Trump's Actions Present a Risk to Our Social Fabric.
The national and international initiatives – including the effort to overturn the election five years ago to current moves and threats – undermine both national and global jurisprudence. The implications are broader.
These actions endanger the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.
A ethical foundation of a functioning society is to forestall the more powerful from preying upon and using the weaker. Failing that, we would be permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where might makes right prevails.
This concept is embedded of America’s founding documents. It’s also the heart of the global system established after WWII advocated by the United States, emphasizing multilateralism, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.
Yet, it is a vulnerable ideal, easily violated by those who would exploit their influence. Maintaining it demands that the those in charge have enough integrity to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.
Unfettered might does not equal right. It results in instability, disruption, and hostilities.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are less so, the structure of civilization weakens. If such aggression are not contained, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.
We now inhabit a international landscape with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the powerful to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they feel above the law.
The wealth of a small group of tycoons is staggering. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans numerous countries. AI is likely to consolidate economic and political clout further. The offensive capability of the major powers is unprecedented in human history.
Enabled by a compliant faction and an accommodating high court, the highest office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of government in recent memory.
Combine these factors and you perceive the danger.
A clear connection links earlier lawless actions to current provocations. Each were founded upon the arrogance of omnipotence.
You see a similar pattern in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.
But, unfettered might does not create right. It produces instability, revolution, and war.
The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to check the powerful also shield them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources eventually cause their collapse – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk global conflict.
This blatant lawlessness will plague America and the global community – and indeed civilization – for the foreseeable future.
