To whose authority do you submit?

Oooh, very good question.
Probably self discipline,then family.

I come to my decision by trying to do the right thing so it will effect as many people(usually family and friends) in a positive way as possible, mainly for other people, but after a while I do stuff for myself.

I wish that i exercised more self-discipline . . . i also wish i had millions of dollars . . .

I believe in and act in accordance with the concept of a social contract. Therefore, i believe in the rule of law, with the caveat that i consider civil disobediance to be a valid means of expression of disagreement with particular aspects of the social contract.

VERY well put. I couldn't have said it better myself, nor will I even attempt to try. Ditto for me.

Relative submission. Makes sense. . .

It makes sense to at least appear to submit to the authority of superior firepower - doing so occasions fewer distractions in the matter of working out an effective counter strategy.

Perfect - might makes right, or at least it makes for the most authoritative....

You might wanna work a bit on reading comprehension skills, snood - your paraphrase blatantly misrepresents what I wrote.

I'll work on my comprehension if you work on your humility.

Play nice.

Okay - I'll try to read more gooder.

I submit to some degree to all of them, even theocratic, for the reasons Setanta outlined.

My family and freinds wouldn't like it if I heckled at weddings, and refused to sit when asked.....(although I'm often tempted, especially at funerals.)

In my heart, I submit to no authority at all. I follow the restrictions placed upon me by life and changing circumstance, physically, but none can make me submissive otherwise.

Re: To whose authority do you submit?
Virtually none. In general; I follow the rule of law and the rules of social civilty and coincidentally my decisions and behavior tend to fit the rules of most theocracies... but at the end of the day (or in a split second) I answer only to myself.

In my experience, independence from authority is actually more taxing than bowing to someone else's structured ways. I would caution those who aren't currently, but whom long to be their own boss, to be careful what they wish for.

Theocratically (word?), I never really had a choice but to look inward for guidance and to follow my own interpretations of what I've learned. Here too, I suspect a lack of outside guidance is often more burden than benefit.

So by "Virtually none", you mean "Actually all" but you like to pretend it's a fortuitous fit with your own will?

Feel free to believe I'm pretending if you wish. The fact is; it would matter not at all if 6 Billion people and all the wisdom in recorded history dictated a rule I disagreed with. If I know I'm right, I'm right. Coincidentally, most of the folks who make rules have got a pretty good bead on things, IMO. I don't know how you'd equate a tendency toward agreement to a submission to authority, but suit yourself.

I grew up fighting authority at every avenue, for no good reason, but find the older I get the more I tend to agree. There's no shortage of fight left in me; just a lesser number of perceived battles worth fighting. It's like the old adage, "the older I get, the smarter my parents get".

The point is not about whether you agree, but whether you submit (with or without protest.)

Our legal drink driving limit is .05 but I reckon I would still drive safely at .051 (we have national random breath testing here)

I submit to the law, though, because it's in my interests and also in the interests of everybody else to agree on an objective measurement of impairment.

My record reflects no such submission... :wink: However, my current personal rule isn't so very far from .05. Get it?

To who's authority?

Only to the authorities of truth and reason, such as I know them at any given time.

and traffic cops, and the IRS, and the whole legislative branch of state and national government, and...