The Former President's Actions Pose a Risk to Our Social Fabric.
His domestic and foreign strategies – ranging from the attempted coup previously to recent moves and threats – weaken not only domestic and international law. The implications are broader.
They endanger the core idea of a civilized world.
The ethical foundation of civilized society is to prevent the more powerful from preying upon and using the less powerful. Otherwise, we could find ourselves trapped in a brutish war where might makes right could survive.
This concept lies at the center of America’s founding documents. It is equally the heart of the modern framework of international relations supported by the United States, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the legal authority.
But, it is a fragile ideal, often broken by those who would exploit their power. Preserving it necessitates that the influential have enough integrity to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us demand responsibility when they fail.
Absolute power does not make right. It leads to instability, disruption, and hostilities.
Whenever entities that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are less so, the structure of civilization frays. If these actions are not contained, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can descend into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.
We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than ever before. This invites the elite to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The resources of certain tycoons is staggering. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans numerous countries. AI is likely to consolidate resources and influence to a greater degree. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Empowered by complicit legislators and an accommodating supreme court, the presidency has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of state power in recent memory.
Put it all together and you grasp the threat.
A clear connection links past lawless actions to present-day threats. Both were premised on the arrogance of invincibility.
You see parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.
But, raw power does not establish right. It makes for fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.
History shows that frameworks designed to limit the influential also shield them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches in time cause their collapse – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for international catastrophe.
Such lawlessness will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and indeed civilization – for the foreseeable future.
