The Former President's Policies Present a Threat to Our Social Fabric.
His internal and external initiatives – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to recent actions and statements – undermine not only domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.
These actions threaten the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.
The guiding principle of a functioning society is to prevent the stronger from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Without this, we risk being trapped in a state of nature where might makes right wins.
This principle is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the core of the global system established after WWII advocated by the US, emphasizing collective action, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the legal authority.
But, it is a vulnerable construct, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their power. Upholding it necessitates that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.
Absolute power does not make right. It makes for instability, upheaval, and conflict.
Each instance 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 allowed to continue, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.
We now inhabit a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This encourages the elite to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The wealth of certain tycoons is staggering. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is poised to consolidate economic and political clout to a greater degree. The destructive power of the major powers is unmatched in human history.
Empowered by political allies and a sympathetic supreme court, the presidency has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of government in recent memory.
Combine these factors and you see the threat.
A direct line ties past transgressions to current provocations. These were premised on the hubris of omnipotence.
One observes a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.
But, unfettered might does not create right. It fosters uncertainty, revolution, and armed conflict.
The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to check the powerful also protect them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for greater influence and riches in time bring them down – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk international catastrophe.
This blatant contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.
