The Former President's Policies Present a Threat to Civilization.

His internal and external policies – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to current incursions and threats – undermine not only national and global law. The implications are broader.

They endanger the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.

A guiding principle of civilized society is to forestall the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Failing that, we could find ourselves trapped in a brutish war where might makes right prevails.

This ideal is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It’s also the heart of the postwar international order advocated by the US, built on multilateralism, democratic governance, human rights, and the supremacy of law.

But, it is a delicate principle, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their power. Upholding it requires that the influential have a sense of duty to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us hold them accountable when they fail.

Unfettered might does not equal right. It makes for uncertainty, upheaval, and war.

Each instance entities that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are not, the structure of civilization frays. If such aggression are not contained, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can descend into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

Our current reality is a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This invites the powerful to leverage their position against the less fortunate because they feel omnipotent.

The fortunes of certain billionaires is staggering. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans numerous countries. AI is poised to further concentrate wealth and power to a greater degree. The military might of the major powers is unmatched in human history.

Enabled by political allies and a sympathetic high court, the executive office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of state power in recent memory.

Consider this confluence and you perceive the threat.

A clear connection ties past transgressions to ongoing threats. These were based on the overconfidence of omnipotence.

There is a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

Yet, unfettered might does not make right. It makes for uncertainty, upended order, and bloodshed.

The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to check the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their endless appetite for more power and wealth ultimately bring them down – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.

Such disregard for rules will plague America and the global community – and indeed civilized conduct – for a long time.