Donald Trump's Policies Present a Threat to Civilized Society.
The internal and external initiatives – ranging from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to latest incursions and threats – erode not only domestic and international law. But that’s not all.
They threaten the very concept of a civilized world.
A moral purpose of a functioning society is to forestall the more powerful from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Without this, we could find ourselves permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where might makes right prevails.
This concept lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the foundation of the global system established after WWII supported by the US, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, human rights, and the legal authority.
But, it is a delicate ideal, easily violated by those who seek to abuse their influence. Upholding it demands that the influential have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.
Unfettered might is not right. It results in instability, chaos, and conflict.
Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are weaker, the framework of our shared norms unravels. If such aggression are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can descend into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.
Our current reality is a international landscape with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in recent memory. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The wealth of a small group of tycoons is difficult to fathom. The reach of global industrial giants extends over much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is could consolidate resources and influence further. The destructive power of the major powers is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Empowered by political allies and an accommodating judicial body, the presidency has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of state power in recent memory.
Consider this confluence and you see the threat.
An unbroken thread connects earlier breaches of norms to ongoing threats. Each were founded upon the arrogance of omnipotence.
One observes much the same in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.
But, raw power does not create right. It makes for instability, revolution, and war.
The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to limit the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth in time lead to their downfall – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk global conflict.
This kind of lawlessness will haunt America and the global community – and the very idea of civilization – for years to come.
