The Former President's Actions Present a Threat to Civilized Society.
The internal and external policies – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process in the past to latest moves and warnings – weaken both national and global law. However, the issue goes deeper.
They threaten the very concept of what we mean by.
The moral purpose of any advanced culture is to prevent the dominant from preying upon and using the weaker. Otherwise, we risk being trapped in a conflict of all against all where might makes right could survive.
This concept is embedded of America’s founding documents. This is also the core of the global system established after WWII advocated by the US, which stresses multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and the supremacy of law.
But, it is a delicate construct, often broken by those who choose to misuse their authority. Preserving it requires that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public demand responsibility should they falter.
Unfettered might does not equal right. It leads to uncertainty, disruption, and war.
Every time entities that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are weaker, the fabric of society frays. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.
We now inhabit a global community grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This encourages the elite to leverage their position against the weaker because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The wealth of a handful of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is likely to consolidate resources and influence even more. The military might of the world's largest nations is unmatched in the annals of time.
Supported by political allies and a sympathetic supreme court, the highest office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of state power in history.
Put it all together and you see the danger.
A clear connection connects previous lawless actions to current threats. Both were based on the overconfidence of omnipotence.
There is much the same in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.
However, unfettered might does not establish right. It fosters fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.
The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources in time bring them down – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk international catastrophe.
Such disregard for rules will haunt international stability – and indeed civilization – for years to come.
