Here I Am An Old

All Discussion, All Debate, All Dissidence Tends To Question And In Consequence, To Upset Existing Convictions; That Is Precisely Its Purpose And Its Justification.

We Prate Of Freedom; We Are In Deadly Fear Of Life, As Much Of Our Own American Scene Betrays.

Each One Of Us Must In The End Choose For Himself How Far He Would Like To Leave Our Collective Fate To The Wayward Vagaries Of Popular Assemblies For Myself It Would Be Most Irksome To Be Ruled By A Bevy Of Platonic Guardians, Even If I Knew How To Choose Them, Which I Assuredly Do Not I Should Miss The Stimulus Of Living In A Society Where I Have, At Least Theoretically, Some Part In The Direction Of Public Affairs.

Bipartisan Democracy Presupposes The Individual, Whose Welfare Is Identical With That Of The Community In Which He Lives, The Absence Of Coherent Social Classes, A Basic Uniformity Of Interest Throughout.

We Accept The Verdict Of The Past Until The Need For Change Cries Out Loudly Enough To Force Upon Us A Choice Between The Comforts Of Inertia And The Irksomeness Of Action.