It is the responsibility of the commander-in-chief to ensure it remains non-political, otherwise he could use it for all sorts of his own ends.
It's kind of like the relationship the Church of Scotland has with the Queen as head of state - although it has established status, the church/state are still forbidden from interfering with each others affairs.
Yeah it's got to the point where there's a clear trend and it can't be denied... still, I think this is some sort of weird US cultural thing though, never noticed the same thing this side of the water.
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