Truly successful lives are about family.

A family relying on a teacher's salary or a city employee's salary is solidly middle class as long as that money's coming in. When it's cut off, they're committed to financial obligations that will quickly turn them upside down.

Growing up, my mother and grandparents often talked about our family's Native American heritage. As a kid, I never thought to ask them for documentation - what kid would?

Because policymakers often rely on think tanks' research when crafting laws and regulations, it's critical to know whether these organizations are truly independent.

In the 1960s, a minimum wage job would keep a family of three afloat.

I got married at 19 and graduated from a commuter college in Texas that cost $50 a semester. The way I see it, I'm a janitor's daughter who became a public school teacher, a professor, and a United States Senator. America is truly a country of opportunity!