A WAY TO DO POLITICS REALLY DIFFERENTLY WOULD BE TO DO IT MUCH LESS.

who in 1887 vetoed disaster relief for drought-stricken Texas farmers with: “Federal aid in such cases … prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood.”)

Despite his hands-off, pre-cable-news approach Eisenhower — no stranger to big jobs, having helped liberate Western Europe — suffered not one but two heart attacks while in the White House. Even the 1950s presidency was a killer job.

At what scale does Milkis’ concern abate? For 300 million people to rely so much on one person clearly seems to be a problem. How about 30 million Canadians requiring their prime minister to be everywhere, too, and to offer a policy or official opinion on everything? Are we still engaged in self-government if we lean so heavily on what has long since become an imperial prime ministry?

In the last two weeks, recall, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: met with leaders of the Americas gathered in Lima; returned to Ottawa to referee the Alberta-British Columbia trade war; flew off to Paris for lunch with President Emmanuel Macron, gave a speech to France’s National Assembly, made courtesy calls to the OECD and UNESCO, and had a chat with Airbus CEO Tom Enders; then hopped over to London to visit the Queen and British Prime Minister Theresa May, before returning home for the big Liberal policy meeting in Halifax. While playing carbon Bigfoot, he nevertheless found time to issue statements on Earth Day, the anniversary of Israel’s independence, Her Majesty’s 92nd birthday, national volunteer week, and, most recently, the Toronto attack. All in a week’s work.

In distant retrospect, one of Sir John A. Macdonald’s charms was his not infrequent absence, sometimes due to illness, sometimes to self-incapacitation. After a painful bout of gallstones in 1870 the prime minister wrote his sister saying “I shall not do much work for some months but act in the (government) as a Consulting Physician,” which he did, Sir George-Étienne Cartier taking over the day-today management of affairs.

It is hard these days to imagine a prime minister being lost to his staff for days or delegating authority for weeks or months, yet that is what long-ago prime ministers did during illness or trans-oceanic travel. The thing is, the country survived, as doubtless it would today if our leaders backed off from peripatetic 24/7 activism.

Trudeau needn’t go on Macdonald-style benders. But our leaders often tell us they want to do politics differently. A way to do it really differently would be to do it much less. In fact, as Dickerson suggests, Trump’s ineptitude at and obvious disdain for many presidential duties until recently regarded as obligatory may be reducing what is expected of a president. So far the lesson of Trump is that a modern society can thrive despite inattention, ineffectiveness or even incompetence at the top. It’s a good lesson for us, too.