Trump's Approach Present a Threat to Civilized Society.
The internal and external policies – from the challenge to the democratic process in the past to recent actions and warnings – weaken both national and global law. The implications are broader.
These actions threaten the very concept of what we mean by.
A ethical foundation of civilized society is to prevent the dominant from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Without this, we risk being trapped in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest prevails.
This principle lies at the center of America’s founding documents. It’s also the foundation of the modern framework of international relations supported by the US, which stresses international cooperation, popular sovereignty, human rights, and the legal authority.
Yet, it is a fragile principle, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their power. Maintaining it necessitates that the influential have enough integrity to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that the rest of us demand responsibility should they falter.
Absolute power does not make right. It results in turmoil, upheaval, and war.
Every time entities that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are weaker, the fabric of society frays. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can plunge into chaos and war. It has happened before.
Our current reality is a global community with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This encourages the elite to leverage their position against the weaker because they perceive themselves as above the law.
The resources of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans numerous countries. AI is poised to further concentrate economic and political clout to a greater degree. The military might of the leading countries is unmatched in recorded history.
Supported by political allies and a pliant judicial body, the executive office has been made into the most dominant and unchecked entity of government in the modern era.
Consider this confluence and you perceive the danger.
A clear connection ties previous breaches of norms to present-day menaces. These were premised on the hubris of omnipotence.
You see parallel dynamics in international affairs: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by industrial titans.
However, raw power does not make right. It fosters uncertainty, upheaval, and bloodshed.
The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to constrain the influential also protect them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth eventually lead to their downfall – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for world war.
This blatant disregard for rules will plague America and the global community – and the very idea of civilization – for the foreseeable future.
