The Former President's Policies Constitute a Danger to Civilized Society.
The national and international strategies – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to latest actions and warnings – weaken not only national and global legal frameworks. The implications are broader.
These actions threaten the very concept of civilization itself.
The ethical foundation of any advanced culture is to prevent the dominant from preying upon and using the less powerful. Otherwise, we could find ourselves trapped in a state of nature where survival of the strongest wins.
This ideal is embedded of America’s founding documents. This is also the core of the global system established after WWII championed by the United States, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the supremacy of law.
Yet, it is a fragile ideal, easily violated by those who seek to abuse their authority. Preserving it requires that the powerful have a sense of duty to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society hold them accountable should they falter.
Unfettered might does not equal right. It results in instability, upheaval, and conflict.
Every time people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are not, the fabric of society unravels. If such aggression are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. If not stopped, the world can fall into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.
Our current reality is a international landscape with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This invites the elite to leverage their position against the weaker because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.
The wealth of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans much of the globe. AI is could further concentrate resources and influence even more. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in recorded history.
Empowered by political allies and a pliant judicial body, the executive office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of the state in history.
Consider this confluence and you grasp the threat.
A clear connection connects earlier lawless actions to current threats. These were premised on the arrogance of omnipotence.
One observes parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.
However, unfettered might does not make right. It produces instability, upheaval, and war.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to constrain the powerful also protect them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches eventually lead to their downfall – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for international catastrophe.
Such contempt for legal order will haunt America and the global community – and indeed a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.
