The Former President's Approach Pose a Danger to Civilized Society.
The internal and external strategies – ranging from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to recent incursions and warnings – weaken both national and global legal frameworks. But that’s not all.
They jeopardize the fundamental meaning of civilization itself.
A moral purpose of a functioning society is to prevent the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Otherwise, we would be locked in a state of nature where survival of the strongest wins.
This concept is central of America’s founding documents. This is also the core of the global system established after WWII championed by the US, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.
However, it is a fragile construct, easily violated by those who would exploit their authority. Upholding it requires that the influential have a sense of duty to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us hold them accountable when they fail.
Unchecked strength does not make right. It leads to uncertainty, disruption, and war.
Every time individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are not, the fabric of civilization frays. If these actions are left unchecked, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.
Today, we live in a society and world with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in modern history. This encourages the elite to take advantage of the less fortunate because they feel untouchable.
The resources of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers a vast portion of the world. AI is could consolidate wealth and power even more. The military might of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Empowered by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the presidency has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked entity of the state in the modern era.
Consider this confluence and you grasp the looming crisis.
A clear connection ties past breaches of norms to ongoing provocations. Both were founded upon the arrogance of absolute power.
You see parallel dynamics in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.
Yet, unfettered might does not create right. It produces fragility, revolution, and bloodshed.
History shows that laws and norms to limit the influential also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches in time cause their collapse – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for world war.
Such disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.