Trump's Approach Constitute a Threat to Our Social Fabric.
His national and international strategies – including the challenge to the democratic process in the past to current actions and warnings – erode both national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.
They threaten the core idea of a civilized world.
The moral purpose of any advanced culture is to stop the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Failing that, we would be permanently immersed in a brutish war where might makes right wins.
This principle is central of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the heart of the modern framework of international relations championed by the United States, built on international cooperation, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.
Yet, it is a delicate construct, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their authority. Maintaining it demands that the those in charge have a sense of duty to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us demand responsibility if they don't.
Unchecked strength is not right. It leads to turmoil, chaos, and hostilities.
Each instance entities that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are less so, the fabric of our shared norms weakens. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.
Today, we live in a society and world grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are increasingly centralized than ever before. This encourages the elite to exploit the less fortunate because they act with a sense of omnipotent.
The fortunes of a handful of tycoons is staggering. The reach of global industrial giants extends over much of the globe. Advanced technology is likely to centralize resources and influence further. The offensive capability of the major powers is unmatched in human history.
Supported by political allies and a pliant supreme court, the executive office has been made into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of the state in recent memory.
Combine these factors and you perceive the looming crisis.
A clear connection connects past transgressions to present-day menaces. Each were premised on the arrogance of omnipotence.
There is parallel dynamics in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.
Yet, unfettered might does not establish right. It makes for uncertainty, upended order, and bloodshed.
Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to check the powerful also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for increased control and resources in time lead to their downfall – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten world war.
Such contempt for legal order will plague America and the global community – and indeed civilized conduct – for a long time.
