Donald Trump's Actions Pose a Risk to Civilized Society.
His internal and external policies – including the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to recent incursions and warnings – erode both domestic and international jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.
They jeopardize the very concept of a civilized world.
A guiding principle of civilized society is to stop the dominant from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Without this, we would be permanently immersed in a state of nature where survival of the strongest could survive.
This principle is embedded of the nation's founding texts. This is also the core of the postwar international order advocated by the US, which stresses multilateralism, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the legal authority.
But, it is a fragile principle, often broken by those who seek to abuse their authority. Preserving it requires that the powerful have a sense of duty to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public hold them accountable should they falter.
Unfettered might is not right. It makes for turmoil, disruption, and hostilities.
Every time entities that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are not, the fabric of society weakens. If these actions are left unchecked, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.
Our current reality is a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This invites the elite to exploit the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.
The resources of a small group of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans numerous countries. Advanced technology is likely to consolidate resources and influence further. The military might of the leading countries is unmatched in human history.
Enabled by complicit legislators and an accommodating high court, the presidency has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of government in the modern era.
Combine these factors and you see the danger.
An unbroken thread connects earlier transgressions to ongoing menaces. These were founded upon the hubris of omnipotence.
You see much the same in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.
However, raw power does not establish right. It fosters instability, revolution, and war.
History shows that laws and norms to constrain the influential also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources ultimately lead to their downfall – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.
Such lawlessness will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for years to come.
