The Greatest Threat to Humanity Is Right Under our Noses! It's Not What You Think - and You May be Part of It!

In the following pages the reader will be taken through several stages, in order to fully
understand why the belief in “authority” truly is the most dangerous superstition in the
history of the world. First, the concept of “authority” will be distilled down to its most
basic essence, so it can be defined and examined objectively.

In Part II, it will be shown that the concept itself is fatally flawed, that the underlying
premise of all “government” is utterly incompatible with logic and morality. In fact, it
will be shown that “government” is a purely religious belief – a faith-based acceptance of
a superhuman, mythological entity that has never existed and will never exist. (The
reader is not expected to accept such a startling claim without ample evidence and sound
reasoning, which will be provided.)

In Part III, it will be shown why the belief in “authority,” including all belief in
“government,” is horrendously dangerous and destructive. Specifically, it will be shown
how the belief in “authority” dramatically impacts both the perceptions and the actions of
various categories of people, leading literally billions of otherwise good, peaceful people
to condone or commit acts of violent, immoral aggression. In fact, everyone who believes
in “government” does this, though the vast majority does not realize it, and would
vehemently deny it.

Finally, in Part IV, the reader will be given a glimpse into what life without the belief in
“authority” could look like. Contrary to the usual assumption that an absence of
“government” would mean chaos and destruction, it will be shown that when the myth of
“authority” is abandoned, much will change, but much will also stay the same. It will be
shown why, rather than the belief in “government” being conducive to and necessary for
a peaceful society, as nearly everyone has been taught, the belief is by far the biggest
obstacle to mutually beneficial organization, cooperation and peaceful coexistence. In
short, it will be shown why true civilization can and will exist only after the myth of
“authority” has been eradicated.

Identifying the Enemy

To assess the concept of “authority” and determine its worth, we must begin by clearly
defining what it means, and what it is.

From early childhood we are taught to submit to the will of “authority,” to obey the edicts
of those who, in one way or another, have acquired positions of power and control from
the beginning. The goodness of a child is graded, whether explicitly or implicitly, first by
how well he obeys his parents, then by how well he obeys his teachers, and then by how
well he obeys the “laws” of “government.” Whether implied or stated, society is saturated
with the message that obedience is a virtue, and that the good people are the ones who do
what “authority” tells them to do.

As a result of that message, the concepts of morality
and obedience have become so muddled in most people’s minds that any attack on the
notion of “authority” will, to most people, feel like an attack on morality itself. Any
suggestion that “government” is inherently illegitimate will sound like suggesting that
everyone should behave as uncaring, vicious animals, living life by the code of survival
of the fittest.

The trouble is that the average person’s belief system rests upon a hodgepodge of vague,
often contradictory, concepts and assumptions. Terms such as morality and obedience,
laws and legislatures, leaders and citizens are used constantly by people who have never
rationally examined such concepts. The first step in trying to understand the nature of
“authority” (or “government”) is to define what the word means, What is this thing called
“government”?

“Government” tells people what to do. But that by itself does not give us a sufficient
definition, because all sorts of individuals and organizations tell others what to do.
“Government,” however, does not simply suggest or request; it commands. But an
advertiser who says “Act now!” or a preacher who tells his congregation what to do could
also be said to be giving commands, but they are not “government.”

Unlike the “commands” of preachers and advertisers, the commands of “government” are
backed by the threat of punishment, the use of force against those who do not comply,
those who are caught “breaking the law.” But even that does not give us a complete
definition, because street thugs and bullies also enforce their commands, but they are not
“government.” The distinguishing feature of “authority” is that it is thought to have the
right to give and enforce commands. In the case of “government,” its commands are
called “laws,” and disobeying them is called a “crime.”

“Authority” can be summed up as the right to rule. It is not merely the ability to forcibly
control others, which to some extent nearly everyone possesses. It is the supposed moral
right to forcibly control others. What distinguishes a street gang from “government” is
how they are perceived by the people they control. The trespasses, robbery, extortion,
assault and murder committed by common thugs are perceived by almost everyone as
being immoral, unjustified and criminal. Their victims may comply with their demands,
but not out of any feeling of moral obligation to obey, merely out of fear. If the intended
victims of the street gang thought they could resist without any danger to themselves,
they would do so, without the slightest feeling of guilt. They do not perceive the street
thug to be any sort of legitimate, rightful ruler; they do not imagine him to be “authority.”
The loot the thug collects is not referred to as “taxes,” and his threats are not called
“laws.”

The demands and commands of those who wear the label of “government,” on the other
hand, are perceived very differently by most of those at whom the commands are aimed.
The power and control the “lawmakers” in “government” exert over everyone else is seen
as valid and legitimate, “legal” and good. Likewise, most who comply with such
commands by “obeying the law,” and who hand over their money by “paying taxes,” do
not do so merely out of fear of punishment if they disobey, but also out of a feeling of
duty to obey. No one takes pride in being robbed by a street gang, but many wear the
label of “law-abiding taxpayer” as a badge of honor. This is due entirely to how the
obedient perceive the ones giving them commands. If they are perceived as “authority,” a
rightful master, then by definition they are seen as having the moral right to give such
commands, which in turn implies a moral obligation on the part of the people to obey
those commands. To label oneself a “law-abiding taxpayer” is to brag about one’s loyal
obedience to “government.”

In the past, some churches have claimed the right to punish heretics and other sinners, but
in the Western world today, the concept of “authority” is almost always linked to
“government.” In fact, the two terms can now be used almost synonymously, since, in
this day and age, each implies the other: “authority” supposedly derives from the “laws”
enacted by “government,” and “government” is the organization imagined to have the
right to rule, i.e., “authority.”

It is essential to differentiate between a command being justified based upon the situation
and being justified based upon who gave the command. Only the latter is the type of
“authority” being addressed in this book, though the term is occasionally used in another
sense which tends to muddle this distinction. When, for example, someone asserts that he
had the “authority” to stop a mugger to get an old lady’s purse back, or says he had the
“authority” to chase trespassers off his property, he is not claiming to possesses any
special rights that others do not possess. He is simply saying that he believes that certain
situations justify giving orders or using force.

In contrast, the concept of “government” is about certain people having some special
right to rule. And that idea, the notion that some people – as a result of elections or other
political rituals, for example – have the moral right to control others, in situations where
most people would not, is the concept being addressed here. Only those in “government”
are thought to have the right to enact “laws”; only they are thought to have the right to
impose “taxes”; only they are thought to have the right to wage wars, to regulate certain
matters, to grant licenses for various activities and so on. When “the belief in authority” is
discussed in this book, that is the meaning being referred to: the idea that some people
have the moral right to forcibly control others, and that, consequently, those others have
the moral obligation to obey.

It should be stressed that “authority” is always in the eye of the beholder. If the one being
controlled believes that the one controlling him has the right to do so, then the one being
controlled sees the controller as “authority.” If the one being controlled does not perceive
the control to be legitimate, then the controller is not viewed as authority” but is seen
simply as a bully or a thug. The tentacles of the belief in authority” reach into every
aspect of human life, but the common denominator is always the perceived legitimacy of
the control it exerts over others. Every “law” and “tax” (federal, state and local), every
election and campaign, every license and permit, every political debate and movement –
in short, everything having to do with “government,” from a trivial town ordinance to a
“world war” – rests entirely upon the idea that some people have acquired the moral right
– in one way or another, to one degree or another – to rule over others.

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