Lately, I find myself wondering, what would an illegitimate government look like?

Might it be one where – when the speaker of the House is asked for the constitutional authority that permits government-mandated health care – her response is: "Are you serious? Are you serious?"

Perhaps it would be a government where, when citizens demand to see evidence that the nation's highest elected official meets the qualifications set down in the Constitution to hold that office, all three branches of government spend public money to deny those concerned citizens that right.

Could it be a government that passes laws prohibiting criticism of its supporters and their "lifestyles" – and mandates criminal punishments against those who speak out – even when those "lifestyles" are socially destructive?

Maybe it would be a government that declines to prosecute voter intimidation by its supporters. Or a government that encourages and financially aids criminal organizations that register nonexistent voters to win "tight" elections, while they destroy the registrations opposition voters in good faith gave to them.

Now watch the red-hot eligibility story on DVD: "A Question of Eligibility: Is Obama's presidency constitutionally legitimate?"

Perhaps it is a government that declines to prosecute friendly journalists for criminal activity ("Sycophancy has its Rewards").

Or maybe it's a government that pays for the wholesale abortion of its own citizens – while encouraging citizens of other nations and foreign political persuasions to enter the country illegally and demand public services – and then seeks amnesty for them and the crimes they have committed.

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Would an illegitimate government use foreign surveillance and national security organizations to secretly monitor and store communications of its own citizens? Might it have access to their e-mails and monitor their credit-card purchases? And might those communications be "made available" at the appropriate time to friendly media personalities for the purpose of blackmailing opposition candidates and officeholders?

Is it possible that such a government would use public funds to bail out its corporate friends and contributors – while letting competitors die, leaving their stockholders ruined? Might an illegitimate government refuse to hand over details of how public funds were being spent? Records indicating who was benefiting? Communications and intimidating meetings with corporate executives?

I wonder if such a government might try to control public opinion by limiting news dissemination to its friends, agents and provocateurs, while denying more objective media the same access.

Perhaps such a government would outlaw the discussion of certain topics in schools – by using funding pressures – while it mandated other politically correct views and beliefs on other topics.

I wonder if this is what an illegitimate government would look like.