Looking for a government that is seen but not heard

They used to say that children should be seen and not heard - or quiet and well-behaved. I think I am going to start seeking politicians and politics in this vein.

I was at a dinner party the other night and the host made it a ‘no Trump’ zone. There was to be no talking about Donald Trump. We seem to live in a time when our public and private conversations are more dominated by politics - particularly national and international politics -than ever before.

How about a government that runs like a good computer operating system. You put in place the right hardware, processor and RAM/memory and then you don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it or talking about it. Every few years you upgrade the OS and ensure you tweak the the hardware, processor and RAM/memory to make sure the upgraded OS works well and then you don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it or talking about it.

Of course you need programs (journalists) that ensure the system doesn’t get hacked or gets bogged down or has other problems but, in general, politics becomes an operating level on which the population gets on with the important things in life like kid’s hockey games, nice dinners with friends, career advancement, personal relationship building, advancing your spiritual life, picking up garbage, helping neighbours, etc.

Politics now is an ego-driven affair. Politicians are Hollywood stars that want to be in our living rooms, our news feeds, our pillow talk. Trump keeps drip feeding his pronouncements - now we are told in April Canada’s auto manufacturing sector is to be hit - so for the next 2.5 months it will be “will he/won’t he” every day and everywhere. Trump’s sense of self-worth is tied up in knowing that dinner parties from Johannesburg to Beijing to Copenhagen to Moncton are focused on his every word (remember ‘covfefe’?).

I don’t know the answer in the short term. But in the longer term, I think we need to focus on bland, stable but competent politicians that will build strong teams, great policies and be determined to ratchet down the level of politics in our daily lives -to be seen and not heard. Imagine if we went a day, a week or - gasp - a month - with no mention of our politicians - particularly the top dogs.

Of course that runs counter to our times -even are best politicians - Wab Kinew comes to mind - are charismatic creatures and have mastered the art of everywhere all the time. The algorithm - broadly defined - feeds on content - feeds on consistency - if you post one time - nothing - if you post a thousand - then you start to get traction.

We all should audit our own priorities and work deliberately to purge politics from our lives - not ignore it - these are turbulent times -but find some way to distill the thing down - one briefing per day - maybe less.

As I have written here before - we risk our priorities being turned upside down. The stuff we have the least personal control over is the stuff we focus on while the stuff we have the most control over (our personal health, work, relationships, family, neighbourhood) gets ignored.

Boring, for lack of a better word, is good.