The Former President's Approach Present a Danger to Civilized Society.
His domestic and foreign initiatives – including the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to recent actions and threats – undermine not only national and global law. However, the issue goes deeper.
These actions jeopardize the very concept of what we mean by.
A guiding principle of any advanced culture is to stop the stronger from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Failing that, we would be permanently immersed in a state of nature where only the fittest prevails.
This ideal lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. This is also the core of the global system established after WWII championed by the America, emphasizing international cooperation, democracy, human rights, and the supremacy of law.
But, it is a delicate principle, often broken by those who choose to misuse their authority. Upholding it necessitates that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.
Absolute power does not equal right. It leads to instability, chaos, and conflict.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged prey upon those that are not, the framework of society weakens. If such aggression are left unchecked, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can plunge into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.
Our current reality is a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in recent memory. This invites the powerful to take advantage of the weaker because they feel above the law.
The resources of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is likely to further concentrate economic and political clout to a greater degree. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Empowered by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the highest office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of the state in history.
Consider this confluence and you grasp the looming crisis.
An unbroken thread connects past breaches of norms to current threats. These were based on the hubris of absolute power.
There is parallel dynamics in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.
Yet, strength without restraint does not create right. It fosters fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to check the influential also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth eventually lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk international catastrophe.
Such lawlessness will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and indeed civilization – for the foreseeable future.
