Begging the question of legitimation

But sure, why not, what harm eh to obey

Eloquently demonstrated and defended in Monty Python’s Holy Grail. Dear VOTER. I blame you for Covid.

King Arthur: Please, please, good people, I am in haste. Who lives in that castle?

Peasant Woman: No one lives there.

King Arthur: Then who is your lord?

Peasant Woman: We don't have a lord.

King Arthur: What?

Dennis: I told you, we're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as sort of executive officer for the week...

King Arthur: Yes...

Dennis: ...but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting...

King Arthur: Yes I see...

Dennis: ...by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs...

King Arthur: Be quiet!

Dennis: ...but by a two thirds majority in the case of more...

King Arthur: Be quiet! I order you to be quiet!

Peasant Woman: "Order", eh? Who does he think he is?

King Arthur: I am your king.

Peasant Woman: Well, I didn't vote for you.

King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.

Peasant Woman: Well, how'd you become king, then?

[An angelic choir begins...]

King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. [singing stops] That is why I am your king.

Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.

Arthur: Be quiet!

Dennis: You can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

Arthur: Shut up!

Dennis: I mean, if I went around saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!

Arthur: [grabs Dennis] Shut up! Will you shut up?!

Dennis: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!

Arthur: [shakes Dennis]Shut up!

Dennis: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I'm being repressed!

Arthur: Bloody Peasant!

Of course after Federalism we were far from any chance of escape from the violence inherent in the system. Just sayin’