“I am very sure that any man of common understanding may, by culture, care, attention, and labor, make himself what- ever he pleases, except a great poet.”

I smile, everyone does have their own particular gifts and talents.

Indeed, the Man of Common Sense is not, necessarily, so common in his constitution or capabilities.

Or a great statesman... where are the brilliant minds of Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Franklin today? Americans have no New Worlds to migrate to. Liberty will have to be restored from within -- that's a lot harder than colonizing new lands. It is possible, but great statesmen are hard to find/be.