🔗 Share this article

The national and international initiatives – including the effort to overturn the election five years ago to recent moves and warnings – erode not only national and global law. But that’s not all.

They jeopardize the core idea of what we mean by.

A moral purpose of civilized society is to forestall the dominant from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Without this, we could find ourselves trapped in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest prevails.

This concept is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the core of the postwar international order supported by the United States, emphasizing collective action, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

But, it is a fragile principle, easily violated by those who would exploit their power. Upholding it necessitates that the powerful have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us hold them accountable if they don't.

Absolute power is not right. It makes for turmoil, chaos, and war.

Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are weaker, the structure of civilization frays. If these actions are left unchecked, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.

We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the powerful to exploit the disadvantaged because they feel untouchable.

The wealth of a handful of tycoons is staggering. The reach of global industrial giants spans much of the globe. Advanced technology is poised to consolidate wealth and power even more. The offensive capability of the major powers is unprecedented in the annals of time.

Empowered by complicit legislators and a sympathetic supreme court, the presidency has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of the state in recent memory.

Put it all together and you grasp the looming crisis.

An unbroken thread links earlier transgressions to current threats. Both were founded upon the overconfidence of absolute power.

One observes much the same in other global contexts: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities.

However, strength without restraint does not create right. It makes for fragility, upheaval, and armed conflict.

History shows that frameworks designed to limit the powerful also protect them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for greater influence and riches eventually lead to their downfall – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk global conflict.

This kind of lawlessness will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.