Donald Trump's Approach Pose a Risk to Civilized Society.
His domestic and foreign strategies – ranging from the effort to overturn the election previously to current incursions and threats – undermine not only domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.
These actions endanger the core idea of civilization itself.
The guiding principle of any advanced culture is to forestall the more powerful from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Without this, we would be locked in a brutish war where only the fittest wins.
This ideal is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the foundation of the postwar international order advocated by the US, built on collective action, popular sovereignty, human rights, and the legal authority.
Yet, it is a delicate construct, easily violated by those who would exploit their influence. Upholding it necessitates that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the rest of us demand responsibility should they falter.
Unchecked strength does not make right. It results in turmoil, disruption, and conflict.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are less so, the structure of our shared norms unravels. If such aggression are not contained, the structure collapses. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.
Today, we live in a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are more concentrated than in recent memory. This invites the privileged to exploit the less fortunate because they feel omnipotent.
The fortunes of a small group of billionaires is staggering. The influence of global industrial giants spans a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is likely to centralize resources and influence even more. The offensive capability of the major powers is unprecedented in human history.
Supported by political allies and an accommodating high court, the highest office has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of state power in the modern era.
Put it all together and you grasp the threat.
An unbroken thread links past transgressions to current provocations. These were founded upon the arrogance of absolute power.
You see a similar pattern in international affairs: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.
However, strength without restraint does not establish right. It fosters fragility, upended order, and war.
Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to check the powerful also shield them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources in time bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.
This blatant contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.
