The Former President's Approach Constitute a Risk to Civilized Society.
His internal and external strategies – from the effort to overturn the election in the past to current incursions and threats – weaken not only national and global legal frameworks. But that’s not all.
These actions threaten the very concept of civilization itself.
A ethical foundation of civilized society is to forestall the more powerful from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Failing that, we could find ourselves trapped in a conflict of all against all where might makes right could survive.
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 United States, which stresses multilateralism, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the rule of law.
Yet, it is a delicate principle, easily violated by those who seek to abuse their influence. Preserving it requires that the powerful have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that society ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.
Unchecked strength does not equal right. It results in turmoil, disruption, and hostilities.
Whenever entities that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are less so, the structure of society frays. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. If not stopped, the world can descend into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.
Today, we live in a global community grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are more concentrated than in modern history. This invites the elite to take advantage of the less fortunate because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The wealth of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors extends over a vast portion of the world. AI is likely to centralize economic and political clout to a greater degree. The destructive power of the major powers is unmatched in recorded history.
Enabled by a compliant faction and a pliant high court, the highest office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of state power in the modern era.
Consider this confluence and you see the threat.
A clear connection ties past lawless actions to ongoing provocations. Each were founded upon the arrogance of omnipotence.
There is a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.
However, unfettered might does not make right. It produces uncertainty, upheaval, and armed conflict.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to check the powerful also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches in time lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten global conflict.
This kind of lawlessness will plague America and the global community – and indeed a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.
