🔗 Share this article

His domestic and foreign strategies – including the effort to overturn the election in the past to latest actions and statements – erode not only national and global law. But that’s not all.

These actions endanger the core idea of what we mean by.

A guiding principle of civilized society is to stop the dominant from attacking and exploiting the less powerful. Failing that, we could find ourselves trapped in a brutish war where only the fittest could survive.

This principle lies at the center of America’s founding documents. This is also the heart of the global system established after WWII supported by the United States, emphasizing multilateralism, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

But, it is a vulnerable construct, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their power. Upholding it requires that the influential have enough integrity to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that society hold them accountable should they falter.

Unfettered might is not right. It results in uncertainty, chaos, and hostilities.

Every time people or corporations or countries that are advantaged prey upon those that are weaker, the framework of our shared norms weakens. If these actions are allowed to continue, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can plunge into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

Today, we live in a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This encourages the elite to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of untouchable.

The fortunes of a small group of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans numerous countries. Advanced technology is could centralize resources and influence to a greater degree. The destructive power of the leading countries is unprecedented in recorded history.

Enabled by political allies and a pliant judicial body, the presidency has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of the state in recent memory.

Combine these factors and you grasp the danger.

A clear connection links past lawless actions to current menaces. Each were founded upon the arrogance of invincibility.

You see much the same in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.

But, strength without restraint does not establish right. It fosters fragility, revolution, and war.

The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to limit the influential also shield them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for increased control and resources ultimately bring them down – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.

This blatant contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over international stability – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for years to come.