🔗 Share this article

His national and international initiatives – ranging from the attempted coup five years ago to current actions and threats – erode not only domestic and international legal frameworks. The implications are broader.

They threaten the very concept of civilization itself.

A ethical foundation of a functioning society is to forestall the stronger from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Without this, we could find ourselves permanently immersed in a state of nature where might makes right prevails.

This ideal is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the foundation of the global system established after WWII supported by the America, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the supremacy of law.

Yet, it is a delicate construct, easily violated by those who would exploit their power. Upholding it necessitates that the influential have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking immediate gains, and that society hold them accountable if they don't.

Absolute power does not make right. It makes for instability, upheaval, and war.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are weaker, the fabric of civilization frays. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can descend into chaos and war. It has happened before.

Our current reality is a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This encourages the privileged to exploit the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as untouchable.

The wealth of a small group of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The power of global industrial giants spans a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is likely to further concentrate wealth and power further. The destructive power of the leading countries is unprecedented in recorded history.

Enabled by a compliant faction and an accommodating judicial body, the presidency has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of the state in the modern era.

Combine these factors and you perceive the looming crisis.

A direct line connects past transgressions to ongoing provocations. Both were founded upon the overconfidence of omnipotence.

One observes a similar pattern in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.

Yet, unfettered might does not establish right. It makes for uncertainty, upheaval, and armed conflict.

History shows that frameworks designed to check the powerful also protect them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth ultimately lead to their downfall – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for global conflict.

This kind of lawlessness will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for years to come.