Deals on used cars, discount mattresses and not so much as an honorific doodle of Teddy Roosevelt on Google’s homepage — have we drifted away from the true spirit of Presidents Day?

Real patriots spend the third Monday in February thinking about the presidency. In fact, I spent the day reading Thinking About the Presidency, a new book by the distinguished University of Chicago political scientist William G. Howell. And now I think we’re screwed.