The Former President's Approach Present a Risk to Our Social Fabric.
The internal and external strategies – ranging from the effort to overturn the election previously to current actions and threats – erode both domestic and international legal frameworks. But that’s not all.
They endanger the core idea of a civilized world.
A guiding principle of a functioning society is to forestall the more powerful from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Failing that, we would be locked in a brutish war where might makes right wins.
This principle is central of America’s founding documents. It is equally the core of the postwar international order supported by the America, emphasizing collective action, democratic governance, human rights, and the legal authority.
However, it is a fragile construct, often broken by those who choose to misuse their authority. Preserving it requires that the influential have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking immediate gains, and that society ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.
Unfettered might does not make right. It results in uncertainty, disruption, and conflict.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are weaker, the fabric of civilization unravels. If such aggression are left unchecked, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.
Our current reality is a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in modern history. This creates conditions for the elite to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.
The fortunes of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of global industrial giants covers much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is likely to centralize economic and political clout further. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unmatched in recorded history.
Supported by complicit legislators and an accommodating supreme court, the highest office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of government in the modern era.
Put it all together and you perceive the looming crisis.
A direct line links earlier breaches of norms to current provocations. These were based on the arrogance of invincibility.
You see parallel dynamics in international affairs: in military conflicts, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.
Yet, unfettered might does not create right. It produces uncertainty, revolution, and bloodshed.
History shows that rules and conventions to check the powerful also shield them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches in time bring them down – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten international catastrophe.
This kind of contempt for legal order will plague America and the global community – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for years to come.
