Trump's Policies Pose a Risk to Our Social Fabric.
The internal and external strategies – from the effort to overturn the election in the past to latest incursions and statements – weaken not only domestic and international law. But that’s not all.
They jeopardize the core idea of a civilized world.
A ethical foundation of any advanced culture is to stop the dominant from preying upon and using the less powerful. Otherwise, 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 heart of the modern framework of international relations supported by the America, built on international cooperation, democracy, human rights, and the legal authority.
But, it is a delicate construct, easily violated by those who would exploit their authority. Preserving it necessitates that the those in charge have a sense of duty to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that society demand responsibility when they fail.
Unchecked strength does not make right. It results in turmoil, upheaval, and war.
Whenever entities that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are weaker, the fabric of our shared norms weakens. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can fall into chaos and war. It has happened before.
We now inhabit a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in recent memory. This invites the elite to take advantage of the weaker because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The wealth of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The power of global industrial giants covers numerous countries. Advanced technology is poised to centralize wealth and power to a greater degree. The military might of the leading countries is unmatched in the annals of time.
Empowered by political allies and an accommodating high court, the highest office has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of the state in history.
Combine these factors and you perceive the danger.
An unbroken thread links earlier lawless actions to ongoing provocations. Each were based on the overconfidence of invincibility.
One observes parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.
But, raw power does not establish right. It makes for fragility, revolution, and war.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to check the powerful also protect them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for greater influence and riches in time bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.
Such contempt for legal order will plague the nation and the world – and indeed civilization – for years to come.