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• Wednesday, April 23, 2008 01:25 PM

  an independent media in a healthy democracy

  It goes to the fundamental functions of an independent media in a healthy democracy

  Not only should we have an independent media in a healthy democracy but we're also supposed to have a 'dependent' military that relies on the active assent of the electorate for its continued existence.

  From article II of the Constitution:

  The Congress shall have Power To:

  To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

  To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

  To provide and maintain a Navy;

  To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

  To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union,

  suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

  To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United

  States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

  It is clear from this that the Military was to be no less "accountable to the people" than any other branch of government and the 2-year limit on appropriations was specifically put in place so that the standing Army wouldn't take on a life of its own.

  How then are we to reconcile this with the Military actually treating US public opinion as a field of battle and the US electorate as a potential enemy?

  The mind reels....

  —Paul Dirks Read Paul Dirks's other letters
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