Certain institutions, particularly the Heritage Foundation, have been pursuing the theory of the unitary executive at the Federal level.
Now lets please avoid discussion of whether that theory is actually true and instead explore a different question.
The question is, would you prefer a unitary or at least unitarish executive (Federal Government) or plural executives (most State Governments).
This article breaks down how many Statewide executive branch officials each State has.
(Note: In States where the Lieutenant Government is elected as a ticket with the Governor, I count as one official.)
(Note: In States that have Commissions of whatever sort, I count the commission as a single office, though typically there are 3 or more members on such commissions.)
States with a true unitary structure. Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
Tennessee has one elected official, but is NOT truly unitary since the State Legislature elects the Attorney General, depriving the Governor of true unitary control.
At the other end are my State of North Carolina and also North Dakota that have 10.
North Carolina (Governor, separately elected Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Agriculture, Insurance, Labor and Public Instruction.)
North Dakota (Governor/Lieutenant Governor as a ticket, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, Agriculture, Insurance, Public Instruction, Tax and a 3 member Public Service Commission.)
I greatly prefer the plural model. It does break up the executive branch and create intra-branch checks on power.
All in all, the American people seem to lean to the plural, having adopted it in fully in 44 States and partially in Tennessee. Of course, some States, such as my own, take if much farther than others.
I would certainly be in favor of altering the Federal Constitution to break up the executive branch into a plural structure, most particularly separating the Attorney General from the Presidency.
