[Dialogue] Menken quote

[Bill Schlesinger]

The core of the Menken quote is below.  'Your people, sir, is a great
beast!" said Hamilton to Jefferson.  The issue is not -- for us --
finding the great man, the leader who is wiser than all others.  The
issue is finding that human being who best carries our own vision.   It
is not a surprise that there are competing visions and that they often
overlap into constituencies.  Nor is it a surprise that many of those
visions are in fact based on the fear of the unknown in the Menken
quote.  But the decision is whether to try to transform, or convince, or
outnumber, or attack, or pull away from those whose visions we see as
dark and clouded.  Many of us have chosen different options at different
times.  Whichever option we chose from time to time, we need to keep
ourselves clear in our own visions.  Quotes abound for vision
statements; they become hard when we begin to feel trapped, betrayed,
isolated.  There is more than loyalty to vision involved; there is trust
that the vision is more real than the moment appears, in my poetry, that
resurrection and not death is the final word.  We do not trust 'the
people.'  But we do trust that which brings peoples into being and
sustains them and moves them from the world's presence.  And through
that, we can be part of 'the people,' and deal with the peoples, making
responsible choices instead of driven reactions.

Bill Schlesinger
Project Vida
3607 Rivera Ave
El Paso, TX 79905
(915) 533-7057 x 207
(915) 490-6148 mobile
(915) 533-7158 fax
pvida at sbcglobal.net


As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely,
the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some
great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their
hearts desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a
downright moron.


--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920



¡Pura Vida!

Ed Reames
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