Ah, money. It drives society like nothing else. Would that it could be otherwise. What if sex were the determining factor instead? Instead of bribing someone with money, you could bribe them with a blow-job or a quicky in the back of your new SUV. Maybe you could even bribe someone with a good meal and a long night of throbbing passionate love-making. Of course, the standards of society would probably change, too. It would be "acceptable" to blow your boss for that raise kind of like taking him out to lunch is now. It would become acceptable to boink your foreman for a slightly easier job instead of slipping "him" a six-pack. Heck, you might even be able to pay a speeding ticket by balling the officer instead of worrying about showing up in court and getting "tied up" in the judge's chambers. :-) Ah, but then just about every one can have sex (evidenced by the large number of people in the world) and not everyone has money.

Perhaps we could use something like physical prowess. Instead of who has the most money having power, the one who is best at pugilism would be the head honcho. Just blip them on the head with your favorite battle axe and you can have whatever they had including their food, car, house; oh and don't forget the wife and kids. Of course, there are problems with that. People who beat up on other people tend to go on journeys involving a lot of duckweed. (Thank you, A. A. Milne) In other words, a bunch of little people get together and beat the living snot out the bully. Besides, would you really like someone like Mike Tyson ruling over you?

So, we're back to money and materialism. We're back to the theory that I'm better than you are because I have a bigger house or a faster car or because I can afford to snort more cocaine in an afternoon than you can. Maybe I'm better than you because my uncle Ned is the president of a really big law firm and I managed to get a corner office and make partner in 3 months even though I couldn't win a case against O.J. Simpson even if he confessed AND provided the blood soaked glove.

Well, who knows? Maybe, just maybe, we as a race of beings will come to understand that no one is better or worse than anyone else. Everyone truly is equal. Sure, some may be better at logic while others are better at artistry while others may have no perceptible talent whatsoever. It doesn't mean they're any less of a person or deserve to be treated any better or worse than anyone else. Of course, we'll probably always have our favorites; our spouses, our families, our closest and dearest friends, those with whom we travel through our lives, learning from one another, appreciating one another for the person that they are while still helping them to learn what they need to learn. Well, it's just a theory. You never know. It could happen.

(Heh, I told you I was bipolar.)