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For it was a witty and truthful rejoinder which was given by a captured pirate to Alexander

the Great. The king asked the fellow,

What is your idea in infesting the sea? And the pirate answered, with uninhibited insolence,

the same as yours in infesting the earth. But because I do it with a tiny craft, I'm called a pirate.

Because you have a mighty navy, you're called an emperor.

These words written by St. Augustine encapsulate one of the called a pirate. Because you have a mighty navy, you're called an emperor."

These words written by St. Augustine encapsulate one of the most fundamental problems of political philosophy, namely why governments are morally justified to take actions that no individual or group

of individuals are permitted to take. Governments demand a portion of our income,

decide what substances may be consumed, regulate and restrict voluntary transactions,

spy on our communications, place limits on speech, drop bombs on foreign countries, and in some cases

conscript us to fight their wars. If we disobey, we risk being thrown in a cage, or in extreme cases killed.

Or as the contemporary philosopher Michael Humor writes,

acts that would be considered unjust or morally unacceptable when performed by non-governmental agents

will often be considered perfectly all right, even praiseworthy, when performed by non-governmental agents will often be considered perfectly all right,

even praiseworthy, when performed by government agents.

Why do we accord this special moral status to governments, and are we justified in so doing?

This is the problem of political authority.

In this video, relying on Humor's book, The Problem of Political Authority, we show why political authority. In this video, relying on Humor's book, The Problem of Political

Authority, we show why political authority is illegitimate and cannot be morally justified.

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