Trump's Policies Pose a Danger to Civilized Society.
His domestic and foreign policies – including the effort to overturn the election in the past to latest actions and statements – undermine both national and global law. The implications are broader.
These actions endanger the core idea of civilization itself.
The moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Failing that, we would be permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest could survive.
This ideal is embedded of the nation's founding texts. It is equally the foundation of the postwar international order advocated by the US, emphasizing international cooperation, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the supremacy of law.
However, it is a fragile construct, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their authority. Preserving it demands that the influential have a sense of duty to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that society hold them accountable when they fail.
Unchecked strength does not equal right. It makes for instability, disruption, and conflict.
Every time entities that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are less so, the framework of civilization weakens. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.
Today, we live in a society and world with deepening divides. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This encourages the privileged to leverage their position against the weaker because they feel above the law.
The resources of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of global industrial giants spans a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is likely to consolidate resources and influence even more. The military might of the major powers is without parallel in recorded history.
Supported by political allies and a sympathetic supreme court, the highest office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of state power in recent memory.
Consider this confluence and you grasp the threat.
A clear connection links past breaches of norms to current threats. Each were premised on the hubris of omnipotence.
You see a similar pattern in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.
However, strength without restraint does not make right. It fosters fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to check the influential also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources eventually lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for global conflict.
Such contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for years to come.
