Authority is a strange thing, the more one has the larger the sword of Damocles looms. Oft times those men with a 'lean and hungry look' as Cassius was so aptly described, consider the throne and not the concomitant blade hanging above their bare head. Where does it come from? How does it work? For such a foundational principle of Western society and political thought, it is never discussed. I doubt most can articulate anything past the usual tripe of 'consent of the governed' and 'we the people.'