The Former President's Policies Constitute a Danger to Civilization.
His national and international strategies – from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to current incursions and statements – erode both national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.
They threaten the fundamental meaning of what we mean by.
The guiding principle of a functioning society is to prevent the stronger from preying upon and using the less powerful. Without this, we risk being permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest wins.
This ideal is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the heart of the global system established after WWII championed by the US, emphasizing international cooperation, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the supremacy of law.
But, it is a fragile construct, often broken by those who seek to abuse their authority. Preserving it demands that the powerful have enough integrity to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that society ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.
Absolute power does not make right. It results in uncertainty, upheaval, and hostilities.
Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are less so, the structure of civilization weakens. Should such behavior are not contained, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into instability and violence. It has happened before.
Our current reality is a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This invites the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.
The fortunes of certain tycoons is staggering. The power of global industrial giants spans numerous countries. AI is likely to consolidate wealth and power even more. The military might of the leading countries is unprecedented in human history.
Empowered by political allies and a sympathetic judicial body, the executive office has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of state power in recent memory.
Consider this confluence and you perceive the threat.
A direct line links earlier breaches of norms to current menaces. Each were premised on the overconfidence of omnipotence.
One observes parallel dynamics in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.
Yet, raw power does not make right. It produces fragility, revolution, and war.
The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to constrain the influential also protect them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth ultimately lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk international catastrophe.
Such disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for a long time.
