The Ignorant Investor

This is probably not a promise I'll keep, but I'm going to try to stay off all the political blogs until the election is over. I spent the years running up to the past two cycles arguing politics on the internet, and I'm worn out of the irritation it causes. Before you go on the internet, you assume that if you sat down and had a serious, thoughtful conversation with most people about politics you could reach agreement on any number of issues. After you've spent time on internet political boards, you realize that are millions of people out there with whom you will never, never agree on even policies on which you thought there could be no disagreement. Think there aren't people who still want poll taxes? Wrong. They're out there, and they're dying to make the case on the internet.

These days it's hard to get excited about a race where of the two leading contenders at the moment, one is famous for parlaying her time as first lady into a senate gig and the other is an ex-mayor who is best known for being able to go on national TV after the Word Trade Center fell down without freaking out. There is the scent of the banana republic in this cycle, and that's making me feel kind of grim because I don't want to live in a banana republic.