The Former President's Policies Pose a Danger to Civilized Society.

His domestic and foreign initiatives – ranging from the attempted coup in the past to latest incursions and threats – weaken not only national and global law. But that’s not all.

These actions jeopardize the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.

The ethical foundation of civilized society is to forestall the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Failing that, we risk being permanently immersed in a brutish war where might makes right wins.

This concept is central of America’s founding documents. It’s also the heart of the postwar international order supported by the United States, built on multilateralism, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

But, it is a delicate principle, often broken by those who seek to abuse their power. Maintaining it demands that the influential have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the rest of us ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.

Absolute power does not equal right. It makes for instability, chaos, and conflict.

Each instance people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are weaker, the structure of our shared norms frays. If these actions are allowed to continue, the structure collapses. Allowing it to persist, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.

We now inhabit a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are more concentrated than ever before. This creates conditions for the privileged to exploit the less fortunate because they feel above the law.

The fortunes of certain billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The power of global industrial giants covers numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is poised to further concentrate economic and political clout even more. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is without parallel in the annals of time.

Empowered by a compliant faction and a pliant judicial body, the presidency has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of state power in history.

Combine these factors and you perceive the looming crisis.

A direct line links earlier transgressions to ongoing provocations. These were based on the arrogance of invincibility.

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

Yet, raw power does not create right. It produces uncertainty, revolution, and armed conflict.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to limit the powerful also protect them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches ultimately lead to their downfall – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten international catastrophe.

This kind of contempt for legal order will plague America and the global community – and indeed a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.