Trump's Actions Present a Threat to Civilization.
His national and international strategies – from the effort to overturn the election previously to latest actions and warnings – weaken not only domestic and international law. However, the issue goes deeper.
These actions endanger the very concept of what we mean by.
A ethical foundation of civilized society is to stop the more powerful from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we could find ourselves permanently immersed in a state of nature where might makes right prevails.
This principle is central of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the heart of the global system established after WWII advocated by the America, built on collective action, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the legal authority.
However, it is a vulnerable construct, often broken by those who would exploit their power. Maintaining it necessitates that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.
Unfettered might is not right. It results in uncertainty, disruption, and war.
Each instance entities that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are weaker, the structure of society frays. Should such behavior are not contained, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can descend into instability and violence. We have seen this pattern previously.
Today, we live in a international landscape with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This encourages the powerful to take advantage of the weaker because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The resources of a small group of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is could consolidate resources and influence to a greater degree. The destructive power of the major powers is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Enabled by political allies and an accommodating high court, the presidency has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of state power in recent memory.
Combine these factors and you grasp the looming crisis.
An unbroken thread connects earlier transgressions to current threats. These were premised on the hubris of invincibility.
There is a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.
Yet, unfettered might does not make right. It fosters instability, upheaval, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches eventually cause their collapse – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk international catastrophe.
This blatant disregard for rules will haunt the nation and the world – and indeed civilized conduct – for years to come.
