The Former President's Policies Pose a Risk to Civilized Society.
The internal and external strategies – including the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to latest actions and statements – undermine both domestic and international law. But that’s not all.
These actions threaten the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.
A guiding principle of a functioning society is to forestall the dominant from preying upon and using the weaker. Otherwise, we risk being locked in a state of nature where survival of the strongest prevails.
This concept is central of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the heart of the postwar international order advocated by the US, emphasizing international cooperation, democratic governance, human rights, and the rule of law.
However, it is a fragile construct, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their power. Maintaining it demands that the influential have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us hold them accountable if they don't.
Unfettered might does not make right. It makes for turmoil, chaos, and hostilities.
Each instance entities that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are not, the fabric of our shared norms frays. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can plunge into chaos and war. It has happened before.
Today, we live in a international landscape with deepening divides. Authority and resources are more concentrated than in modern history. This creates conditions for the privileged to exploit the less fortunate because they feel omnipotent.
The wealth of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is poised to further concentrate wealth and power further. The destructive power of the major powers is unmatched in human history.
Enabled by complicit legislators and a sympathetic judicial body, the presidency has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of the state in recent memory.
Combine these factors and you see the threat.
A clear connection links previous breaches of norms to current provocations. Each were founded upon the arrogance of omnipotence.
You see much the same in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.
Yet, unfettered might does not create right. It produces uncertainty, revolution, and war.
Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to limit the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for greater influence and riches eventually lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten international catastrophe.
This blatant contempt for legal order will haunt America and the global community – and the very idea of civilization – for years to come.
