Why do we obey authority?

Do we? Do we obey authority? Or is it just something we are used to saying, a stereotype that is spread around worldwide?

Authority as the Government or authority as my mother? These two, for example, are extremely different. I'm not scared of the Government... but then again, my mom can't send me to prison.

Authority is relative, just like the truth. It is not a matter of obedience, it's a matter of respect. Respect for the ones who show up in front of us and impose us a set of rules.

I do not obey someone. I respect their decisions and follow them. If I don't like the rules, I change them. And I think that's what most of us do.

But it was thought from the start that we need to obey authority. And even if it is not true, we just let it be.

"The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule."

- Samuel Adams