Donald Trump's Approach Present a Threat to Civilized Society.
His internal and external policies – from the effort to overturn the election previously to latest moves and threats – weaken not only national and global legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.
They endanger the core idea of a civilized world.
A ethical foundation of a functioning society is to prevent the stronger from preying upon and using the less powerful. Without this, we risk being trapped in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest could survive.
This principle is central of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the foundation of the postwar international order advocated by the US, emphasizing multilateralism, democratic governance, human rights, and the rule of law.
Yet, it is a fragile principle, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their authority. Preserving it demands that the powerful have enough integrity to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us hold them accountable if they don't.
Absolute power is not right. It makes for turmoil, chaos, and war.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are weaker, the structure of society frays. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.
We now inhabit a global community grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This invites the powerful to exploit the disadvantaged because they feel omnipotent.
The fortunes of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of global industrial giants spans numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is could consolidate economic and political clout to a greater degree. The military might of the major powers is unmatched in recorded history.
Enabled by a compliant faction and an accommodating judicial body, the executive office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of government in recent memory.
Consider this confluence and you see the danger.
An unbroken thread connects earlier lawless actions to ongoing threats. Both were based on the overconfidence of omnipotence.
You see parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in military conflicts, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.
But, unfettered might does not establish right. It makes for uncertainty, revolution, and war.
History shows that frameworks designed to check the influential also shield them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources ultimately bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for international catastrophe.
Such contempt for legal order will haunt international stability – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.
