Trump's Approach Pose a Threat to Civilization.
The national and international strategies – including the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to recent actions and warnings – erode both national and global jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.
They jeopardize the core idea of what we mean by.
The guiding principle of any advanced culture is to prevent the dominant from preying upon and using the weaker. Otherwise, we could find ourselves trapped in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest wins.
This concept is central of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the foundation of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the US, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, 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 influential have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us demand responsibility when they fail.
Unfettered might does not equal right. It leads to turmoil, upheaval, and war.
Whenever entities that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are less so, the fabric of our shared norms frays. If such aggression are not contained, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can fall into chaos and war. It has happened before.
We now inhabit a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the elite to exploit the weaker because they feel omnipotent.
The resources of a handful of tycoons is staggering. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over numerous countries. Advanced technology is could further concentrate economic and political clout even more. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unmatched in recorded history.
Empowered by a compliant faction and a sympathetic judicial body, the presidency has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of government in recent memory.
Put it all together and you see the danger.
An unbroken thread ties past transgressions to ongoing menaces. Both were founded upon the arrogance of invincibility.
There is much the same in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.
But, strength without restraint does not create right. It produces uncertainty, upheaval, and bloodshed.
The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to check the influential also shield them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for more power and wealth eventually lead to their downfall – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.
This kind of contempt for legal order will plague international stability – and indeed civilization – for a long time.
