The Former President's Policies Present a Danger to Our Social Fabric.
His national and international policies – ranging from the attempted coup in the past to current incursions and warnings – erode not only domestic and international law. The implications are broader.
These actions jeopardize the core idea of civilization itself.
A moral purpose of any advanced culture is to stop the more powerful from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Failing that, we would be locked in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest wins.
This principle is central of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the foundation of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the US, emphasizing international cooperation, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the rule of law.
But, it is a delicate ideal, often broken by those who would exploit their power. Maintaining it demands that the those in charge have a sense of duty to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public demand responsibility should they falter.
Unfettered might does not equal right. It leads to uncertainty, disruption, and conflict.
Every time individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger target and use those that are not, the fabric of our shared norms weakens. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can fall into chaos and war. It has happened before.
Our current reality is a society and world with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than ever before. This creates conditions for the privileged to take advantage of the weaker because they act with a sense of above the law.
The wealth of certain tycoons is staggering. The reach of global industrial giants extends over numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is could further concentrate resources and influence further. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in recorded history.
Supported by complicit legislators and a pliant supreme court, the executive office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of government in recent memory.
Combine these factors and you grasp the looming crisis.
A direct line connects past breaches of norms to ongoing menaces. Each were founded upon the hubris of invincibility.
One observes parallel dynamics in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.
But, unfettered might does not create right. It produces uncertainty, upended order, and war.
History shows that laws and norms to check the influential also shield them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth eventually bring them down – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for international catastrophe.
This blatant disregard for rules will plague the nation and the world – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.
