SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - The first thing that comes to mind when we see a burning building, people suffering, a community ravaged by disaster is not whether or not we are looking at Republicans or Democrats; conservatives or liberals. We see neighbors. We see families in need. We see fellow Americans.

I am neither a Democrat nor a RepublicanI am an independent who believes that at this moment of partisan dysfunction and division that the health of American democracy depends on the capacity of the American people to come together, to grow and to develop.