Paramount Authority

[Martin Hash]

There are many sources of authority:
Moral : church
Violence : military
Legal : judiciary
Commercial : business
Civic : government
Cultural : ethnic groups
Creative : artists

All of these groups vie for supremacy. Most people live their insular lives in the satisfying knowledge that they wield sufficient authority because of what they do. In fact, most people assume that others around them acknowledge this superior authority, and conflict results when perceived spheres of authority overlap because everyone assumes they are in control.

Which group, if removed, causes the others to cease functioning or collapse? Obviously, it's an interconnected relationship but for a society to endure, it requires productivity, which would seem to indicate that commercial activity is of paramount importance. Therefore, whatever it takes to maintain commerce has authority, however, our nation has made civic authority the ultimate arbitrator, but politics is subjective and commerce is objective, so the system's going to seize up occasionally.