🔗 Share this article

His internal and external strategies – including the effort to overturn the election in the past to latest moves and threats – undermine both national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.

These actions threaten the very concept of a civilized world.

A moral purpose of any advanced culture is to prevent the more powerful from preying upon and using the weaker. Failing that, we would be permanently immersed in a state of nature where survival of the strongest wins.

This concept is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the core of the postwar international order advocated by the US, built on collective action, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

Yet, it is a fragile construct, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their influence. Upholding it demands that the influential have a sense of duty to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.

Absolute power does not equal right. It leads to turmoil, chaos, and war.

Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger target and use those that are less so, the framework of society weakens. If these actions are not contained, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can fall into chaos and war. It has happened before.

We now inhabit a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than ever before. This creates conditions for the powerful to exploit the less fortunate because they feel untouchable.

The resources of a handful of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is likely to consolidate economic and political clout further. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in human history.

Empowered by political allies and a pliant judicial body, the highest office has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of state power in recent memory.

Combine these factors and you perceive the danger.

An unbroken thread ties previous breaches of norms to ongoing provocations. These were premised on the arrogance of absolute power.

One observes parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.

However, raw power does not create right. It produces uncertainty, revolution, and bloodshed.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources eventually bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.

This kind of disregard for rules will haunt America and the global community – and indeed civilization – for a long time.