This Fight Is Our Fight, by Elizabeth Warren: on Principles & Values

David Koch: OpEd: Pressure incumbents by funding primary challengers

When the Kochs heard about Moran's statement, they quickly brought down their well-financed fist: if Moran did not change his position instantly, they would find another Republican to run against him in the his next primary and launch an all-out offensive from the right. Koch-funded groups then flooded Moran's office with tens of thousands of e-mails and distributed flyers at one of his local town hall meetings.

Moran assessed the threat and realized that even his very safe Kansas seat could be at risk. With head-snapping speed, he reversed his position.

Elizabeth Warren: Fight back against band of billionaires, bankers, & bigots

We stand up and we fight back--and we do so on a very personal level. We start with clarity about the principle we are fighting for: everybody counts and everybody gets a chance to build something. Or to say it another way: America must be a country that respects every human being and that builds opportunity not just for some of us, but for all of us. We fight for a country we can believe in.

Collective action begins with individual action, and each of us must find our own way to speak up.

Our country's future is not determined by some law of physics. It's not determined by some preordained path. It's not even determined by Donald Trump. Our country's future is up to us. We can let the great American promise die or we can fight back. Me? I'm fighting back.

This fight is our fight.

Elizabeth Warren: Dropped out of college at age 19 to get married

I know it sounds nuts. How could I have said yes? I was halfway to graduation and my teaching certificate. But I didn't hesitate to drop out of college and marry Jim.

For 19 years I had absorbed the lesson that the best and the most important thing any girl could do was "marry well." And for 19 years I had also absorbed the message that I was a pretty iffy case--not very pretty, not very flirty, and definitely not very good at making boys feel like they were smarter than I was. So when Jim popped the question, I was so shocked that it took me about a nanosecond to say yes.

I was going to get to be a wife & mother, after all. I was walking on air. And that whole plan to go to college and teach? My mother had predicted that it would go away, and now I supposed she was right. I finished up my degree with correspondence courses.

Elizabeth Warren: We cannot let the American Dream die

We believe in that America. That is the America we fight for.

We believe, but we are worried--worried that those opportunities are slipping away. In fact, a lot of America is worried--worried and angry. Angry that far too often Washington works for those at the top and leaves everyone else behind.

I laid it out as best I could. This is about our values, I said, about the things we believe in, the reasons we get up every day and work as hard as we can. About debt-free college and expanded Social Security. About science and climate change. About our capacity to invest together to create something better.

We believe that millionaires and billionaires and giant corporations should not be able to buy our elections and our politicians. Corporations are not people.

Elizabeth Warren: Scapegoating the "other" lets rich guys run America

Who benefits? I'll tell you exactly who benefits: When we turn on each other, bankers can run our economy for Wall Street. When we spend our energy attacking immigrants, oil companies can fight off clean energy. When we argue over who got more crumbs of food stamps, giant corporations can ship the last good jobs overseas. When we turn on each other, rich guys can push through more tax breaks for themselves.

Elizabeth Warren: We need to fight hard, tirelessly for our core principles

We've also got to be prepared to lose some battles. Without control of Congress or the White House, we will often come up short. We simply don't have the tools and the weapons to win every time. But that doesn't mean we are powerless. It doesn't mean we should not fight back.

To rebuild an economy that works for everyone--we need to be clear about our values. We need, in other words, to be clear about our core principles.