Donald Trump's Actions Pose a Risk to Civilized Society.
The domestic and foreign initiatives – from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to recent actions and threats – erode both national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.
They endanger the very concept of civilization itself.
A guiding principle of any advanced culture is to forestall the dominant from attacking and exploiting the less powerful. Without this, we risk being trapped in a state of nature where survival of the strongest could survive.
This ideal is central of America’s founding documents. It is equally the foundation of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the United States, built on collective action, popular sovereignty, human rights, and the supremacy of law.
Yet, it is a vulnerable principle, easily violated by those who would exploit their authority. Maintaining it necessitates that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that the public hold them accountable when they fail.
Unchecked strength does not equal right. It leads to turmoil, upheaval, and war.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged prey upon those that are weaker, the framework of society unravels. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into instability and violence. It has happened before.
Today, we live in a society and world grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than ever before. This invites the powerful to exploit the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as above the law.
The fortunes of a small group of tycoons is difficult to fathom. The power of global industrial giants extends over a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is poised to further concentrate wealth and power further. The military might of the leading countries is unmatched in the annals of time.
Enabled by political allies and an accommodating high court, the executive office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of the state in recent memory.
Consider this confluence and you grasp the threat.
A direct line ties previous lawless actions to ongoing provocations. These were premised on the arrogance of absolute power.
One observes parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.
Yet, unfettered might does not make right. It makes for fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.
History shows that rules and conventions to limit the powerful also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources in time lead to their downfall – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk international catastrophe.
Such disregard for rules will plague international stability – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for a long time.
