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What exactly is a legitimate government? Some people wouldn't even consider our government to be legitimate: I know that I don't at times. Why is it that we feel our government is the one government to judge all others by? What makes our government so great? It's corrupt, it's currently dysfunctional when it comes to this whole War in Iraq, and we have a President that is one of the most unpopular Presidents we've ever had. So what makes our government the one to judge by?

Before you can reasonably answer this question, you first have to think about what defines a "legitimate government". The dictionary defines the word "government" as follows: "the governing body of persons in a state, community, etc.", and it defines "legitimate" as follows: "according to law; lawful". Since there isn't much in the way of a law that defines what exactly a lawful government is, we have to draw our own conclusions.

By these definitions, the United States Government is far from "legitimate". According to the people, any body that has jurisdiction over them and tells them what to do is a governing body, right? If that governing body is filling the needs of the people, then isn't it "according to law" or "lawful"?

In short, this entire discussion hinges on your definition of legitimate government. Maybe, to the Iraqis, the government that Saddam Hussein had setup was a legitimate government.

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