Political power and the influence of money must be kept separate.

If political power is the only real power in government, and hence within the Nation, why is having lots of money the ultimate goal for some people? Keep in mind, I'm not saying that only power or money should be the ultimate goals in a democracy, nor the only ones. However, its pretty obvious that these two goals seem to be dominant in the social. Of course, there are many other goals that can be achieved, such as an art form, a profession, a small business, a 'position' in the social, a writer, etc. But, the highly acclaimed goals seem to be political power, or money, or both. Of course, the above different positions or professions all earn 'good' money, not to mention, sports, entertainers, and God help us, lobbyists. And we can't forget the 'common folk' ( I hate that term ) who wish to eek out a 'living wage'. In other words, everyone is dependent on some amount of income. Its understandable, that in a 'commodity' culture, money becomes necessary to have a decent 'life'. But, the point is that money is a medium of exchange. This must be viewed very carefully because it allows us to 'exchange' economic values. We don't have to exchange apples for oranges; all we have to do is use the monetary 'exchange value' to acquire either. This cannot be done with political power. Political power cannot be 'exchanged' or 'given' to another politician or to anyone or 'anything' else. It comes from the People; its a vested power, and can only be exercised within the 'domain' and 'purpose' of Office. Money, being a medium of exchange, can be accumulated, hoarded, or used to monopolize 'production' or some such activity. Money is 'flexible', cumulative, 'expansive' and 'exchangeable'. But, its not 'power', its an abstract 'possession' with an 'attributive value'. And that's the problematic. Any hoarding, monopolizing, or accumulation of money to 'influence' political power is undemocratic. That influence must be kept out of government and politics and a good starting point is to reverse Citizens United. Money is not a democratic value.