Dear Friends,
It seems to me, when following “authority,” it is of the utmost importance to recognize and differentiate legitimate authority, from illegitimate authority. Legitimate authority is derived from long standing social structures, the social contract and yes, religious derived morality. A position might bestow authority but that authority is always limited and contingent. A manager at Wendy’s doesn’t have the authority to pass laws, upend institutions or pull cars over on the highway… but they do have the authority to decide who mops the floor that night. Moreover, that authority of the Wendy’s manager is contingent on their good actions, the good will of their boss and following the rules. All authority works the same way, from the Wendy’s manager to the President, Speaker, Chief Justice… or king.
Herodotus tells a story in his Histories… in it, a king dreams one night that a vine grows from his daughter to cover the world. He wakes alarmed at the vivid and clearly portentous dream. Scared of it, he seeks council of the Magi, (the same sect that visited Jesus’ birth five hundred years later) what the dream meant. They replied, it meant she was with child and that child would become King and conquer the world. The old king immediately sent word to his daughter, the moment the child was born, it would be brought to him. The strapping baby boy was brought to the old king… Who had the baby put to death. The man told to do it… didn’t, instead he gave the child to a sheep herder to raise. Then presented the sheep herder’s still born baby as the king’s grandson. Who was given a state funeral.
The sheep herder’s adopted son grew to be a teenager. One day he was playing a game called “King” with some other boys. When it was time for the sheep herder’s son to be “King,” one of the other boys refused to kneel. He was an aristocrat’s son and would not kneel before a sheep herder. The “King” ordered the recalcitrant boy seized and beat, and by the power of personality, the other boys did. The aristocrat went immediately to his father to get retribution. The Father went to the old king to get permission to slaughter the whole sheep herder’s family. The king became curious and ordered the sheep herder’s family brought to him. The son was immediately recognized, he was the spitting image of the old king, and was the right age. The father was dragged before the old king, and when confronted with the specter of his beloved wife about to be killed, he relented and told the story of the boy.
The king was shocked at hearing the news but released the sheepherder but kept the boy. He again consulted with the Magi. They said that the dream’s prophesy had been fulfilled, he had been a “King,” and so, the boy was no longer a danger. The old king threw a great banquet for the return of his grandson. He asked the aristocrat that had been told to kill the child to send his oldest to help with the meal. When the banquet was finished the old king asked the aristocrat if he liked the meal. He replied, yes. Then the old king showed his aide the head of his oldest son… the man had been fed his own child. Apologizing profusely, the aristocrat begged forgiveness, and if he could bury the remains of his son. The old king granted the request. Years later, that boy raised by sheep herders, Cyrus the Great, killed his grandfather, with the help of that aristocrat. Then conquered the known world…
Authority is always limited, even where it appears not to be, it is always contingent, sometimes at the cost of one’s own son or life, and authority usurped always leads to violence, war and want. Our leaders derive their authority from our Constitution, a longstanding social contract. It gives them limited, contingent authority. The contingency is that they stay within the bounds of the contract, as all contracts do, breaching a contract… nullifies the contract. Someone given authority, who breeches the social contract, loses legitimate authority, making their authority illegitimate. It is usurped. That the usurping element, the progressive faction, is engaged in war against us, the US and our Constitution, is sure evidence their authority is illegitimate. Like a “King’s.”
Sincerely,
John Pepin
