Donald Trump's Actions Present a Threat to Civilized Society.
His national and international policies – including the attempted coup previously to recent actions and statements – undermine both national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.
These actions endanger the core idea of a civilized world.
The guiding principle of any advanced culture is to stop the stronger from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Otherwise, we would be locked in a brutish war where survival of the strongest could survive.
This principle is embedded of America’s founding documents. It is equally the heart of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the America, built on multilateralism, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.
However, it is a vulnerable principle, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their influence. Upholding it requires that the those in charge have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking immediate gains, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.
Unfettered might does not make right. It results in turmoil, upheaval, and war.
Whenever entities that are advantaged target and use those that are weaker, the fabric of society frays. If such aggression are not contained, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can fall into chaos and war. It has happened before.
We now inhabit a society and world grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are more concentrated than ever before. This creates conditions for the elite to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.
The fortunes of a small group of billionaires is staggering. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans numerous countries. AI is poised to consolidate wealth and power to a greater degree. The destructive power of the major powers is without parallel in recorded history.
Supported by complicit legislators and an accommodating supreme court, the highest office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked agent of state power in recent memory.
Consider this confluence and you perceive the danger.
A clear connection connects past transgressions to ongoing menaces. These were founded upon the arrogance of invincibility.
There is much the same in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.
However, raw power does not make right. It produces instability, upheaval, and armed conflict.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to limit the influential also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources ultimately bring them down – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk global conflict.
This kind of lawlessness will cast a long shadow over international stability – and indeed civilized conduct – for a long time.
