I find that it is a small circle of people among whom I openly exchange and challenge ideas for the purpose of exploring what position I really want to stand for. There is a certain vulnerability inherent in that process, such that I require my fellows not to be playing these games and not to be spouting what they've heard elsewhere. That trust is fragile. When broken, I find it impossible to continue productive discussion.
So the rest of the time I try to enjoy the game. Is that so wrong?
As to which people are affected by government... everyone is. The rich game players you dislike are affected because (among other things) the government taxes them relatively heavily while providing the regulatory framework to permit them to continue to reap attractive returns on their capital. Your post troubles me for having forgotten that a class of people are real humans with real interests. The difficult part is that different classes and groups are affected differently by each policy, and it is troubling that the poor seem to have relatively less control of policy despite being equally affected by it.
-Magik
Hey, some of my best friends are rich!
There is a massive difference between losing even, say, 75% of your wealth or income when the starting point is high and losing 5% when the starting point is not. When I write "nothing at stake" I mean that the writerly class does not wonder, as the poor do, whether a change in government policy will mean choosing between food and heat, for example.