The Former President's Actions Present a Risk to Civilized Society.
His domestic and foreign initiatives – from the attempted coup previously to recent incursions and threats – weaken not only national and global jurisprudence. The implications are broader.
These actions threaten the very concept of civilization itself.
The ethical foundation of a functioning society is to stop the stronger from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Otherwise, we risk being locked in a state of nature where only the fittest wins.
This concept lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. This is also the heart of the modern framework of international relations supported by the America, which stresses international cooperation, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
Yet, it is a fragile construct, often broken by those who seek to abuse their influence. Preserving it demands that the those in charge have a sense of duty to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.
Absolute power does not make right. It results in turmoil, disruption, and war.
Whenever people or corporations or countries that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are less so, the framework of our shared norms unravels. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.
Our current reality is a global community grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than ever before. This creates conditions for the elite to take advantage of the weaker because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.
The wealth of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is likely to centralize wealth and power even more. The destructive power of the major powers is unmatched in recorded history.
Enabled by a compliant faction and an accommodating high court, the presidency has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of state power in history.
Consider this confluence and you see the threat.
A clear connection connects earlier lawless actions to present-day menaces. These were founded upon the hubris of omnipotence.
There is parallel dynamics in other global contexts: in military conflicts, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.
Yet, raw power does not establish right. It makes for fragility, upended order, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that laws and norms to check the influential also shield them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources in time bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for global conflict.
This kind of lawlessness will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.
