The Former President's Approach Present a Risk to Civilized Society.
His domestic and foreign initiatives – ranging from the attempted coup in the past to latest incursions and statements – erode both national and global law. The implications are broader.
These actions threaten the very concept of a civilized world.
A moral purpose of a functioning society is to prevent the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Otherwise, we could find ourselves locked in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest prevails.
This ideal lies at the center of America’s founding documents. This is also the foundation of the postwar international order championed by the United States, which stresses multilateralism, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the legal authority.
But, it is a fragile principle, easily violated by those who would exploit their authority. Preserving it necessitates that the powerful have a sense of duty to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the rest of us demand responsibility if they don't.
Unfettered might is not right. It results in instability, chaos, and war.
Each instance people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are less so, the framework of our shared norms weakens. If these actions are not contained, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.
Today, we live in a society and world grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are more concentrated than ever before. This creates conditions for the powerful to take advantage of the less fortunate because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The fortunes of certain tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is poised to further concentrate wealth and power to a greater degree. The destructive power of the major powers is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Empowered by a compliant faction and a sympathetic supreme court, the presidency has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked agent of government in recent memory.
Consider this confluence and you grasp the looming crisis.
A direct line ties earlier transgressions to ongoing threats. These were based on the arrogance of invincibility.
One observes a similar pattern in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.
But, raw power does not establish right. It produces fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches in time lead to their downfall – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten world war.
This blatant contempt for legal order will plague the nation and the world – and indeed a rules-based order – for a long time.
