In an opinion piece about human dignity from The Guardian, January 14, 2026, titled Donald Trump Is waging war against the human conscience, columnist Osita Nwanevu had this to say about Plato’s Symposium.  ” . . . It is a tale about universal aspects of the human experience philosophers have examined in the service of understanding what it means to be a human being.

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“This year marks the 250th anniversary of the American answer to it – the idea that human beings are equal, possessed of a universal dignity that entitles us to basic rights and a chance to flourish and prosper, whoever we may be. That idea has always had flag-waving enemies. And today, the latent belief of the nativists vying to make America great again is that there is nothing especially interesting or consequential about the American project.

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“Against the demands and best aspirations of civilization – western or any kind – they tell us the human being is a creature that yearns for nothing more than blood and soil, which is, of course, just mud. The lust for mud has taken up many guises in our history and has been many given names of late – neo-reaction, post-liberalism, fascism. But the name familiar to most is evil.

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“As many who have taken to the streets in protest have noted, the Trump administration’s assaults on liberty here at home are the kinds of abuses that spurred the revolution we will commemorate this year . . . The American project must and will succeed. Its enemies stand for too little. Our lives are worth too much.”

Note; The whole piece is well worth reading.