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His domestic and foreign initiatives – including the challenge to the democratic process previously to current moves and statements – weaken not only domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.

They jeopardize the core idea of civilization itself.

A guiding principle of a functioning society is to stop the stronger from attacking and exploiting the less powerful. Failing that, we could find ourselves trapped in a brutish war where might makes right wins.

This concept lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the foundation of the postwar international order supported by the US, built on collective action, democracy, human rights, and the legal authority.

However, it is a delicate ideal, easily violated by those who would exploit their power. Preserving it necessitates that the those in charge have enough integrity to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public hold them accountable should they falter.

Unchecked strength is not right. It results in instability, chaos, and conflict.

Every time entities that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are not, the framework of civilization unravels. If such aggression are left unchecked, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than ever before. This creates conditions for the elite to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of omnipotent.

The wealth of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers numerous countries. Advanced technology is likely to further concentrate resources and influence even more. The military might of the leading countries is unprecedented in human history.

Empowered by political allies and an accommodating supreme court, the presidency has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of the state in recent memory.

Consider this confluence and you see the danger.

A clear connection connects earlier lawless actions to current menaces. Both were founded upon the overconfidence of absolute power.

One observes a similar pattern in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.

Yet, raw power does not make right. It fosters uncertainty, revolution, and war.

Historical evidence demonstrates that frameworks designed to constrain the influential also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches ultimately lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten global conflict.

Such contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.