🔗 Share this article

His internal and external strategies – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to current moves and warnings – weaken not only domestic and international jurisprudence. The implications are broader.

These actions endanger the very concept of civilization itself.

The ethical foundation of any advanced culture is to forestall the dominant from preying upon and using the less powerful. Without this, we could find ourselves trapped in a conflict of all against all where might makes right could survive.

This concept is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the heart of the global system established after WWII championed by the US, built on multilateralism, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

But, it is a delicate construct, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their influence. Preserving it necessitates that the those in charge have enough integrity to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the rest of us ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.

Unchecked strength is not right. It results in instability, chaos, and hostilities.

Whenever people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are less so, the structure of civilization unravels. If these actions are not contained, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into chaos and war. It has happened before.

Our current reality is a international landscape with deepening divides. Political and economic power are more concentrated than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the privileged to leverage their position against the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as above the law.

The fortunes of a handful of tycoons is staggering. The influence of global industrial giants spans a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is could centralize economic and political clout further. The destructive power of the leading countries is without parallel in human history.

Empowered by political allies and an accommodating high court, the highest office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of state power in the modern era.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the threat.

An unbroken thread connects previous breaches of norms to present-day menaces. These were based on the overconfidence of omnipotence.

There is parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.

Yet, strength without restraint does not make right. It produces instability, upended order, and war.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to limit the influential also shield them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth in time bring them down – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten world war.

This blatant lawlessness will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and indeed civilized conduct – for years to come.