Where Their Children Live Or Where Their Children Are Growing Up. Communities Often Don't Have The Tools Necessary To Fight Back Against Grievous Harms Being Caused Them. So To Give A Cause Of Action For Folks Who Can Demonstrate The Harm That's Being Caused, It's Critically Important That You Allow People To Have More Tools With Which To Defend Themselves And Defend Their Communities.

There Is Too Much Disagreement For Disagreement's Sake. In A Time Of Persistent Challenges That Still Call Into Question Our Most Sacred Aspirations As A Country, We Cannot Afford Shallow Callous Divisiveness In Our Public Debate.

It's About Time That We Create First Class Citizenship For Every American Plain And Simple. Every New Jersey-ian. This Should Not Be A Popular Vote. This Is Something We Should Do Now.

I'm A Competitor. And I Don't Want To Say, Hey, Just Because This Person Is A Woman Or This Person Is A Minority, That They're Not Going To Get The White Male Vote.

We Need To Be Acting Responsible As Adults, And I Don't Endorse In Any Way The Irresponsible Use Of Marijuana. But I Do Believe We Have Come To A Point In Our Society Where We Need To End Prohibition. We Need To Have Taxed, Regulated Marijuana Within American Communities.

We Choose Forward. We Choose Inclusion. We Choose Growing Together. We Choose American Economic Might And Muscle, Standing Strong On The Bedrock Of The American Ideal: A Strong, Empowered And Ever-growing Middle Class.

May We Help More Than We Hurt, May We Seek To Understand More Than Be Understood And May We Love More Than We Judge.

The More You Limit Your Choices, Thereby Limiting Thought, The More You Can Simplify Your Life And Focus Your Energy Elsewhere.

The World You See Outside Of You Will Always Be A Reflection Of What You Have Inside Of You.

I Hope And Understand That People Are Getting A Better Recognition That Food Stamps Is A Program That Really Helps America, Helps Families In Need. It's Not A Government Handout. If Anything, It's A Safety Net That Helps People Through Difficult Times And Bridges Them Towards Stability.

No Matter Who You Are, No Matter What Your Color, Creed, How You Choose To Pray Or Who You Choose To Love, That If You Are An American - First Generation Or Fifth - One Who Is Willing To Work Hard, Play By The Rules And Apply Your God-given Talents - That You Should Be Able To Find A Job That Pays The Bills.

Gender Bias Is Real. I Was An Early Barack Obama Supporter, And I Was Even Shocked At The Way The Media Treated President Obama Vs. How They Treated Secretary Hillary Clinton. Questions That Were Asked About, What Is Wearing, How Much Does She Weigh, About Her Hair Were Never Ascribed To The President.

The Only Thing That Weakens Worry Is Work, So I Will Be Working For Marie Corfield

You Cant Have A Physical Transformation Until You Have A Spiritual Transformation.

Spiritual Transformation

If You Want Extraordinary Results You Must Put In Extraordinary Effort.

The History In Our Country Speaks To Our Highest Values Of People Who Did Not Accept Things As They Are And Go Along With Them. They Resisted, They Refused To Accept The World As It Is, They Demanded It To Be A Better Reflection Of Their Highest Dreams And Highest Aspirations.

The Message To Both Parties Should Be Right Now That We Need To Find Ways To Work Together To Speak To The American Public.

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The First Thing We Should Be Concerned About The Blm Movement Should Be The Issues That The Black Lives Matter Movement Is Bringing Forward. There's No Fundamental Platform Being Brought By Activists In Oakland, Baltimore, Or New Jersey. The Main Issues That You See, The Commonality Between Activists All Around The Country, Are Trying To Deal With The Challenges In The Criminal Justice System, Something That Is Very Much Central To My Work. So My Hope Is That People Stay Focused On The Urgency To Create Justice Here At Home.

Let Your Critics Make You Humble, And Your Enemies Make You Wise. Learn From Every Stumble But Let Nothing Keep You Down, For You Were Born To Rise!

Positive Thinking

I Want You To Understand That Racial Justice Is Not About Justice For Those Who Are Black Or Brown; Racial Justice Is About American Justice. Justice For Lgbt Americans Is Not About Gay And Lesbian Justice; It's About American Justice. Equality For Women Isn't About Women; It's About United States Equality. You Cannot Enjoy Justice Anywhere In This Country Until We Make Sure There Is Justice Everywhere In This Country.

Go Out There And Swear To This World Your Oath, Not With Your Words, But With What You Do. Not With Your Hand Over Your Heart, But With Your Hand Outstretched To A World That Desperately Needs Your Hand, Your Help, Your Insights, Your Creativity, Your Honor, Your Courage. It Needs You.

May We All, As A Nation Of Believers, Fight For The Achievement Of America, May We Make Sacrifices Worthy Of Those Proud Men And Women Who Fought For Us, Labored For Us, Bled Soil From The Beaches Of Normandy To The Fields Of Gettysburg For Us.

In America We Have A Declaration Of Independence, But Our History, Our Advancements, Our Global Strength All Point To An American Declaration Of Interdependence.

Life Is About Where You Are Right Now, And The Choices You Make.

Before You Speak To Me About Your Religion, First Show It To Me In How You Treat Other People. Before You Tell Me How Much You Love Your God, Show Me In How Much You Love All His Children.

We Become Distracted From Productive Labors By Our Perceived Opponents; We Become Focused On Them And Not On Our Larger Calling To Advance Our Nation; Our Debate Becomes More About Scoring Points Against An Adversary And Less About Advancing Our Common Cause.

Never Let Your Soul Be Silenced. Live Life Out Loud. Every Day Tell Your Truth Not With Words But With Actions From Your Heart.

Real Courage Is Holding On To A Still Voice In Your Head That Says, 'i Must Keep Going.' It's That Voice That Says Nothing Is A Failure If It Is Not Final. That Voice That Says To You, 'get Out Of Bed. Keep Going. I Will Not Quit.'

As I Review The Great History Of Our Nation, Community Organizers Have Been At The Center Of So Many Of Our Great Social Movements.

Don't Let Your Inability To Do Everything Undermine Your Determination To Do Something.

You Need To Understand Something, You Drink Deeply From Wells Of Freedom And Liberty And Opportunity That You Did Not Dig. You Eat Lavishly From Banquet Tables Prepared For You By Your Ancestors. You Sit Under The Shade Of Trees That You Did Not Plant Or Cultivate Or Care For. You Have A Choice In Life, You Can Just Sit Back, Getting Fat, Dumb, And Happy, Consuming All The Blessings Put Before You, Or It Can Metabolize Inside Of You, Become Fuel To Get You Into The Fight, To Make This Democracy Real, To Make It True To Its Words That We Can Be A Nation Of Liberty And Justice For All.

Courage Has You Say In A Defiant Spirit You Can Take Everything From Me, You Could Cut Me Deep, You Could Render Me In Shame But You Will Never Ever Stop Me From Loving Those Who Mock Me, From Loving Those That Hate Me, From Loving Those Who Don't Forgive Me, From Loving The Cynics, From Loving The Darkness So Much That I Myself Through My Small Acts Of Consistent Unyielding Love May Bring On The Light.

I Have My Rights, Not Because Of Washington Suddenly Deciding, Strom Thurmond And Others, "hey, Let's Give Certain Americans Equal Rights." But Because Of The Ardent, Unyielding Voice Of Protesters.

I Still Have That New Senator Smell.

It Is Okay Not To Like Someone, But It Is Never Okay To Try And Degrade, Humiliate, Or Dehumanize Them.

When Happy, Be Kind. When Angry, Be Kind. When Hopeful, Be Kind. When Discouraged, Be Kind. When Ever, Be Kind.

The Right Attitude Can Transform A Barrier Into A Blessing, An Obstacle Into An Opportunity Or A Stumbling Block Into A Stepping Stone.

Heroism Is Not Fighting Some Big Battle. It Is Not Standing Up To Some Fearsome Foe ... Heroism Is Every Day Getting Up With A Mission To Show This World That You Are Going To Light It Up With Your Spirit, To Make The Best Out Of Yourself.

We Started America With The Sin Of Slavery That Led Right Into The Post-reconstruction Period Which Was The Greatest Period Of Domestic Terrorism In Our Country's History. Then After That, We Had Jim Crow Emerge And Just When The Jim Crow Laws Were Ending Came The Onslaught Of The Drug War. Well, The Drug War Has So Perniciously Effected, Insidiously Infected Communities Of Color That In Some Ways It Has Come Full Circle, And We Now Have More African Americans Under Criminal Supervision Than All Of The Slaves In 1865. This Is A Profoundly Unjust War.

What More Could You Ask For In Life Than To Be Given An Impossible Challenge?

Any Democrat Running Is Trying To Get That Barack Obama Coalition, Which Is An Increasingly Diverse Voter Base. It's Young Folks. It's Minorities, As Well As White Women. I Don't Think We As A Party Can Afford To Alienate Or Not Try To Speak To The Concerns, Fears, Insecurities, Aspirations Of White Men. We Should Not Give Up That Ground.

People Who Think I'm Gay, Some Part Of Me Thinks It's Wonderful. Because I Want To Challenge People On Their Homophobia. I Love Seeing On Twitter When Someone Says I'm Gay, And I Say, 'so What Does It Matter If I Am? So Be It. I Hope You Are Not Voting For Me Because You Are Making The Presumption That I'm Straight.'

I Do Not Believe That Marijuana Is A Gateway Drug, And Having Been A Mayor Trying To Keep My Community Safe, If There Was Any Drug That Was Driving Violence, More Than Marijuana, It Was Alcohol Which Is Legal. And So I Just Don't Think This Is A Gateway Drug. And By The Way, If You Regulate It You're Actually Going To Overcome A Lot Of Problems With People Having To Go To The Streets To Buy Their Drug. You Don't Know How Dangerous That Is.

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