Donald Trump's Actions Constitute a Threat to Civilization.
His national and international initiatives – including the effort to overturn the election in the past to recent moves and warnings – weaken both domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.
These actions jeopardize the fundamental meaning of civilization itself.
The ethical foundation of any advanced culture is to prevent the dominant from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Failing that, we would be trapped in a brutish war where might makes right prevails.
This ideal is central of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the foundation of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the America, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, human rights, and the legal authority.
However, it is a fragile ideal, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their influence. Maintaining it requires that the those in charge have enough integrity to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society hold them accountable when they fail.
Absolute power does not make right. It results in instability, disruption, and conflict.
Each instance people or corporations or countries that are advantaged target and use those that are not, the structure of our shared norms frays. If such aggression are left unchecked, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can descend into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.
Our current reality is a society and world with deepening divides. Authority and resources are more concentrated than ever before. This encourages the powerful to leverage their position against the weaker because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.
The fortunes of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over numerous countries. AI is likely to centralize wealth and power even more. The military might of the major powers is without parallel in the annals of time.
Supported 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 see the threat.
A clear connection links previous lawless actions to present-day provocations. These were based on the hubris of absolute power.
There is a similar pattern in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.
Yet, raw power does not establish right. It fosters uncertainty, upheaval, and war.
The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to check the powerful also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for greater influence and riches in time lead to their downfall – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.
This kind of disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and indeed a rules-based order – for a long time.