The Former President's Approach Constitute a Danger to Civilized Society.
The domestic and foreign strategies – from the effort to overturn the election in the past to current moves and threats – undermine both national and global law. But that’s not all.
They endanger the core idea of a civilized world.
The guiding principle of a functioning society is to prevent the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Otherwise, we would be trapped in a conflict of all against all where might makes right could survive.
This principle is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the heart of the postwar international order supported by the America, built on collective action, democracy, individual liberties, and the supremacy of law.
Yet, it is a delicate construct, often broken by those who would exploit their authority. Preserving it requires that the powerful have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that society hold them accountable if they don't.
Unfettered might is not right. It results in turmoil, chaos, and conflict.
Whenever people or corporations or countries that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are less so, the fabric of civilization frays. If these actions are left unchecked, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can descend into chaos and war. It has happened before.
We now inhabit a global community with deepening divides. Political and economic power are more concentrated than ever before. This invites the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they feel untouchable.
The resources of a handful of tycoons is difficult to fathom. The reach of global industrial giants extends over a vast portion of the world. AI is poised to consolidate wealth and power even more. The offensive capability of the major powers is unmatched in the annals of time.
Empowered by political allies and a sympathetic judicial body, the highest office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of government in recent memory.
Put it all together and you grasp the looming crisis.
A clear connection connects previous lawless actions to current threats. Both were premised on the arrogance of absolute power.
One observes a similar pattern in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.
Yet, strength without restraint does not establish right. It makes for fragility, revolution, and bloodshed.
History shows that rules and conventions to limit the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for greater influence and riches ultimately lead to their downfall – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for international catastrophe.
Such contempt for legal order will haunt international stability – and indeed a rules-based order – for years to come.
