The Former President's Approach Present a Risk to Our Social Fabric.

His national and international strategies – including the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to recent actions and warnings – undermine both domestic and international jurisprudence. The implications are broader.

They jeopardize the fundamental meaning of civilization itself.

A moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the stronger from attacking and exploiting the less powerful. Without this, we could find ourselves trapped in a brutish war where only the fittest wins.

This concept lies at the center of America’s founding documents. It is equally the core of the global system established after WWII supported by the United States, emphasizing multilateralism, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the supremacy of law.

However, it is a delicate ideal, frequently ignored by those who seek to abuse their influence. Maintaining it requires that the influential have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that society ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.

Absolute power does not equal right. It makes for turmoil, upheaval, and hostilities.

Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are less so, the framework of civilization weakens. If such aggression are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into chaos and war. It has happened before.

Our current reality is a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in modern history. This encourages the powerful to take advantage of the weaker because they perceive themselves as above the law.

The resources of certain tycoons is difficult to fathom. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans much of the globe. Advanced technology is likely to further concentrate resources and influence further. The military might of the major powers is without parallel in human history.

Empowered by a compliant faction and a sympathetic high court, the highest office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of government in recent memory.

Combine these factors and you perceive the danger.

A clear connection ties past transgressions to ongoing menaces. These were founded upon the arrogance of absolute power.

There is parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in military conflicts, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

But, raw power does not make right. It makes for fragility, revolution, and armed conflict.

The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to check the powerful also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for increased control and resources ultimately bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten international catastrophe.

This blatant disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over international stability – and indeed a rules-based order – for a long time.