The Former President's Actions Pose a Risk to Civilized Society.
The internal and external initiatives – from the effort to overturn the election in the past to current moves and statements – weaken both national and global law. However, the issue goes deeper.
These actions threaten the very concept of civilization itself.
A ethical foundation of a functioning society is to forestall the dominant from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we could find ourselves permanently immersed in a brutish war where might makes right could survive.
This concept is embedded of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the core of the modern framework of international relations championed by the United States, which stresses multilateralism, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.
However, it is a vulnerable ideal, often broken by those who would exploit their influence. Preserving it necessitates that the influential have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that society demand responsibility should they falter.
Absolute power is not right. It results in instability, upheaval, and conflict.
Whenever people or corporations or countries that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are not, the structure of society weakens. Should such behavior are not contained, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can plunge into instability and violence. It has happened before.
We now inhabit a international landscape with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the elite to exploit the disadvantaged because they feel untouchable.
The resources of a handful of tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is likely to centralize wealth and power further. The offensive capability of the leading countries is unmatched in recorded history.
Enabled by a compliant faction and a sympathetic judicial body, the presidency has been made into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of the state in the modern era.
Put it all together and you perceive the danger.
An unbroken thread connects past lawless actions to present-day menaces. Each were based on the arrogance of omnipotence.
One observes much the same in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities.
However, strength without restraint does not create right. It produces fragility, upheaval, and armed conflict.
History shows that laws and norms to limit the influential also shield them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches eventually cause their collapse – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk international catastrophe.
This blatant contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over international stability – and indeed a rules-based order – for years to come.
