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The domestic and foreign policies – from the challenge to the democratic process in the past to current incursions and warnings – undermine both domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.

These actions jeopardize the fundamental meaning of what we mean by.

A moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the dominant from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we would be trapped in a conflict of all against all where might makes right wins.

This ideal lies at the center of America’s founding documents. It is equally the core of the global system established after WWII supported by the US, built on multilateralism, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

Yet, it is a fragile ideal, often broken by those who would exploit their power. Preserving it necessitates that the powerful have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking immediate gains, and that society demand responsibility when they fail.

Unchecked strength does not make right. It results in instability, upheaval, and conflict.

Each instance entities that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are less so, the fabric of our shared norms weakens. If these actions are left unchecked, the fabric unravels. Without intervention, the world can descend into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

Today, we live in a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This creates conditions for the elite to leverage their position against the weaker because they act with a sense of untouchable.

The fortunes of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is likely to further concentrate economic and political clout further. The military might of the leading countries is unprecedented in the annals of time.

Supported by a compliant faction and a pliant supreme court, the presidency has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of government in the modern era.

Combine these factors and you perceive the looming crisis.

A direct line connects previous breaches of norms to ongoing menaces. Both were premised on the hubris of invincibility.

One observes much the same in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.

Yet, strength without restraint does not make right. It makes for instability, upheaval, and bloodshed.

History shows that frameworks designed to check the powerful also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources ultimately lead to their downfall – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk world war.

This kind of contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.