Power comes from the barrel of a gun. Authority comes from assent. Assent can come from agreement on moral law, ideology, or even fear. It can originate from a lot of sources. For most of history authority trumped power because authority dictated who commanded power. Money decides who *provides* the means to exercise power, to arm the armies, and pay the bill to retain the strong arm. Even going way back, with rare exceptions like the crusades, the churchs supporting lords at one level or another still had to pay to feed and arm their soldiers. Power in the raw sense is logistics: arms + food + transport + manpower + organization Authority commands power. Power reinforces authority.