The Former President's Actions Pose a Risk to Civilized Society.
The national and international policies – from the challenge to the democratic process previously to current actions and warnings – erode not only domestic and international legal frameworks. But that’s not all.
They jeopardize the fundamental meaning of what we mean by.
The moral purpose of a functioning society is to prevent the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Failing that, we risk being locked in a brutish war where survival of the strongest wins.
This ideal lies at the center of America’s founding documents. This is also the heart of the postwar international order supported by the United States, built on collective action, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.
Yet, it is a fragile ideal, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their authority. Upholding it necessitates that the those in charge have a sense of duty to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.
Unchecked strength does not make right. It results in instability, disruption, and war.
Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are weaker, the fabric of civilization unravels. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.
We now inhabit a global community with deepening divides. Authority and resources are more concentrated than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the privileged to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of untouchable.
The wealth of certain tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of global industrial giants spans much of the globe. Advanced technology is likely to centralize wealth and power further. The military might of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Supported by political allies and an accommodating high court, the highest office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of government in the modern era.
Consider this confluence and you see the threat.
A direct line links previous transgressions to present-day threats. Each were founded upon the overconfidence of absolute power.
One observes parallel dynamics in other global contexts: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by powerful corporate entities.
But, unfettered might does not establish right. It makes for fragility, revolution, and bloodshed.
The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for increased control and resources in time cause their collapse – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten global conflict.
Such contempt for legal order will plague international stability – and indeed civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.
