Trump's Approach Constitute a Risk to Civilized Society.
His domestic and foreign policies – ranging from the attempted coup in the past to recent moves and warnings – undermine not only national and global jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.
They endanger the fundamental meaning of civilization itself.
A moral purpose of any advanced culture is to forestall the dominant from preying upon and using the less powerful. Otherwise, we would be locked in a brutish war where only the fittest prevails.
This concept is central of America’s founding documents. This is also the foundation of the modern framework of international relations supported by the US, which stresses multilateralism, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the supremacy of law.
But, it is a fragile principle, frequently ignored by those who seek to abuse their influence. Upholding it demands that the influential have enough integrity to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.
Absolute power does not make right. It results in instability, chaos, and hostilities.
Every time people or corporations or countries that are advantaged target and use those that are not, the structure of civilization frays. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.
Our current reality is a society and world grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as above the law.
The fortunes of a small group of tycoons is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors extends over a vast portion of the world. AI is likely to further concentrate resources and influence further. The offensive capability of the major powers is unprecedented in the annals of time.
Empowered by a compliant faction and an accommodating judicial body, the highest office has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of government in the modern era.
Consider this confluence and you grasp the looming crisis.
A clear connection links previous breaches of norms to current menaces. Each were founded upon the arrogance of omnipotence.
There is parallel dynamics in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.
However, raw power does not make right. It makes for uncertainty, revolution, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to limit the powerful also shield them. If these guardrails are removed, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth in time lead to their downfall – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for global conflict.
This blatant contempt for legal order will plague the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.
