But while he was alive few dared think, let alone put forward, alternative visions.
Ellison and Perez are both from the progressive wing of the party and have put forward similar visions for how to rebuild it.
This week, both House Republicans, led by the Budget Committee chairman, Paul Ryan, and Senate Democrats, led by their budget chair, Patty Murray, have put forward their visions for what budget policy for the next decade should look like.
And in keeping with the waterfront's contentious history, a prominent civic organization and a developer, who has spent over $100 million buying up property in the area, have put forward competing visions of how to best preserve the soul and mythology of Coney Island.
We have a very specific vision for Iraq, and if we put our own house in order, we can put forward our vision of Iraq".
Very few Republicans put forward a vision of equality and unconditional acceptance.
By standing against any overlapping of religion and politics, they have put forward a vision of democratization that is incoherent and disconnected from Islamic memories and traditions.
Vojislav Kostunica, the Yugoslav president, this week put forward his vision, which rules out independence and proposes a federation that allows substantial autonomy for the two republics.
Even so, a peaceful transformation to democracy did for a long time seem unattainable.What happened, he says, is that the Africa National Congress was able to put forward a vision that eventually changed the heart of most whites.
They include Chris McKay, who is based at Nasa's Ames Research Centre, California, and Paul Davies, who put forward his vision of this alternative living zone in a paper in Astrobiology in 2005.
