Donald Trump's Approach Present a Risk to Our Social Fabric.
The domestic and foreign initiatives – ranging from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to latest moves and statements – erode not only domestic and international law. However, the issue goes deeper.
They endanger the fundamental meaning of civilization itself.
The guiding principle of any advanced culture is to stop the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Otherwise, we risk being trapped in a state of nature where survival of the strongest wins.
This ideal is central of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the core of the global system established after WWII supported by the United States, built on collective action, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.
But, it is a delicate principle, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their influence. Preserving it requires that the powerful have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking immediate gains, and that the public demand responsibility when they fail.
Unfettered might is not right. It makes for turmoil, chaos, and war.
Each instance entities that are advantaged prey upon those that are weaker, the framework of society unravels. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.
Our current reality is a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than ever before. This creates conditions for the elite to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of above the law.
The wealth of certain tycoons is staggering. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors extends over a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is poised to consolidate resources and influence even more. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is without parallel in human history.
Supported by complicit legislators and an accommodating supreme court, the executive office has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of government in history.
Combine these factors and you perceive the looming crisis.
A direct line ties past transgressions to present-day threats. Each were premised on the overconfidence of absolute power.
One observes a similar pattern in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.
But, strength without restraint does not create right. It produces uncertainty, upended order, and war.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to check the influential also protect them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches ultimately cause their collapse – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.
This blatant disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.
