Friday, August 03, 2018

Dear Jeebus Give Me The Confidence And The Checkbook Of A Rich Person

I haven't spent a lot of time around rich people. Of course all such things are relative. Who is rich? People who are richer than me, obviously! Let's say people with household incomes heading towards 7 figures at least and the usual family wealth that tends to go along with that.

But I have, just a little bit. And I also read the various news reports containing quotes from wealthy prolific Democratic donors with their View On Politics.

Rich people are dumb. I mean, not dumber than me, necessarily, but they have no special knowledge or opinions about politics. I'd probably last 5 minutes in a Hamptons fundraiser for [insert Democratic candidate here] because the Hot Takes would melt my brain. They have dumb opinions like I have dumb opinions and you have dumb opinions and we all have dumb opinions.

They also have dumb opinions about what's important, which match up pretty well to the things that are important to them. This doesn't make them bad people. If I had kids I'd worry about public schools more. If I was 65+ I'd worry about Medicare more. It's normal. We are all capable of caring about these things in the abstract, but it's easier to do if they affect us immediately and directly. Priorities adjust, at least.

They also set the agenda.