The Former President's Actions Constitute a Danger to Our Social Fabric.
His domestic and foreign initiatives – including the challenge to the democratic process in the past to latest incursions and statements – weaken not only domestic and international law. However, the issue goes deeper.
They threaten the very concept of what we mean by.
A ethical foundation of civilized society is to stop the dominant from preying upon and using the less powerful. Without this, we risk being locked in a brutish war where survival of the strongest wins.
This concept is central of the nation's founding texts. This is also the heart of the postwar international order championed by the America, emphasizing international cooperation, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.
But, it is a delicate construct, often broken by those who choose to misuse their influence. Upholding it necessitates that the those in charge have enough integrity to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that society ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.
Absolute power is not right. It leads to uncertainty, upheaval, and hostilities.
Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are less so, the fabric of society weakens. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can descend into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.
We now inhabit a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are more concentrated than in recent memory. This encourages the privileged to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they feel omnipotent.
The wealth of a small group of billionaires is staggering. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is likely to centralize resources and influence even more. The offensive capability of the leading countries is unmatched in recorded history.
Empowered by complicit legislators and an accommodating judicial body, the presidency has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of government in recent memory.
Put it all together and you grasp the danger.
An unbroken thread ties past lawless actions to current menaces. Both were founded upon the arrogance of omnipotence.
One observes a similar pattern in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.
However, strength without restraint does not establish right. It produces fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.
The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to constrain the powerful also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches ultimately cause their collapse – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.
Such contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over international stability – and indeed civilization – for the foreseeable future.