It has become a joke. Vice President Cheney is in an undisclosed location. He emerges to demonstrate that he is still able to function and then retreats into the shadows. Despite becoming fodder for the late-night TV wits, whatever the Vice President is up to is kept carefully under wraps. We aren't supposed to know where he is or who he talks to. Occasionally some information leaks out and sometimes information is forced out. The rest of the time the Vice President and his minions are hidden in the shadows. We are beginning to find out why.

In the UPI exclusive story announcing the impending appointment of the Vice President's daughter as a deputy assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs the press agency's State Department correspondent, Eli J. Lake writes of repeated clashes between the State Department and the Vice President's office over policy in the Middle East. State Department sources told Lake that the deputy assistant position was created specially for the Vice-President's daughter. Reportedly Cheney's office has pressed State to arm and support rebels inside Iraq. He wanted State to cut off Arafat while the Secretary favored public criticism of Arafat but no change in overall policy. Cheney's increasing role in formulating foreign policy has been kept deep in the shadows. We already know of the Vice-Presidents pivotal but secret role in formulating policy for the Department of Energy. Never before has a Vice-President purported to directly make policy for the executive departments.

Now we are beginning to see a glimmer of the nature of the Vice-President's famous Undisclosed Location. Somewhere on the east coast, deep in a bunker, a Shadow Government is functioning in parallel with the government in Washington. It functions secretly and without public scrutiny or oversight from the elected representatives of the people in Congress and the Senate.

We apparently have two Administrations running the country. One is the Bush Administration, elected by the thinnest of electoral margins with only a minority mandate of the popular vote. It operates in the open and is subject to public scrutiny in our open society. The other is the Cheney Shadow Administration. It is hidden from public view and operates deep in its bunkers while fighting to keep its decisions hidden from the Courts, the Congress and the People. Can a free people permit itself to be governed by a secret and extra-Constitutional administration and retain its liberty?

The shadow government has not been created by Congress nor has it been provided for in our Constitution. It is a creature of a series of executive orders stretching back to President Eisenhower to provide for continuity in the case of nuclear attack. It was thought of as a doomsday scenario. This shadow government was activated secretly on September 11th and has been operating in the shadows ever since. Has George W. Bush decided that doomsday is here? Does Richard Cheney care?