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Influence is like a savings account. The less you use it, the more you've got.

For the Left, affluence is won, not earned.

Our affluence has allowed us to move to a place where we tend to make things pleasurable, as opposed to efficient.

Our own relentless search for novelty and social status locks us into an iron cage of consumerism. Affluence has itself betrayed us.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.

Influence is the new power - if you have influence, you can create a brand.

Influence is best measured not only by military hardware and GDP, but also by other people's perceptions that we, the United States, are using our power legitimately. That belief - that we are acting in the interests of the global commons and in accordance with the rule of law - is what the military would call a 'force multiplier.'

Everyone is influencing the people around them one way or another.