No, it's not the same thing. Your influence on others is proportional to money and unbounded. Your immunity to others approaches 100% and stops. There's very little to brag or be guilty about, and we can share a goal of getting everyone close to that 100%.

I disagree. Using a probably hyperbolic metaphor: I don't want to be a slave but neither do I wish to be anybody else's master.

That is (or was) the definition of the middle or burgher class, though. The middle class is independent enough to be a check on the power of the upper class since they can't be bought, but not so wealthy or powerful that they control others. I think the analogy fits well.