The Former President's Approach Constitute a Threat to Our Social Fabric.
His domestic and foreign policies – from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to recent actions and warnings – weaken both domestic and international law. The implications are broader.
These actions threaten the core idea of civilization itself.
A guiding principle of a functioning society is to forestall the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Without this, we risk being permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest prevails.
This principle is central of the nation's founding texts. It is equally the heart of the modern framework of international relations supported by the America, emphasizing multilateralism, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the legal authority.
Yet, it is a fragile ideal, easily violated by those who seek to abuse their authority. Upholding it demands that the powerful have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public demand responsibility if they don't.
Unfettered might is not right. It leads to turmoil, upheaval, and hostilities.
Each instance entities that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are not, the structure of society unravels. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can fall into instability and violence. It has happened before.
We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.
The resources of a small group of billionaires is staggering. The influence of global industrial giants spans much of the globe. Advanced technology is likely to centralize wealth and power to a greater degree. The destructive power of the major powers is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Enabled by complicit legislators and an accommodating high court, the highest office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of government in the modern era.
Consider this confluence and you see the threat.
A direct line connects past lawless actions to present-day threats. Each were premised on the arrogance of omnipotence.
There is parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by powerful corporate entities.
However, strength without restraint does not establish right. It makes for instability, revolution, and bloodshed.
History shows that rules and conventions to constrain the influential also protect them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth in time lead to their downfall – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten international catastrophe.
This blatant disregard for rules will plague America and the global community – and indeed civilization – for the foreseeable future.
