Today marks a historic triumph for Barak Obama. Congratulations.

However, it brings to mind Jay Leno’s interviews on the street, where most people he interviewed didn’t know who was the US President, the Vice President, or the name of any major political figure. The first time I saw this, my thought was how sad. These people live in complete ignorance. What is the future of a country with such a deep lack of knowledge?

Then, a friend of mine, Jim, said he thought it was great. That the less we had to think about our government, the better. At least for those of us uninterested in being a politician, the less intrusive the government is, the better. Perhaps, he said, it was good that these people didn’t know the name of the president.

This though flew in the face of everything that I was taught in school: get involved, participate in the political process. Yet, somehow Jim’s comment made me think….. what if all of us could spend less time and money on politicians? What could be done with all the money spent on elections? What could I do instead of watching the talking heads on TV comment on politics? What if politics became a lot less prevalent in our media and in our thoughts? Answer: life would be much richer and more enjoyable!

With this in mind, heres a simple action plan to get politics and politicians out of your day-to-day life:

1. Block time wasting political sites by using LeechBlock. This will keep you on track and cut out useless political info from entering your brain.
2. Stop watching the news and news commentators. Important news will get to you from your neighbors and friends. Start by turning off the news for a day at a time. Listen to some music instead.
3. React positively to people from all political parties. Most politically minded people believe they are doing the right thing, that their party is the best for the country. Let them argue their ideas with other partisans. By supporting them (not necessarily their ideas) it becomes easier to change the topic to something more important.