The Former President's Policies Pose a Threat to Our Social Fabric.
His internal and external strategies – from the attempted coup previously to current moves and statements – erode not only national and global legal frameworks. But that’s not all.
They jeopardize the very concept of a civilized world.
A guiding principle of civilized society is to forestall the dominant from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Without this, we could find ourselves permanently immersed in a brutish war where only the fittest wins.
This ideal is central of America’s founding documents. It’s also the core of the modern framework of international relations championed by the America, emphasizing multilateralism, popular sovereignty, human rights, and the legal authority.
Yet, it is a delicate principle, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their authority. Maintaining it demands that the influential have enough integrity to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.
Unfettered might does not equal right. It results in uncertainty, disruption, and war.
Whenever entities that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are not, the structure of civilization weakens. 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. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This invites the privileged to leverage their position against the less fortunate because they feel above the law.
The wealth of a handful of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors extends over much of the globe. AI is likely to further concentrate economic and political clout further. The military might of the major powers is unmatched in the annals of time.
Supported by a compliant faction and a sympathetic judicial body, the highest office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked agent of the state in the modern era.
Combine these factors and you perceive the danger.
A clear connection connects earlier lawless actions to present-day threats. These were based on the arrogance of omnipotence.
There is much the same in the actions of other powers: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.
But, raw power does not create right. It makes for instability, upheaval, and war.
The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches ultimately cause their collapse – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk world war.
This blatant contempt for legal order will plague America and the global community – and indeed a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.
