Donald Trump's Approach Constitute a Risk to Civilized Society.
The domestic and foreign policies – including the challenge to the democratic process previously to current actions and warnings – weaken both national and global jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.
These actions endanger the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.
A guiding principle of any advanced culture is to stop the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Otherwise, we risk being locked in a state of nature where survival of the strongest prevails.
This concept is central of the nation's founding texts. This is also the foundation of the global system established after WWII advocated by the America, emphasizing multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and the supremacy of law.
Yet, it is a fragile construct, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their power. Upholding it necessitates that the powerful have enough integrity to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public hold them accountable should they falter.
Unchecked strength is not right. It makes for uncertainty, chaos, and war.
Whenever entities that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are less so, the fabric of civilization weakens. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can fall into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.
Today, we live in a society and world grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than ever before. This invites the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they feel above the law.
The fortunes of a handful of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is poised to consolidate economic and political clout even more. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Enabled by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the executive office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of the state in the modern era.
Combine these factors and you perceive the threat.
A clear connection links past breaches of norms to current menaces. Both were premised on the arrogance of absolute power.
One observes a similar pattern in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.
Yet, unfettered might does not create right. It produces uncertainty, revolution, and armed conflict.
The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth ultimately bring them down – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk international catastrophe.
This blatant disregard for rules will haunt America and the global community – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.
