On this historic day of presidential instruction of the nation’s schoolchildren, it occurs to me that we should all stop using the term “czar” to describe the various appointed heads of all those new administration ministries. It’s bad history.

Russian heads of state were notoriously jealous of their authority. There was just one czar at a time — of course, that was the point of it all. Russia was seen as the natural, Orthodox successor of the Eastern Roman Empire that had persisted until the 15th century. Its leaders were the natural successors of the Caesars (the Bulgarians actually began the practice of calling their leaders “tsar” centuries before, again in emulation of their Eastern Roman rivals).

If modern-day commentators want to keep using a Russian term to describe the burgeoning ranks of presidential appointees with sweeping powers, I suppose “commissar” would do. Try it on for size: the drug commissar, the corporate pay commissar, the green jobs commissar. Sound about right?