The Former President's Approach Constitute a Threat to Our Social Fabric.
His internal and external policies – from the challenge to the democratic process previously to current actions and threats – weaken both national and global legal frameworks. The implications are broader.
They threaten the very concept of civilization itself.
The guiding principle of a functioning society is to prevent the stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we risk being trapped in a brutish war where might makes right prevails.
This principle is embedded of America’s founding documents. It is equally the heart of the postwar international order advocated by the US, built on collective action, democratic governance, human rights, and the rule of law.
Yet, it is a vulnerable construct, frequently ignored by those who seek to abuse their authority. Preserving it demands that the powerful have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.
Absolute power does not make right. It results in uncertainty, disruption, and war.
Whenever entities that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are not, the structure of our shared norms unravels. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the structure collapses. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.
We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This encourages the powerful to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they feel omnipotent.
The resources of a small group of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors extends over much of the globe. Advanced technology is likely to consolidate resources and influence even more. The offensive capability of the major powers is unmatched in recorded history.
Empowered by political allies and a pliant high court, the presidency has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of state power in the modern era.
Consider this confluence and you perceive the looming crisis.
A clear connection links previous transgressions to ongoing menaces. Both were based on the arrogance of invincibility.
One observes much the same in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities.
Yet, unfettered might does not make right. It fosters uncertainty, upended order, and war.
Historical evidence demonstrates that laws and norms to check the influential also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth in time bring them down – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk global conflict.
This kind of disregard for rules will plague America and the global community – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.