Trump's Approach Present a Threat to Civilized Society.
The internal and external strategies – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to latest actions and threats – erode both domestic and international jurisprudence. The implications are broader.
These actions threaten the very concept of what we mean by.
The moral purpose of civilized society is to stop the dominant from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Without this, we would be locked in a conflict of all against all where might makes right could survive.
This principle lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the heart of the global system established after WWII supported by the US, emphasizing international cooperation, democratic governance, human rights, and the supremacy of law.
But, it is a vulnerable principle, often broken by those who would exploit their influence. Upholding it requires that the influential have a sense of duty to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that society demand responsibility should they falter.
Unfettered might does not make right. It leads to turmoil, disruption, and hostilities.
Every time people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are less so, the structure of our shared norms unravels. If these actions are allowed to continue, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can descend into chaos and war. It has happened before.
Today, we live in a global community marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they feel above the law.
The fortunes of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is poised to further concentrate economic and political clout further. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is unmatched in the annals of time.
Enabled by complicit legislators and a sympathetic supreme court, the highest office has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of the state in the modern era.
Put it all together and you grasp the threat.
A direct line links previous breaches of norms to present-day menaces. Both were founded upon the hubris of omnipotence.
There is a similar pattern in international affairs: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.
Yet, raw power does not make right. It fosters instability, revolution, and war.
The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to limit the influential also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches eventually cause their collapse – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk world war.
This blatant disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over international stability – and indeed a rules-based order – for years to come.