Where does political power come from?

Political power comes from he who casts the largest shadow. It is clear that the polis (the group of individuals who come together to serve a common purpose) is held together by a force. This force is power. But what is the exact cause of power? Where does political power come from? Any state, at any point of time, is held together by power. For without this power, there cannot be a state. And without a state, society turns to the state of nature: devoid of common wealth.

By learning the origin and source of power, a man is better equipped to control his destiny. Without power, there is no freedom.

In short, political power comes from God. By God, we mean the sum total of every cause and effect that has, is or will come to life. This stands in contrast to sovereignty and the people. Naturally, this follows the observable principles of the natural laws.

Political power does not come from the sovereign. By the sovereign, we mean the government of any state. Many arguments have been made in history to the appeal to sovereign authority; perhaps the most famous of all King Louis XIV’s chant ‘L’état c’est moi’ (I am the state). However, as the French Revolution of 1789, and the precedent set by all revolts against sovereigns tell us — from experience or from analogy — appeals to authority do not equate to political power. Besides an example of sophistical equivocation, and so an apparent rather than a real argument, an appeal to sovereign authority relies on the letter of the law. Sovereign authority is a legalistic appeal to political power. But words have no power compared to man and his will power. Think of the countless signs that are ignored by men in order to achieve their private aims, or in fiction the victory of Queen Cersei against Lord Stark’s custody of the succession will. A piece of paper is only as valuable as the army behind it. And that army expects to be paid well. So political power does not come from sovereign authority.

In addition to sovereign authority, claims are often made that political power comes from the people. By the people, we mean the citizens or subjects of any state who play no part in the deliberations or judgements of the state’s affairs. They may be noblemen as much as agricultural labourers. Thomas Hobbes makes a very strong argument that the sovereign is only in power by the consent of the people, and that this consent is as valid in the form of free elections as it is in the absence of insurrection. We may say that this principle appears to hold true today in England as much as it does in Arabia or China. Nevertheless, there is a fallacy with this argument. It fails because it equates popular consent to political power. The people do not decide who has political power, the übermensch does. For even if the people wished for another form of constitution, as the Russians did in the old Empire before the Soviet Union, it is not their consent, their cries for change that led to change. If this were so, every protest would lead to regular change of political power, and yet, in England, which has had many protests throughout the centuries, the constitution holds practically unchanged since 1066. Neither is it the crackle of musketry, the execution of political leaders nor the seizure of the means of production that determines political power. Therefore, political power does not come from the people.

Instead of the sovereign or the people, political power lies in God. At first, this seems similar to the appeal to sovereign authority: only the authority is now more ambiguous than before. And yet, if we define God as the sum of all causes and effects in the universe, then we can begin to see the truth of this claim. For if all matter in life was removed, we may say that cause and effect, aside from the principle of non contradiction, is the essence of life. The existence and operation of these two principles are the foundational truths of all truths in life. In political terms, the power of the state depends on the truth. And so, it is not the people but the man who grasps fully the principle of cause and effect, and uses it to his full advantage, who secures political power. Alexander the Great was one; Julius Caesar another; Napoleon Bonaparte a third. They secured political power against sovereigns and peoples alike because they learnt this forbidden truth. As the old epithet goes, ‘Victory in war does not depend on numbers or mere courage; only skill and discipline will ensure it’. It is a man’s skill and discipline in the art of cause and effect, applied to all the arts and sciences, that secures political power in any state.

Political power, therefore, depends on God. Legalists will continue to worship sovereign authority, whilst others, in some cases forgivably, point to the people. It is neither. Only the purity and cold truth of God secures political power against the sophistical entanglements of sovereign and people. Accept and agree to this truth, and political power — freedom — will be yours. Ignore it, and sacrifice your life at your own peril. Serve God, obey the natural law, live for freedom.