The Former President's Approach Present a Danger to Our Social Fabric.
His internal and external policies – ranging from the attempted coup previously to recent moves and warnings – erode not only domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.
They threaten the very concept of civilization itself.
A ethical foundation of a functioning society is to forestall the stronger from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Failing that, we risk being trapped in a brutish war where might makes right could survive.
This principle is embedded of America’s founding documents. It is equally the core of the global system established after WWII supported by the United States, which stresses international cooperation, democratic governance, human rights, and the supremacy of law.
But, it is a fragile principle, easily violated by those who seek to abuse their influence. Preserving it requires that the influential have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that society ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.
Unchecked strength does not make right. It results in instability, disruption, and conflict.
Every time people or corporations or countries that are advantaged prey upon those that are less so, the structure of our shared norms unravels. If such aggression are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. If not stopped, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.
We now inhabit a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the powerful to leverage their position against the weaker because they perceive themselves as above the law.
The fortunes of a small group of tycoons is difficult to fathom. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans a vast portion of the world. AI is likely to further concentrate resources and influence further. The destructive power of the leading countries is without parallel in human history.
Empowered by political allies and an accommodating judicial body, the executive office has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of state power in recent memory.
Put it all together and you perceive the danger.
A direct line links previous lawless actions to ongoing threats. These were founded upon the overconfidence of omnipotence.
There is much the same in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.
But, strength without restraint does not establish right. It makes for uncertainty, upended order, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to constrain the influential also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches in time lead to their downfall – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten world war.
This blatant contempt for legal order will haunt the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for a long time.
