Yes, it is a middle ground. The extreme positions here are "no equity ownership, directly or indirectly" and "no trading restrictions at all." Allowing index

Yes, it is a middle ground. The extreme positions here are "no equity ownership, directly or indirectly" and "no trading restrictions at all." Allowing index fund purchases is squarely in the middle of that continuum. Additionally, your description of how people purchase and make money on indexes funds is incomplete at best. Really, it's just factually incorrect in that it presumes a certain purchase strategy. People do short-term, dopamine-inducing trades of index funds all the time. But, I don't think elected representatives should be able to do that, either. At the very least, successful short term trading - directly or through an advisor, of an individual security or a fund - creates the appearance of impropriety.