Penn truly disliked Franklin, seeing him as a duplicitous and manipulative social leveler.

In this almost surreal context, the revolver has emerged as the most powerful social leveler.

Theoretically, dirty laundry should have been the great social leveler.

Like Robin Hood, the dashing cat burglar was a great social leveler.

The army is viewed not only as a social leveler but also as a means of unifying a country with three cultures and four languages.

The Fed's household-finance data also show that when pensions were more common, they served as a social leveler.

For Francis, though, golf became a social leveler.

Like the telephone, the punchy "hello" was a liberator and a social leveler.

Or, it can be a social leveler, letting the working magazine editor invite out the Park Avenue doyenne.

But it's also a little pat and, as that salute to smiles as a social leveler suggests, naïvely patronizing in a way that's worth examining.