I understand that presidents and the political class can’t resist the great show a State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress provides. But when we get a Republican president (not in 2013, I’m afraid), it would be a profound symbol of a new limited and restricted role of the state for him to end this show, and just e-mail his assessment of the state of our union to Congress. The president isn’t the Father of the Nation or even the First Citizen of the Republic — he’s just the CEO of the national government on a four-year contract.