Authority Legitimacy Quotes

Government without a constitution, is a power without a right.

If we are God's sons and have been baptized in Christ then all evil must disappear from among us.... Every one is under the authorities, who have power over all. Because there is no authority outside of God.... If you do evil, fear the authorities. They wield the sword not in vain; they are God's servants, the avengers to punish the evildoer.

Studies show that if people think that they are treated fairly by the police, that matters almost more than what the result is. If you get stopped for a traffic stop and feel that you are treated courteously and fairly, you are much more likely to accept the fact that you got a speeding ticket.

A Christian can believe that God 'ordained' the 'powers that be' - including political rulers and slaveholders - for purposes too deep for us to understand fully, and that while they last we must provisionally accept them; but that they were not meant to last forever.

The necessity for power is obvious, because life cannot be lived without order; but the allocation of power is arbitrary because all men are alike, or very nearly. Yet power must not seem to be arbitrarily allocated, because it will not then be recognized as power. Therefore prestige, which is illusion, is of the very essence of power.

I'm like President Bush. You may not like me, you may not respect me, but you voted me in.

Despotism, be it financial or political, is vulnerable, unless it is believed to rest upon a moral sanction.

Perception of legitimacy is more important than legitimacy itself.

The ideology of a ruling class is of little use unless it is accepted by those being ruled.

The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

Any law enforcement authority can only be of value if the people support the law enforcement authority.