Donald Trump's Approach Present a Danger to Our Social Fabric.
His domestic and foreign policies – from the attempted coup in the past to recent moves and threats – undermine not only national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.
They jeopardize the fundamental meaning of civilization itself.
A moral purpose of civilized society is to stop the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Failing that, we could find ourselves trapped in a brutish war where survival of the strongest wins.
This concept is central of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the core of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the US, which stresses international cooperation, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the supremacy of law.
However, it is a fragile construct, often broken by those who seek to abuse their power. Preserving it requires that the powerful have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.
Absolute power does not equal right. It results in instability, upheaval, and war.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are not, the structure of our shared norms unravels. If such aggression are not contained, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can fall into instability and violence. It has happened before.
Today, we live in a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as above the law.
The fortunes of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is poised to further concentrate wealth and power further. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in human history.
Empowered by a compliant faction and a sympathetic judicial body, the presidency has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of state power in the modern era.
Combine these factors and you see the looming crisis.
An unbroken thread links past breaches of norms to ongoing threats. Both were premised on the arrogance of absolute power.
One observes much the same in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.
But, raw power does not create right. It fosters instability, upended order, and war.
Historical evidence demonstrates that laws and norms to constrain the powerful also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for greater influence and riches eventually lead to their downfall – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten global conflict.
Such contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and indeed civilization – for years to come.
