The Former President's Policies Constitute a Threat to Civilization.
His national and international policies – ranging from the attempted coup five years ago to recent incursions and statements – undermine both domestic and international legal frameworks. But that’s not all.
They threaten the core idea of what we mean by.
The ethical foundation of civilized society is to stop the more powerful from attacking and exploiting the less powerful. Without this, we could find ourselves trapped in a state of nature where might makes right prevails.
This principle is central of America’s founding documents. This is also the heart of the postwar international order championed by the United States, which stresses multilateralism, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the legal authority.
However, it is a vulnerable ideal, often broken by those who choose to misuse their authority. Upholding it demands that the those in charge have enough integrity to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.
Unfettered might does not make right. It results in instability, chaos, and conflict.
Every time individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged prey upon those that are less so, the structure of society frays. If such aggression are not contained, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.
Today, we live in a global community marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are more concentrated than in recent memory. This encourages the elite to leverage their position against the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.
The resources of a handful of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is could consolidate economic and political clout further. The military might of the world's largest nations is unmatched in recorded history.
Enabled by a compliant faction and an accommodating high court, the highest office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of state power in the modern era.
Put it all together and you see the looming crisis.
A clear connection links past transgressions to ongoing threats. Each were founded upon the overconfidence of invincibility.
One observes parallel dynamics in other global contexts: in military conflicts, in expansive ambitions, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.
But, strength without restraint does not establish right. It makes for uncertainty, upheaval, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that laws and norms to check the powerful also shield them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth ultimately bring them down – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten global conflict.
Such lawlessness will plague international stability – and the very idea of civilization – for the foreseeable future.
