this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
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No, which is why authority is a problem. Authority is literally "might-enforced hierarchy".
Unfortunately, this author is also attached to authority, under the guise of a hierarchy of morality. "Moral authority", by the author's claim, is the counterpart to might-based authority.
This falls apart when you run into different forms of morality (especially ones where there's not some near-universal social agreement about it, like rights of minors, rights of healthcare, rights of marriage, etc). Moral Authority is just a social and linguistic construct to justify non-consensual imposition of rules.
"Right" is ultimately best judged by Consent: If someone is consenting to something for themself, it likely is Right. If someone is not consenting to something for themself, it likely is Wrong.
Authority in any form is just a justification (through force, or through claimed Moral Superiority upon whose basis force will be applied) to override Consent in order to impose one's will on another.