It's a tale as old as time (minus the singing teapot): a wise person dispenses really good advice, and everyone says "thanks" but continues to do the thing they were just warned not to do. Then everything basically plays out exactly the way the wise person said it would.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

You know who George Washington is, right? Wooden teeth (although not really), cherry tree (also not really), and, oh, the first president of the United States. There's a city and a state named after him. He's on the $1 bill and the quarter.

Anyway, one thing he's known for now is his final message to the American people, given when he voluntarily stepped down after two terms as president. Since they didn't have things like radio, television, or YouTube Live in 1796, Washington published his address in the American Daily Advertiser, after which it was reprinted all over the country (source).

Washington's farewell address is basically a speech that was never, well, spoken. At least, not in public—who knows whether George liked to recite it in the mirror. And, like most presidential speeches, Washington didn't write it all by himself.

The original draft was written by a small team of Founding Fathers. James Madison wrote a draft the first time Washington wanted to retire, and Alexander Hamilton (yes, that one) revised it and added a bunch of stuff before Washington approved the final version, published in 1796.

The farewell address has remained relevant ever since 1796 because of the advice Washington includes in it, which people generally agree is pretty spot-on. After announcing that he's not running for a third presidential term, the two primary messages are 1) don't let the country divide into political factions, and 2) stay neutral in foreign affairs.

Oh, man. American history is 0 for 2 on that count.

Political parties developed during Washington's presidency. The Founding Fathers had some serious disagreements over the size and role of the federal government—parties and factions are definitely fresh in Washington's mind. However, his warning about political parties in the farewell address isn't really about his own political beliefs. He says political parties divide the country into factions, which can lead to a little thing like tyranny.

And, since the country had recently fought a war to get away from tyranny, that would just be unfortunate.

Washington's warnings about international relations are a reaction to the war between Britain and France that had been dragging the United States into the conflict.

So, Washington tells everyone to avoid getting divided up into different political groups and to not favor one foreign country over  another. Good thing everyone listened and there haven't been party politics or foreign alliances since then. Those could have led to some serious conflicts over the years.

Oh, wait.

Yeah, Americans have always been big fans of this farewell address, but they haven't really followed Washington's advice. Oh, well. Points for effort, George.

There's an old saying: "the more things change, the more they stay the same." A lot of things have changed in the United States since 1796, and yet George Washington's farewell address is still amazingly relevant.

In fact, it's been relevant ever since it was published. That's one of the reasons why, between all of Washington's speeches and writings, it's the one that's been read out loud in the U.S. Senate every year on Washington's birthday since 1896.

Because we have never listened to his advice, but we know that we should.

In the farewell address, Washington (and Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, who helped write it) warns the American people against giving in to certain political temptations. The thing is, by 1796, people had already given in to them, and have been giving in to them ever since—despite the fact that his warnings are pretty much 100 percent accurate.

It's the Big Political Speech equivalent of your inner Jiminy Cricket telling you not to eat all that chocolate or binge-watch yet another season of Game of Thrones because you have to work on a project. You know you should listen, but it's easier (and more fun) not to. You indulge in your impulses and enjoy yourself for a while.

Then you realize your inner Jiminy Cricket was right, and suddenly, you're scrambling to write up that report.

The temptations, in Washington's case, aren't chocolate and Game of Thrones, though. They include dividing into political parties and favoring certain foreign countries for political alliances. Washington foresees that both political parties and foreign alliances would cause a lot of division within a nation that needs to be united. Plus, they'd get America dragged into foreign conflicts. Which would mean death and destruction.

Both of these things happened because, again, people didn't listen. These things still happen all the time today—look at the competition between Democrats and Republicans. Look at how many overseas conflicts the United States has unsuccessfully been involved in. (Looking at you, Vietnam War.) You can absolutely see what Washington was trying to prevent.

With the exception of one decade, American politics has been characterized by pretty aggressive fighting between parties. In fact, it says a lot about the United States that the one stretch of time when political parties weren't really around is called the Era of Good Feelings. Since then, more specific issues have gotten wrapped up in the divide, like business interests, public health, and the treatment of minorities.

These issues and the divisions they've caused have contributed to things like the Civil War. Lincoln's Republican Party only got votes in the North, but it was enough to make him president. That asymmetry was the final straw that broke the camel's back for the South, which then seceded.

Nowadays, Americans constantly attack people for their political affiliations (verbally…most of the time).

The United States has also been drawn into a whole bunch of conflicts with other countries because politicians didn't stay neutral in foreign affairs. There's usually controversy around decisions to get involved in foreign conflicts, and it can get really messy. Case study? Take a peek at the Iraq War.

Washington's farewell address shows us how deeply ingrained these divisive elements are in American political culture. Also, the fame and popularity of the speech shows us that we've always known in our hearts that Washington was right. What does that say about America as a country if we think this is great advice but don't follow it?

We'll let you ponder that one.