Voice from the past that might illuminate the present:

Plato : APOLOGY OF SOCRATES

“O my friend, why do you who are a citizen of the great and mighty and wise city of Athens, care so much about laying up the greatest amount of money and honor and reputation, and so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard or heed at all? Are you not ashamed of this? “

Today’s  word changes:

O my friend, why do you who are a citizen of the great and mighty United States and wise city of Washington, care so much about laying up the greatest amount of money and honor and reputation, and so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard or heed at all? Are you not ashamed of this?