Trump's Approach Pose a Threat to Civilized Society.
The domestic and foreign strategies – including the attempted coup five years ago to current actions and threats – weaken both national and global legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.
They jeopardize the fundamental meaning of what we mean by.
A ethical foundation of any advanced culture is to forestall the stronger from preying upon and using the less powerful. Without this, we would be permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where might makes right wins.
This concept lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the foundation of the global system established after WWII championed by the US, which stresses multilateralism, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.
Yet, it is a fragile principle, often broken by those who choose to misuse their influence. Upholding it necessitates 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 when they fail.
Unfettered might does not make right. It makes for turmoil, disruption, and war.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are weaker, the structure of our shared norms weakens. If such aggression are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can plunge into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.
Our current reality is a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in modern history. This invites the privileged to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as untouchable.
The resources of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers numerous countries. Advanced technology is poised to further concentrate economic and political clout even more. The military might of the world's largest nations is unmatched in human history.
Enabled by complicit legislators and an accommodating high court, the executive office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of state power in recent memory.
Consider this confluence and you see the danger.
An unbroken thread connects earlier transgressions to present-day menaces. These were based on the arrogance of omnipotence.
One observes much the same in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities.
Yet, raw power does not make right. It fosters uncertainty, revolution, and bloodshed.
The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to limit the influential also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources ultimately cause their collapse – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for world war.
Such lawlessness will plague international stability – and indeed civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.
