How many “czars” can fit into the West Wing? Not exactly the sort of metaphysical query that has confounded saints and scholars for millennia — such as, “How many angels can reside on the head of a pin.” No, there’s a ready answer to this question — 24, with perhaps two more to come.

Of course, this begs another question: What precisely is a “czar” in today’s world? After all, the last person truly worthy of the title was a fella named Nicholas, who, along with his family, was summarily executed by the Bolsheviks 92 years ago in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

In truth, today’s “czar” is mostly a media creation, a fancy term for a senior governmental adviser tabbed to hone in on a particular problem or issue. For the past 50 years, presidents have appointed “czars.” Lyndon Johnson had one for poverty, Richard Nixon one for energy, and Ronald Reagan one for drug policy (William Bennett).

Barack Obama, though, has turned this into an art form. He has “czars” for most everything — from big-ticket items such as energy and climate (Carol Browner) to arcane matters such as government regulations (Cass Sunstein). And, as we noted, two more are in the pipeline, for cyber security and intellectual property. These are not Cabinet officials or heads of departments, but rather problem-solving “experts” who can coordinate efforts across several governmental agencies. That they answer only to the president is the primary reason such old constitutional hands as venerable West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, Democrat, W.Va., have arched an eyebrow or two over their proliferation.

In a letter sent to the White House back in the administration’s morning days, in February, Mr. Byrd cited his concerns about checks and balances and separation of powers. His fear, well-founded, is that the existence of “czars” answerable only to the president will further concentrate policy-making inside the White House.

For us, effectiveness, or lack thereof, is not the issue so much as the expansion of government beyond the limits of direct accountability. We’re with Mr. Byrd on this one.