Allow me to present one of those old things we read, and then instantly recognize the text as having absolute application to current times, as having a striking timelessness of truth, of reality, and even evoking eerie images and voices of individuals as they campaign for authority vested by the people. You are of course free to draw your own inferences.

Plainly, this 225 yr. old article sounds like today, in a way. You can figure out how, if you want. :]

Reference paragraph 17: Federalist No. 6: Concerning Dangers from War between the States by Alexander Hamilton 1787 (my emphasis)

From this summary of what has taken place in other countries, whose situations have borne the nearest resemblance to our own, what reason can we have to confide in those reveries, which would seduce us into the expectation of peace and cordiality between the members of the present confederacy, in a state of separation? Have we not already seen enough of the fallacy and extravagance of those idle theories which have amused us with promises of an exemption from the imperfections, the weaknesses, and the evils incident to society in every shape? Is it not time to awake from the deceitful dream of a golden age, and to adopt as a practical maxim for the direction of our political conduct, that we, as well as the other inhabitants of the globe, are yet remote from the happy empire of perfect wisdom and perfect virtue?

max·im  noun  \ˈmak-səm\
1: a general truth, fundamental principle, or rule of conduct

practical maxim
1: The Constitution of the United States