Republican Plato

Well, you don't stay in print for 2400 years without delivering some pretty good stuff.  Here we have the foundations of the liberal arts education, and the idea that intellect trumps opinion, and science trumps faith.  It's pretty impressive to me that Socrates, via Plato, is still relevant today, as we enter the era of recovery from leadership that never got out of the cave.  It's also pretty sad commentary on the immutability of human nature.  These ideas were out there, clearly stated 2400 years ago, and we still have to deal with leadership that is in it for the power.  We still struggle with the unenlightened elevating rulers who value opinion and action over intellect, and faith over science.  You'd think we're programmed that way, and we'll never get over it.  

I can only point to history as a pendulum.  Human society seems to swing back and forth between enlightened and unenlightened eras.  I hope that we're on our way back to secular, educated, and intelligent, but it's hard to say.  I think the new guy in charge is more likely to think that way than the last guy, but hard times are coming.  And hard times are pretty bad for secular, enlightened thinking.