The Problem of Political Authority

Michael Huemer's philosophical case against the legitimacy of government coercion — using moral intuition pumps to show that the state's authority cannot be rationally justified.

The problem of political authority: what gives the state the right to coerce citizens when the same acts by private individuals would be clearly wrong? Huemer argues that no theory of political obligation (consent, fairness, natural duty, consequentialism) successfully grounds this authority. The 'Starving Marvin' and 'Sam the Protection Racketeer' thought experiments demonstrate that the state behaves in ways that, if done by a private party, would be recognized as criminal. The conclusion: a peaceful, market-based anarchy is both philosophically defensible and practically achievable.