The term, "unitary executive"...

[chaplainM]

...sounds much better in the original German: Einheitlicher Hauptleiter.

[ananda]

1. Gore called it..

.. the unilateral executive.

Scary.

Alito has got to be filibustered and kept off the court.

Sue

[Doctor_J]

2. Yes, the Dems who are allowed on TV should start using the word dictator

since that's what it means.

[IndianaGreen]

3. It is not in the Constitution

It is an extra-Constitutional theory being used by those that want the title of Commander-in-Chief to enjoy the same powers and privileges of an absolute monarch.

The fact that it is conservatives who have embraced this un-American theory as one of their own, is proof absolute that conservatism is a fraud! Conservatives who long advocated small and limited government, were only opposed to liberal government. Once in power, they wanted more power than King George III ever enjoyed.

[grasswire]

5. I'd like to know when and where the term originated.

Was it within the last six months? Is it something Karen Hughes concocted?

[IndianaGreen]

6. I don't know the answer to that

knowing how the Bush dictatorship operates, they would take some innocuous project or idea and twist it for their own purposes.

[mcscajun]

8. It apparently goes back at least eight years, perhaps more...

...and is, no surprise, associated with the Federalist Society.

I say "at least eight years" as there is at least one scholarly paper from 1997 on the topic. That paper itself cites other contemporaries using the term.

Some links I came across in the last day or so:

http://accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=1203
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/12344
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_Executive
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/CanExecutive_Branch_Decide_0923.html
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/27514
http://www.users.muohio.edu/kelleycs/paper.pdf
http://www.users.muohio.edu/kelleycs/unitary.pdf
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=690822

[InternalDialogue]

10. I don't have a link,

but I believe I was listening to The Young Turks when someone explained that the term actually originated several decades ago (possibly the 70s?) when the issue of a federal indictment against the president himself was raised. The argument is that the president is part of the very body (department of justice) that would be used to try him, and therefore was by definition unable to be charged with a crime -- you can't bring charges against yourself. So as "unitary executive," he is immune from criminal charges so long as he heads the executive branch.

From that origin to where it is today, I can't explain.

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Some of us, of course, call it "urinary executive".

:evilgrin:

[IndianaGreen]

7. and we are the ones that are getting pissed on

:evilfrown:

[KakistocracyHater]

9. it's just slang for king

nt

[Uncle Roy]

11. "monarch" (Greek "monos archein") == "one ruler", ie "unitary executive"

I suspect "autocrat" has a similar derivation.

As opposed to "democrat".

How about sovereign? I see "reign" in there. I bet the "sov" part means me! me! me!

[omega minimo]

12. If anyone's interested in some, um, information

:yoiks: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2385129