Americans, who recently celebrated the July 4 anniversary of their independence from autocracy, might want to take note of the proliferation of czars in Washington these days. Tabulations vary: John McCain said in May that Barack Obama had named his 20th czar. Foreign Policy counted 18 a couple of months ago; TalkingPointsMemo found 23, and Citizens Against Government Waste compiled a list of 31.

Military strategists are always in danger of fighting the last war. The same could hold true of constitutional strategists. FDR’s string of presidential victories encouraged Republican support of the 22nd Amendment—whose two-term limit fell first on the popular Dwight Eisenhower. Richmond therefore faced the peril of embracing changes to its charter most relevant to a situation no longer in effect: the mayoral administration of Doug Wilder. His tempestuous term roiled city government as he wrestled with the City Council and the School Board over issues great and small. It would have been easy for the city’s charter-review commission to let that experience so color its deliberations that it went overboard trying to correct the mistakes of the past.

“Let them eat cake,“ Marie Antoinette is reported—probably inaccurately—to have said upon learning that the French people were without bread. The almost certainly apocryphal phrase has over the centuries come to express the arrogance of rulers toward the suffering of the populace. Today, though, it may have a different meaning. “Let them eat cake,“ our leaders seem to be saying, so long as it is government-approved cake, a subsidized dessert served to favored groups and paid for with debt and higher taxes.

After spending nearly a year studying the issue, a 12-member City Hall task force decided against deciding immediately whether Richmond’s city and school system internal audit departments should merge. A report released today listed nine hurdles that would keep consolidation from happening, at least not this year. Among other potential problems, the fact that both departments are booked solid means neither has the time to immediately begin working out the logistics of merging. And even if they could, the nature of the two entities—both governed by elected officials—would make the consolidation an iffy proposition without a solid working agreement.

On a campus that consists of two rooms in the basement of a county administration building, Chesterfield University is making a name for itself. Its success as a training center for employees has earned Chesterfield County a spot for the third year in the Training Top 125 list of the best organizations in the country for employee learning opportunities. The new rankings will be released tomorrow by Training Magazine at a black-tie event in Atlanta.

For the first time in recent memory, home assessments in Chesterfield County are down. Reassessment notices for most of the county went out Saturday, and they reflect a 1.5 percent decline in the value of the county’s taxable residential real estate since last year. The new median assessed value of a home in Chesterfield is $216,000. The median sale price for the 3,700 homes sold in 2008 was $229,000.

“When the State Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation looks for a friend among the legislators [in the Virginia General Assembly] it looks to ‘Bunny’ Gunn,“ said a 1974 newspaper article by The Associated Press. Charles Wesley Gunn Jr., nicknamed Bunny by his sister when they were children, served in the House of Delegates from 1964 to 1978. He represented the 9th District, including the cities of Lexington, Buena Vista, and Bedford, and the counties of Rockbridge, Bedford and Franklin.

Carl Chafin always laughed about the birthday present he received from the U.S. government when he turned 18, said his wife, Juanita Chafin. “Congratulations. You are invited to serve your country,“ it began. So it was that at age 20 he was serving in the Office of Strategic Services—forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency—“chasing Mussolini” in Italy, his wife said. For his service to the OSS during World War II, he was awarded the Bronze Star medal.

A holdover from the Upper Swift Creek plan passed in June that would prohibit leveling large pieces of land for residential developments is creeping forward and raising eyebrows. The “mass grading” ordinance, before the county’s Planning Commission tomorrow, would restrict the flattening of land in the Swift Creek Reservoir’s watershed for projects with an average lot size greater than 10,000 square feet.

A holdover from the Upper Swift Creek plan passed in June that would prohibit leveling large pieces of land for residential developments is creeping forward and raising eyebrows.

The Virginia Information Technologies Agency has been promising that the state’s transition to a centralized IT system for government agencies was going to be seamless. Some of the stitches in the seams are coming undone.

Despite failures in Afghanistan and early problems in Iraq, Bush deserves praise for keeping America safe since 9/11. Yet, his legacy is likely to be adversely affected by an inability to reduce our dangerous addiction to foreign oil, his inexcusably late response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, and his failure to embrace more federal oversight of the financial industry that may have mitigated the worst economic calamity since the 1930s. Because he did not warn Americans against the dangers posed by the burgeoning housing bubble, the buck, as Harry Truman once said, must stop at the White House.

A Chesterfield County family is suing the Board of Supervisors, alleging the right to develop their land was violated by a unanimous rejection of a rezoning request last month. Douglas and Susan Sowers, along with their son, Robert, own 26 acres on Otterdale Road near Genito Road. Their request to rezone from agricultural to residential to allow for the construction of 52 homes was denied by the board on concerns that public infrastructure in the area—specifically roads—could not support the new residents.

Over the past year, Virginia has improved its rates of high school graduation and appears on its way to fulfilling the ambitious goal of preserving an additional 400,000 acres of land by 2010. But the state is also experiencing a disturbing spike in its infant-mortality rate and has suffered setbacks in its efforts to combat consumer fraud, reduce obesity and alleviate traffic congestion.

President-elect Barack Obama will rely on a Richmond native and high school standout for advice on domestic policy. Melody C. Barnes, who grew up on Richmond’s North Side and played flute in her high school band, was named to a key post on Obama’s economic team yesterday—director of the Domestic Policy Council.