THE AGE OF THE ALPHSAS & DOMINATRIX

In today's power-driven culture, the Alphas out there are easy to spot. The Dominatrix-es less so. However, they're both with us, and their passion for power is on daily display. From the studios of Hollywood to the Banks of New York to the chambers of government in Washington.

It was this flair for power that brought most people to this continent, that helped them subdue its wilds, and that finally lifted it to global superpower. We respect the role of power in our lives. Turning-the- other-cheek has never been an American specialty.

Sometimes, though, there's a problem with power.

That great Manhattan philosopher Woody Allen puts it this way: "Confidence is what you have just before you understand the problem." Aha, you remember the feeling too...! But not enough people in power do. CEOs, generals, presidents, senators, mayors and celebrities are so infected with its virus, they are usually stunned when they discover their power's limits. Say, in the face of a hurricane or an earthquake...a sudden market collapse or a relentless unemployment....a terrorist or a bacteria.

The true test of power is not only in using it, but in knowing what to do while you're losing it.

There are times in the lives of people and nations when the Genie in the Lamp is tired of saving you. That's when you have to save yourself. Some rush to heaven for steadying comfort [ the Facebook page "Jesus Daily" is right now the nation's most popular social-networking website]. Others flee to what are popularly called experts [ those well-published authors who confidently advise the world with how-to's ranging from diets, to movies, and lately to just how our leaders should be managing the economy]. Still others tend to hunker down into their own cocoons of diversion saying to themselves: if-the-sky-really-is-falling-I-just-want-some-political-alpha/dominatrix-to-save-me.]

Have you noticed lately...? No lack of folks willing to tell you they're just what you're looking for. Which surely makes one remember the instructive lines from Kipling: "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it one you/ If you can meet with triumphs and disasters and treat those twin impostors just the same/ If you can talk with crowds yet keep your virtue/ Yours is the earth and everything that's in it."

This very night there are a few among us who can fall asleep in that conviction. To discover who they are will be to discover the truth to power.....