Independence From What?

Of the many grievances listed in The Unanimous Declaration, the following is a most interesting one:

He [the king] has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

(Declaration of Independence). One of our warrior presidents warned us that this rendering of "the military independent of and superior to civil power" was a danger that was threatening to become institutionalized into our system:

Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual --is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.

(President Dwight Eisenhower, emphasis added). In other words our independence as a free nation depends on there being no rendering of "the military independent of and superior to civil power", or the nation as we have known it will perish from the face of the earth, and something else will rise in its place.

The "there is a shadow government" proponents say that what we declared our independence from, and what Eisenhower feared would happen, has happened behind the scenes; and for the most part happened so slowly as to be undetected.

There is undoubtedly behind the scenes dynamics that account for much of the strange goings on the popular TV Series Burn Notice depicts:

WEAPONS inspector David Kelly was writing a book exposing highly damaging government secrets before his ­mysterious death.

He was intending to reveal that he warned Prime Minister Tony Blair there were no weapons of mass destruction anywhere in Iraq weeks before the ­British and American invasion.

(Daily Express, UK). Whether those mysterious deaths we hear about from time to time are official or rogue operations by military commanders is only one possibility.

Michael, the burned agent on Burn Notice, recently told the Miami Police investigator "we are on the same side", which is the gist of the matter ... are we?