Much like Krav Maga, the first rule of this site is that there are no rules; if a topic intrigues me, I hope that it might interest someone else and I’ll jot an entry. Or I’ll try one out, anyway. Quite a few entries are stuck in draft limbo right now, awaiting revisions. Regardless, if an entry goes over well once in the wild, I might consider another one about the same subject. That being said, there is an unwritten–and unspoken, until now–rule: To avoid discussing politics.

I have a few reasons. For starters, political issues have a frightfully short shelf life. One year’s million persons march is next year’s thousand person tailgate party. As interest in the topic fades, so does the relevance of entries about that issue. Not that I’m going for immortality with a blog, but among the hundreds of entries on the site, it is nice to have at least a few are worth reviewing at a later date.

Another rationale for the blackout is a reflection of my interest level in the subject. Which varies between low to non-existent. I consider myself a particularly apolitical critter. When it comes to matters largely out of my control, I lose interest quickly. True, in high school, I attended a peace rally and signed a petition, but that had a lot more to do with the fact my girlfriend at the time was passionate about the issue. Certainly I was just as passionate about her joining me in the back seat of a Crown Victoria.

More importantly, for the past twenty years, presidential races have been extremely close matches. When the final votes are counted, the split of votes between the challengers can number in the mere thousands. Razor thin margins at the voting booth could mean a lot of things. Perhaps the candidates appear so similar voters have trouble separating them. Maybe the platforms fail to inspire the fiery sentiments that drive hordes of people to the ballots. In light of these uber-tight races, it seems there are better explorations than temporary diversions that might incite 1/2 of the population.

Mostly I’ve stuck with the above principles. Over the past four years on the site, only one entry contains a political reference–and that was pretty vague. Something about a ketchup bottle, I recall.

In the end, no matter how much television coverage the buildup to an election nets, long before the keys to the kingdom actually change hands, journalists move on to the next big thing. Which is what I’m about to do.

And so my comment about politics–the second ever on this site–is that I have . . . no comment.