Donald Trump's Approach Pose a Risk to Civilized Society.
His internal and external policies – from the effort to overturn the election in the past to latest actions and threats – undermine not only national and global law. But that’s not all.
These actions jeopardize the very concept of what we mean by.
The moral purpose of any advanced culture is to prevent the more powerful from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Failing that, we could find ourselves locked in a state of nature where might makes right prevails.
This ideal is embedded of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the heart of the postwar international order championed by the US, built on international cooperation, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the supremacy of law.
Yet, it is a fragile principle, often broken by those who seek to abuse their power. Preserving it demands that the influential have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us demand responsibility should they falter.
Unchecked strength does not make right. It leads to uncertainty, disruption, and war.
Every time people or corporations or countries that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are weaker, the fabric of our shared norms weakens. If such aggression are not contained, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can fall into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.
Our current reality is a international landscape with deepening divides. Political and economic power are more concentrated than ever before. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they feel above the law.
The fortunes of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers numerous countries. Advanced technology is poised to further concentrate wealth and power even more. The destructive power of the leading countries is unmatched in recorded history.
Supported by complicit legislators and a pliant high court, the presidency has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of the state in history.
Consider this confluence and you grasp the danger.
A clear connection connects past lawless actions to ongoing provocations. Each were premised on the overconfidence of absolute power.
There is a similar pattern in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.
However, strength without restraint does not establish right. It produces uncertainty, upheaval, and bloodshed.
History shows that frameworks designed to check the powerful also protect them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth in time lead to their downfall – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for world war.
This blatant disregard for rules will haunt America and the global community – and indeed civilization – for the foreseeable future.
