Reply #40: Interesting...you seem to be thinking along the same lines [View All]

I have these days, although it isn't exactly the same. But you seem to be making same basic distinction between power and authority. I tend to avoid the word the "authority" because of my deep dislike of authoritarianism. So I substitute the word "legitimacy" or "sovereignty," which should give you a clue as to what I've been thinking about right there. Basically it's the difference between the legitimate and illegitimate excercise of power, in other words the RIGHT to exercise the executive authority.

What I've been calling "sovereignty" (in my own mind if nowhere else) can't be bought and it can't be acquired through brute force or fraud. It has to come through a recognized channel of transmission or succession and works very much the same way in a monarchy as in a democracy. The only thing different is the means of determining legitimacy, but the principle is the same. That's why I often refer to Shrub as "the Usurper" and Al Gore as "the once and future President."