Trump's Policies Constitute a Danger to Our Social Fabric.
His national and international policies – including the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to current moves and threats – weaken not only domestic and international law. However, the issue goes deeper.
They jeopardize the core idea of what we mean by.
A guiding principle of any advanced culture is to forestall the more powerful from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Without this, we would be locked in a brutish war where only the fittest wins.
This concept is central of America’s founding documents. It is equally the core of the global system established after WWII championed by the US, emphasizing collective action, popular sovereignty, human rights, and the legal authority.
Yet, it is a vulnerable construct, easily violated by those who would exploit their influence. Upholding it requires that the powerful have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public demand responsibility if they don't.
Unfettered might is not right. It makes for instability, disruption, and conflict.
Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged prey upon those that are less so, the framework of society weakens. If these actions are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.
Today, we live in a society and world with deepening divides. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the powerful to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they feel above the law.
The fortunes of a handful of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans much of the globe. Advanced technology is likely to consolidate economic and political clout even more. The military might of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in recorded history.
Empowered by a compliant faction and an accommodating judicial body, the highest office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of the state in recent memory.
Combine these factors and you perceive the looming crisis.
A direct line connects earlier transgressions to current provocations. Each were based on the overconfidence of invincibility.
One observes parallel dynamics in international affairs: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.
But, unfettered might does not establish right. It makes for instability, upended order, and armed conflict.
The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to limit the influential also shield them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth in time cause their collapse – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk global conflict.
Such disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilization – for the foreseeable future.
