Theshadow government, also referred to ascryptocracy,secret government, orinvisible government, is a family oftheories based on the notion that real and actual political power resides not only withpublicly elected representatives but with private individuals who are exercising power behind the scenes, beyond the scrutiny of democraticinstitutions. According to this belief, the official elected government is subservient to the shadow government, which is the true executive power.
Some of the groups proposed by these theories as constituting the shadow government includecentral banks,Freemasons,communists,Nazis,the Rothschilds,intelligence agencies,think tanks,organized Jewry,the Vatican,Jesuits, orCatholics in general, as well assecret societies,moneyed interests,extraterrestrials,Satanists, andglobalist elites and supranational organizations who seek to manipulate policy in their own interest or in order to serve a larger agenda that is hidden from the general public.
Literature on the subject postulates the existence of a secret government which is the true power behind the apparent government. Examples of such literature include works byDan Smoot,William Guy Carr,Jim Marrs,Carroll Quigley,Gary Allen,Alex Jones,Des Griffin,G. Edward Griffin,David Icke, andMichael A. Hoffman II. Some of these authors believe members of the secret government may represent or be agents for groups such as theCouncil on Foreign Relations,United Nations, theRoyal Institute for International Affairs,Tavistock Institute, theTrilateral Commission, theClub of Rome, theBilderberg Group, theWorld Health Organization,George Soros, and theKoch Brothers, in co-operation with international banks and financial institutions such as theWorld Bank,International Monetary Fund, and theBank for International Settlements.[1][2][3]
Milton William Cooper claimed that the shadow government was in cooperation withextraterrestrial aliens. His 1991 bookBehold a Pale Horse,[4][5] influential among "UFO and militia circles",[6] describes "the doings of the secret world government" and "a variety of other covert activities associated with the Illuminati's declaration of war upon the people of America".[7] Cooper claimed to have seen secret documents while in the Navy describing governmental dealings with aliens. Cooper linked theIlluminati with his beliefs that extraterrestrials were secretly involved with the US government, but later retracted these claims. He accusedDwight D. Eisenhower of negotiating a treaty with extraterrestrials in 1954, then establishing an inner circle of Illuminati to manage relations with them and keep their presence a secret from the general public. Cooper believed that aliens "manipulated and/or ruled the human race through various secret societies, religions, magic, witchcraft, and the occult", and that even the Illuminati were unknowingly being manipulated by them.[4] Also popularizing the idea was the hit US television show,The X-Files, in the series' story arc,Mythology of The X-Files.
During theAmerican Revolution,Committees of Safety were different local committees ofPatriots that formed a shadow government to take control of theThirteen Colonies includingNew York away from British royal officials. The most popular video game franchise that was created byUbisoft wasAssassin's Creed which is also part of the shadowy organization in all ofhuman history between theOrder of Assassins and theKnights Templar for generations.[8]
