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So you mean the police always has legitimate authorithy?

• AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  I deny you the right to put words in my mouth. No, I did not say that, mean that, or think that. The police do not always have legitimate authority. But not never, either. In particular, the police have legitimate, legally-given authority. When they exceed that, they become illegitimate (and bullies).
  • SiempreViernes 7y ago
    Ok, but then it's not a criticism since you completely leave out the central issue of the source of authority. In particular, your clarification implies that you subscribe to the "will of the people" source for police authority, which is the sort of voluntary system you set out criticise.
    • AnimalMuppet 7y ago
      Well, it's "will of some large subset of the people". It's probably not ever the will of the muggers. In particular, it's rarely voluntary on the part of the person being arrested. And that's kind of the point. We, the majority of the people, voluntarily bestow on the police the authority to act, within limits, on our behalf, up to and including the use of force. Having done so, however, those police have (within those limits) legitimate authority even over those of us who wanted there to be a police force, even when (in that encounter) we do not voluntarily submit to them. So: Is that a voluntary system? Yes and no. You could say it's voluntary that we set it up. But it's not voluntary when you're on the receiving end.