Source: Common Dreams
by Martina Moneke
“With the executive overreaching and the judiciary acquiescent, the Republic’s immune system strains under political and institutional dysfunction. The legislative branch, meanwhile, toggles between paralysis and performative outrage, its constitutional authority weakened by partisan spectacle. When the formal organs falter, the Republic depends on the dispersed actors of the ‘fourth branch’ — a novel, emergent moral network, tasked with upholding civic and constitutional integrity. Ordinary citizens, lower courts, military officers, advocacy groups, and artists together make up this fourth branch of government, sustaining the body politic when power itself becomes a vector of disease.” [editor’s note: Seems like that would be the “fifth branch” since the unelected bureaucracy already holds slot #4 – SAT] [additional editor’s note: Sixth — don’t forget the court stenographer “mainstream media” – TLK] (10/13/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/ordinary-people-save-democracy