Donald Trump's Actions Present a Danger to Civilized Society.
His internal and external initiatives – from the challenge to the democratic process in the past to recent actions and threats – erode not only national and global legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.
They endanger the very concept of a civilized world.
A ethical foundation of a functioning society is to forestall the more powerful from preying upon and using the weaker. Failing that, we risk being locked in a brutish war where might makes right prevails.
This ideal is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the foundation of the postwar international order advocated by the America, emphasizing multilateralism, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.
Yet, it is a fragile principle, often broken by those who seek to abuse their power. Maintaining it necessitates that the powerful have a sense of duty to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that the rest of us demand responsibility should they falter.
Absolute power does not make right. It makes for turmoil, upheaval, and conflict.
Each instance people or corporations or countries that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are weaker, the structure of society frays. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.
Today, we live in a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the elite to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as above the law.
The resources of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The influence of global industrial giants covers much of the globe. AI is poised to centralize economic and political clout to a greater degree. The military might of the major powers is unprecedented in human history.
Enabled by political allies and an accommodating supreme court, the highest office has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of state power in recent memory.
Put it all together and you see the danger.
A clear connection links past breaches of norms to present-day menaces. Both were founded upon the arrogance of invincibility.
One observes parallel dynamics in other global contexts: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.
However, strength without restraint does not make right. It fosters instability, upended order, and war.
The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to check the influential also shield them. If these guardrails are removed, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth eventually lead to their downfall – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk global conflict.
Such lawlessness will haunt international stability – and the very idea of civilization – for years to come.
