Our 4 Co-Equal Branches of Government

As we all learned in high school civics, there are 4 co-equal branches of government -- The Executive, The Legislative, the Judicial and the Intelligence branches.  Each of these branches provides a check and balance to each other to ensure that no single branch can come to dominate the United States Government and this will guarantee the freedom of the American people.

HaHa.  Gotcha.  But I think you spotted my little joke.  

The 4 branches are not co-equal, obviously.  One branch, the Intelligence branch, has power that no other branch has -- the power to carry out their work in total secrecy and, in fact, to make secret interpretations of laws that have been duly passed by our Legislative branch and affirmed by our Judiciary.  And, oh yeah, our Intelligence branch also can eliminate the freedom of speech of members of the other branches.  If members of any of the other branches of government want to talk about what the Intelligence branch does, they can't.  Period.

The Intelligence branch does cooperate with the other branches by briefing certain of its members. It’s just that these few individuals who presumably know and understand exactly what the Intelligence branch is doing can't say anything to anyone about anything they know.  Knowing a little bit about how such things work myself, I am pretty sure the Intelligence branch has even forbidden those in the know from talking with each other about it.

Senators Mark Udall (D-Colorado) and Ron Wyden (R-Oregon) are both of the Legislative branch and both are on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. They objected to what they were told the Intelligence branch has been up to.  They couldn't, of course, talk about their objections to anyone, including their voting constituency or even each other! Because the Intelligence branch doesn't allow it.  In fact, they have been trying to warn Americans about Intelligence branch activities for some time.  But the best they could do was perform a sock-puppet show on the steps of the US Capitol while speaking in Serbo-Croat.  They tried to talk about it. It’s just that no one knew what they were saying.

President Obama assured us that everything is cool, that although there can be no perfect safety, no perfect privacy and no inconvenience in today's world, these issues have been discussed and decided in the best interest of Americans. I certainly don't dispute that such discussions have taken place or the good faith of those in our 4 branches of government who participated in the discussions.  It's just that like many Americans, I would like to participate in those discussions, if only to know how my elected representatives truly feel about what the Intelligence branch is doing.  

I know what Dianne Feinstein claims she feels about it.  It’s just that since she is the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, I am not convinced that she can tell us how she really feels about it.  Our 4th branch of government won't allow it.