The Fourth Branch of Government?

Jonathan Turley had a piece in the Outlook section of last Sunday's Post that speaks to some of the issues raised this week in assigned readings by Theodore Lowi, Anthony Downs, Lester Thurow, and Atul Gawande.  Maybe one of the reasons that Congress seems so "broken," so irresponsible, is that much of the power of legislation has been usurped by the executive branch, not only by the White House, but also by the faceless bureaucrats of an ambitious state with a taste for regulation and redistribution.  It's a thesis that's worth considering, at the very least.