author admits this is a bit preachy but it is thoughtful, too

The money quote comes from Thomas Jefferson in 1814:

The Declaration’s author was not a greed-is-good guy: “Self-love,” Jefferson wrote to a friend 38 years after the Declaration, “is no part of morality. Indeed it is exactly its counterpart. It is the sole antagonist of virtue leading us constantly by our propensities to self-gratification in violation of our moral duties to others.”

And yet, that is the virtue most common and admired in our leaders today.