Trump's Policies Constitute a Risk to Civilization.
His national and international policies – ranging from the attempted coup in the past to recent actions and threats – erode both domestic and international law. But that’s not all.
They threaten the fundamental meaning of civilization itself.
A moral purpose of civilized society is to forestall the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Failing that, we would be permanently immersed in a brutish war where might makes right wins.
This concept is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the foundation of the global system established after WWII advocated by the America, built on multilateralism, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the supremacy of law.
But, it is a delicate construct, often broken by those who would exploit their power. Upholding it necessitates that the influential have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.
Unfettered might does not equal right. It makes for turmoil, chaos, and war.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are weaker, the fabric of society weakens. If these actions are left unchecked, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.
We now inhabit a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This creates conditions for the elite to exploit the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.
The fortunes of a handful of tycoons is staggering. The influence of global industrial giants extends over much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is likely to consolidate wealth and power even more. The military might of the leading countries is unprecedented in human history.
Supported by complicit legislators and an accommodating judicial body, the executive office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of the state in the modern era.
Combine these factors and you grasp the threat.
A direct line links past lawless actions to present-day provocations. Each were founded upon the hubris of invincibility.
There is parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in expansive ambitions, and in the worldwide exploitation by powerful corporate entities.
Yet, unfettered might does not make right. It makes for instability, revolution, and armed conflict.
The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to limit the powerful also shield them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth in time bring them down – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.
This kind of disregard for rules will plague international stability – and the very idea of civilization – for the foreseeable future.
