Donald Trump's Actions Constitute a Threat to Civilized Society.
His internal and external strategies – ranging from the attempted coup in the past to recent incursions and warnings – erode not only national and global law. The implications are broader.
These actions jeopardize the core idea of a civilized world.
The ethical foundation of a functioning society is to stop the more powerful from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Failing that, we risk being permanently immersed in a state of nature where survival of the strongest prevails.
This concept lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the core of the modern framework of international relations supported by the US, built on collective action, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the supremacy of law.
However, it is a fragile construct, easily violated by those who seek to abuse their power. Preserving it demands that the those in charge have enough integrity to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public demand responsibility if they don't.
Absolute power does not make right. It makes for turmoil, upheaval, and war.
Whenever people or corporations or countries that are wealthier and stronger target and use those that are not, the framework of our shared norms unravels. If these actions are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can plunge into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.
We now inhabit a global community grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than ever before. This invites the elite to exploit the less fortunate because they act with a sense of above the law.
The fortunes of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans much of the globe. AI is likely to centralize wealth and power to a greater degree. The destructive power of the leading countries is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Empowered by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the highest office has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of state power in recent memory.
Combine these factors and you grasp the looming crisis.
An unbroken thread connects earlier breaches of norms to ongoing threats. These were based on the overconfidence of omnipotence.
There is a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.
Yet, strength without restraint does not make right. It fosters uncertainty, upheaval, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that laws and norms to check the influential also protect them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for more power and wealth in time bring them down – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for world war.
This kind of disregard for rules will plague international stability – and indeed civilization – for years to come.
