All throughout the United States, children learn of the three main branches of our government.
There’s the Judicial Branch, which runs our courts. The Executive Branch, which is the presidency and the cabinet. And the Legislative Branch, which writes laws and controls funds. Together, we’re taught, these three branches make up the American Government.
While growing up and going through the American school system though, there was always a distinction that stuck with me in the way we were taught about democracy and our Government: That you, as the voter, are not directly a part of the government.
Fundamentally, this is true in the sense that you are not running for political office.
As a voter however, you do something that is much more important, something that didn’t get the same respect or recognition as the other three branches of our government did in high school class: You are the architect and the unwritten Fourth Branch of our Government; and you are also its shepherd.
Benjamin Franklin wrote of the Constitution: “In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.”
The Fourth Branch
When we talk about American Democracy, we tend to talk about it as homogeneous to infallibility—we believe it to be more than just a concept; we tend to believe that it is something immovable and impervious to failure.
When Benjamin Franklin wrote those words, I do not believe he was speaking to the Government or those in power, I believe he was speaking to us directly.
There is no denying that American Democracy and the United States Constitution have been a blessing to the people.
It has enshrined and defended our civil rights and liberties. It has stood against those that would otherwise assume total power and control for themselves. It has successfully separated the powers of Government for 248 years.
As an American, this makes me incredibly proud—but we must never forget Benjamin Franklin’s warning: The Constitution is only ever as strong as how well it is administered. After all, the Constitution by itself has no power; it is simply a piece of paper.
But with enough people willing to defend it; to enact it; to uphold it against all attacks and poor administration—well then it is powerful.
We must realize that American Democracy didn’t just give us the power to vote, it gave us the power to choose who is worthy of administrating our Constitution—it implied upon you and me the unwritten powers of the Fourth Branch of our Government.
It’s More of a Mind Set
Admittedly, the Fourth Branch of our Government sadly does not enjoy one perk that the other three branches do: It does not have physical representation.
With the Executive Branch, we can look to the White House and the myriad of agencies and offices that it executes. With the Judicial Branch, we can look to the many courthouses and judges that apply the law. And of course, with the Legislative Branch, we can look to Washington D.C. and the many houses and chambers of Congress.
With the Fourth Branch of Government, you can only see it in your neighbors if you look closely enough to perceive it.
Together, we make up the largest and most powerful branch of the entire machine. Our branch has the power to bestow the privilege of power—and it also has the authority to strip it away.
The power was never theirs to have or take, especially not unilaterally; it was ours to bestow upon them. This is not a radical idea; it is merely putting the phrase “For the People, By the People” into context and was also a founding principle of the United States that we would have no kings.
Where we currently find ourselves is the reality that the people we have bestowed this power upon are not administrating the Constitution well. Congress have all but capitulated their power to the Executive Branch and have been reduced to nothing more than a willing rubber stamp, all too eager to pursue only the Executive Branch agenda, instead of acting as the balance of power they ought to be, while the Supreme Court of the United States simultaneously provided total immunity to the Executive Branch.
The sad reality is that we have nobody to blame but ourselves. The Fourth Branch of our Government is divided and angry. It can no longer occupy the same table in the same building.
This is what Benjamin Franklin was warning us about. The Framers of the Constitution did their best to encapsulate a Government that would be resistant to despotism—but they also knew that it was neither perfect nor infallible, and that in order to ensure that the balance of power was maintained, it would be the people who would ultimately shoulder the burden of choosing who would administrate the Constitution wholly and faithfully.
Divided We Fall
When Benjamin Franklin wrote “that the people shall become so corrupted”, he didn’t mean corruption in the sense we normally think of. He didn’t mean corruption in the form of bribes or quid pro quo schemes; he was speaking to the corruption of the people’s conviction to uphold and defend the values and rights enshrined in our Constitution.
Only instead of using musket rifles and bayonets like during the Revolutionary period, we were supposed to uphold and defend the Constitution with our votes.
For now, Benjamin Franklin’s and the other Framer’s checks and balances hold, and American Democracy continues to exist as you and I have known it our entire lives. But this is never a guarantee.
Today, the American people are more polarized and divided than at any other point during my lifetime; two-thirds are convinced they cannot agree on anything, and the other remaining third is indifferent and ambivalent because they also believe American Democracy is immovable and impervious to failure.
And yet, despite what appears to be an impassable canyon between the left and right, the truth is that it is no more than a tiny, shallow creek—one where we’ve been stuck on the banks of shouting at each other for so long, we forgot that we knew how to build bridges or swim all along.
So am I advocating for a grand, unified party on the banks of some mythical political creek? Absolutely not.
What I am advocating for and saying is that we all need to stop shouting at each other and we need to start picking better administrators of our Constitution, because as Benjamin Franklin warned us: We cannot get to a point where we are so corrupted that we need despotic government, because if we do, then I’m afraid it is already too late.