The Former President's Policies Constitute a Threat to Civilization.
The national and international initiatives – from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to latest actions and warnings – weaken not only domestic and international jurisprudence. But that’s not all.
These actions jeopardize the core idea of a civilized world.
The guiding principle of any advanced culture is to forestall the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Without this, we would be trapped in a conflict of all against all where might makes right prevails.
This principle lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the foundation of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the United States, which stresses multilateralism, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.
However, it is a vulnerable principle, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their influence. Upholding it necessitates that the influential have enough integrity to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.
Unfettered might does not make right. It results in instability, chaos, and hostilities.
Every time entities that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are weaker, the structure of civilization frays. If these actions are allowed to continue, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can plunge into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.
We now inhabit a global community with deepening divides. Political and economic power are more concentrated than ever before. This invites the elite to take advantage of the weaker because they act with a sense of untouchable.
The wealth of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The power of global industrial giants covers a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is could consolidate economic and political clout to a greater degree. The destructive power of the major powers is unprecedented in human history.
Empowered by complicit legislators and a sympathetic judicial body, the presidency has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked agent of state power in recent memory.
Put it all together and you grasp the threat.
An unbroken thread ties earlier transgressions to current menaces. These were premised on the hubris of invincibility.
There is a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.
Yet, raw power does not establish right. It fosters fragility, upended order, and armed conflict.
Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to limit the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources in time cause their collapse – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for international catastrophe.
This kind of lawlessness will cast a long shadow over international stability – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.
