Donald Trump's Approach Present a Threat to Civilization.
The domestic and foreign strategies – from the challenge to the democratic process previously to latest actions and warnings – undermine not only national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.
They threaten the core idea of a civilized world.
The ethical foundation of any advanced culture is to prevent the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Failing that, we would be permanently immersed in a brutish war where only the fittest could survive.
This ideal lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. It is equally the heart of the global system established after WWII advocated by the US, emphasizing multilateralism, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the rule of law.
Yet, it is a vulnerable ideal, often broken by those who would exploit their power. Preserving it requires that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that the public demand responsibility should they falter.
Unfettered might is not right. It leads to instability, chaos, and conflict.
Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger target and use those that are less so, the structure of society unravels. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.
Today, we live in a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in modern history. This invites the privileged to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as above the law.
The fortunes of a small group of tycoons is staggering. The power of global industrial giants covers a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is likely to centralize resources and influence further. The offensive capability of the major powers is unmatched in recorded history.
Enabled by complicit legislators and an accommodating judicial body, the presidency has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of government in the modern era.
Consider this confluence and you perceive the threat.
A clear connection connects previous breaches of norms to ongoing threats. These were based on the overconfidence of invincibility.
One observes parallel dynamics in international affairs: in military conflicts, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.
But, unfettered might does not make right. It fosters fragility, upended order, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources in time lead to their downfall – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk global conflict.
Such contempt for legal order will haunt the nation and the world – and indeed civilization – for a long time.
