A little while ago, when I was up on my soap box about my patriotic duty, I began thinking about soap boxes. I had one about 20 inches square the other day. It had the brand name of the soap printed on it and the size and number of bars that it had once contained. I was using it to pack stuff to take to the scooter meet, but it still had a strong perfummy smell. The problem, as I see it, is that a modern soap box wouldn't begin to hold the weight of an average orator, much less a portly politician. This could be a serious situation for public speakers. One has to assume that the expression "get up on a soap box" must have originated when soap was packed in wooden crates instead of flimsey cardboard boxes. The obvious solution is to replace the expression with "get up on a heavy metal footlocker" or "get up on a concrete block." I think it's very important to keep the language up to date.
Howard