One of the most misused terms in American political discourse today is the notion of the "unitary executive." This was a phrase Alexander Hamilton used in Federalist Papers to describe part of the reasoning behind the creation of the Presidency.

But all he clearly meant by the term was that the powers of the executive -- whatever those powers may be -- should be vested in only one person rather than something like a triumverant, which some people at the time favored.

The question of what those executive powers should be was a separate issue entirely, and there were very clear limitations noted in the same pieces by Hamilton.

But through creative extrapolation, conservative power mongers have turned this phrase to mean that any power a reasonable person might see as an executive power should belong solely to the president without interference of any other branch because the power is unitary.

Meanwhile, they are violating Hamilton's original meaning by having two people -- the VP and the President -- wield executive power, and as a result we are getting all the problems that Hamilton predicted in arguing that the executive power should be unitary.

The power of the President exists only in the President, but there is mounting that Dick Cheney is or has been running a lot of the affairs of state during Bush's term and has done so at times in ways that violate the President's own policies. This is in direct violation of the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land.

So that we may be considered completely fair to the VP, Congress should first pass a resolution stating that it considers violation of the unitary executive by a vice president to be grounds for impeachment of the VP and at the same time charge all government employees to immediately report any attempt by the VP to exercise the powers of the president. (Fire a shot across his bow because it would help those fighting him within the White House)

Having established the grounds for impeachment, we then impeach the moment there is credible evidence that he is still working behind the scenes to dictate policy without discussing it with the President -- and I mean any little detail. The President cannot Constitutionally delegate his powers -- such as the ability to classify or declassify documents -- or any part of them to others under the unitary executive notion. If he does, then the executive powers are, in effect, no longer in the hands of one person. They are no longer unitary.