Money (and/or the control of it) is probably the largest, but certainly not the only, creator of power. You said it yourself with the Greenspan reference. Because a single comment from him could send the markets sharply in either direction, you could make a convincing argument that Greenspan for several years was more powerful than all the Presidents he served under.

Without money, or access to it or control of it, most of us will never really have the power you speak of, and therefore, to continue your analogy, we’ll never have that proverbial car to steer.

If you have your morality, your steer/direction, then don’t stand around waiting for a car to drive. Get out and start walking to your destination! You won’t get there as fast as the people zipping along, but you’ll get there eventually if you keep your eyes out for people who can’t keep their car straight. If you’re lucky, someone with a fast car and good steering will stop and offer you a ride.

- Buy this product and you’ll be happy.
==>Instead of doiong the legwork and researching A vs. B… most people let themselves be swayed by the best ad campaign.

- Elect me to office and I’ll fix your problems.
==>(besides the fact that most people forget that the USA is a Republic and *not* a Democracy – we elect people to make the decisions for us)most people choose their leaders much in the same way they choose their cereals.

- Worship this deity and you’ll go to heaven.
==>Once again, “the cereal of the day”.

- Trust me with this decision and I’ll reward you.
==> Oooh look a toy for me in the cereal box!

The powers that be don’t want to steer you off the road. They want you to stop driving entirely.
==> This is a bit of a sweeping genralization (sweeping are the best kind, though)but it does call into mind the base of human nature – there are followers and there are leaders. The leaders want to keep leading, and the followers want to complain about not being led in the best way.

How do you resist giving up what power and steering you have?
==> The best way to resist is to take control of the steering wheel. We, as a society, need to take ownership of decisions that come before us. We need to become informed. We need to stop being lazy.

The leaders of my faith encourage me to get up off of my butt… to ask “Why?”… to explore and question with all of my reason. In this way, I find the best balance between my morality and the power that I have to drive throughout each and every day.

Morality is the keel of the boat, the centering force.

People are easily blown off course, often because they forget the most powerful word in the english language. No.
We are easily led through gradual, incremental steps towards good and bad things. You have to be willing to keep a big picture focus as well, knowing the general direction you’re following. You have to decide whether the “turnpike” or “sidestreet” approach is better, knowing that sidestreet will lead you off course, but may be safer than the turnpike. The turnpike is faster and more dangerous, but has less offramps as well. A good and bad thing.
Ultimately, the values or morals one has is the foundation for everything else, and as soon as you begin to compromise that foundation, the whole building will start to crumble. You have to have that interior fortitude first. Nothing else matters as much.