The Former President's Actions Present a Risk to Civilized Society.
His domestic and foreign policies – including the attempted coup five years ago to latest incursions and threats – erode both domestic and international jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.
They threaten the core idea of civilization itself.
A moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the dominant from preying upon and using the weaker. Failing that, we would be permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where might makes right prevails.
This principle is central of America’s founding documents. This is also the core of the postwar international order advocated by the United States, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, human rights, and the supremacy of law.
However, it is a fragile ideal, frequently ignored by those who seek to abuse their power. Preserving it demands that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public hold them accountable when they fail.
Absolute power is not right. It leads to turmoil, upheaval, and hostilities.
Every time entities that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are less so, the framework of our shared norms weakens. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. If not stopped, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.
We now inhabit a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This encourages the powerful to take advantage of the weaker because they perceive themselves as untouchable.
The fortunes of a handful of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors extends over numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is poised to consolidate economic and political clout further. The offensive capability of the leading countries is without parallel in recorded history.
Supported by political allies and an accommodating supreme court, the presidency has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of government in history.
Put it all together and you perceive the threat.
An unbroken thread connects earlier breaches of norms to current menaces. These were based on the arrogance of omnipotence.
You see a similar pattern in international affairs: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.
However, raw power does not create right. It makes for instability, upheaval, and bloodshed.
The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to constrain the influential also protect them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources eventually lead to their downfall – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk world war.
This kind of contempt for legal order will plague the nation and the world – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.
