Donald Trump's Policies Present a Danger to Our Social Fabric.
His domestic and foreign policies – from the challenge to the democratic process previously to current actions and warnings – undermine not only national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.
They jeopardize the core idea of what we mean by.
A guiding principle of any advanced culture is to prevent the dominant from preying upon and using the less powerful. Failing that, we risk being locked in a conflict of all against all where might makes right prevails.
This ideal is central of America’s founding documents. It is equally the core of the postwar international order advocated by the United States, which stresses multilateralism, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the legal authority.
But, it is a fragile ideal, easily violated by those who would exploit their power. Maintaining it requires that the influential have enough integrity to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public hold them accountable should they falter.
Absolute power does not make right. It makes for uncertainty, chaos, and conflict.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger target and use those that are less so, the framework of our shared norms weakens. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.
Our current reality is a global community grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are increasingly centralized than ever before. This creates conditions for the elite to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as untouchable.
The fortunes of a handful of billionaires is staggering. The reach of global industrial giants spans numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is likely to consolidate resources and influence even more. The offensive capability of the leading countries is unprecedented in recorded history.
Empowered by a compliant faction and a pliant high court, the executive office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of the state in the modern era.
Consider this confluence and you see the looming crisis.
A direct line ties previous lawless actions to present-day provocations. These were premised on the overconfidence of absolute power.
You see much the same in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.
However, raw power does not create right. It fosters instability, upheaval, and armed conflict.
Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also protect them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches ultimately cause their collapse – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.
Such lawlessness will haunt international stability – and indeed a rules-based order – for a long time.
