Trump's Approach Present a Risk to Our Social Fabric.
The internal and external initiatives – including the attempted coup in the past to recent moves and threats – weaken both national and global legal frameworks. The implications are broader.
These actions threaten the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.
A moral purpose of a functioning society is to stop the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Without this, we would be permanently immersed in a state of nature where only the fittest prevails.
This principle is embedded of America’s founding documents. It’s also the foundation of the modern framework of international relations championed by the United States, which stresses multilateralism, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.
Yet, it is a vulnerable principle, often broken by those who choose to misuse their authority. Preserving it requires that the powerful have enough integrity to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.
Unfettered might is not right. It results in turmoil, chaos, and hostilities.
Every time entities that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are less so, the fabric of our shared norms frays. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can descend into instability and violence. We have seen this pattern previously.
We now inhabit a international landscape with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in modern history. This creates conditions for the elite to take advantage of the less fortunate because they feel above the law.
The fortunes of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over numerous countries. Advanced technology is poised to centralize wealth and power to a greater degree. The military might of the world's largest nations is unmatched in human history.
Supported by political allies and an accommodating high court, the presidency has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of government in recent memory.
Put it all together and you perceive the danger.
An unbroken thread links earlier transgressions to present-day provocations. Both were founded upon the hubris of omnipotence.
One observes parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.
Yet, unfettered might does not make right. It fosters instability, upheaval, and bloodshed.
History shows that frameworks designed to limit the powerful also shield them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth in time bring them down – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk global conflict.
This kind of disregard for rules will haunt the nation and the world – and indeed civilization – for a long time.
