“The answer which a captured pirate gave to the celebrated Alexander the Great was perfectly accurate and correct. When that king asked the man what he meant by infesting the sea, he boldly replied: ‘what you mean by warring on the whole world. I do my fighting on a tiny ship, and they call me a pirate; you do yours with a large fleet, and they call you Commander.’” (Augustine’s City of God, pg 89)

How fascinating it is that from ancient history mankind has continued to define what is acceptable by one’s might! Did either leader in the instance above provide better leadership than the other? Did either man inflict fewer atrocities on humanity than the other? To answer would be difficult. What gave one man the “authority” to impose his will over another? It is nothing more than the “stick” with which he backs up his position. Remember the common saying, “he who has the biggest stick wins.” Just as in the case of the early government of the expanding United States versus the Native American Indians who had been living in the land for years, the US was “allowed” to relocate them. They were not relocated because the US had certain God-given rights to the land, but because the US government had the bigger “stick.” Interestingly, perception plays a greater role in what is right than reality does.