In other words, saying 'we need to do x' and/or 'we can do x' does not mean (even if one or both is true) government can therefore legitimately do x.

Legitimacy of government exercise of power (=authority) rests on entirely different foundations.

Those foundations are found in the mandate to rule God has given governments. The trouble is, when that fact is ignored, and government believes its power to be sui generis, the concept of legitimate power (authority) dissolves.

What the government *may* do dissolves merely into what it *can* do and what it thinks it *should* do. That is what we are witnessing right now. It is a very dangerous direction for government to take.

Does government have the legitimate authority to forbid families to gather, to close internal borders, to ban hospitality in homes? It's not at all clear that they've even thought of asking that question. They've just said 'we think we need to', and 'we can enforce it'.

To be clear, I'm making no comment about the threat of the virus or the right thing to do in the current situation. I'm pointing out that there has been a collapse in understanding of what government is which bodes very ill indeed for the future.

The first tweet in this thread seems to have disappeared. Reposting below:

We need to distinguish between justification, power and authority for governments. Just because an action is seen as necessary (justified), that doesn't mean govt has power and authority to do it; and just because govt has power to do it, that doesn't give authority to do it.