The Former President's Policies Constitute a Danger to Our Social Fabric.
The domestic and foreign initiatives – including the effort to overturn the election previously to recent actions and warnings – undermine not only national and global legal frameworks. The implications are broader.
They endanger the core idea of civilization itself.
The guiding principle of a functioning society is to prevent the stronger from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Otherwise, we could find ourselves locked in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest wins.
This ideal is central of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the foundation of the postwar international order championed by the America, built on collective action, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.
However, it is a fragile principle, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their power. Preserving it requires that the those in charge have enough integrity to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us demand responsibility should they falter.
Unfettered might does not make right. It results in uncertainty, disruption, and war.
Each instance entities that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are not, the fabric of civilization weakens. If these actions are not contained, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can plunge into chaos and war. It has happened before.
Today, we live in a global community grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than ever before. This creates conditions for the privileged to take advantage of the weaker because they perceive themselves as above the law.
The wealth of a small group of tycoons is staggering. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is poised to centralize wealth and power even more. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unmatched in recorded history.
Enabled by a compliant faction and a pliant high court, the presidency has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked agent of the state in history.
Combine these factors and you grasp the looming crisis.
An unbroken thread ties previous breaches of norms to present-day menaces. Each were based on the arrogance of omnipotence.
One observes much the same in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities.
Yet, unfettered might does not make right. It fosters instability, upended order, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to check the influential also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches eventually lead to their downfall – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk international catastrophe.
This blatant disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.
