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The internal and external policies – from the challenge to the democratic process previously to recent moves and threats – undermine not only domestic and international law. However, the issue goes deeper.

They endanger the fundamental meaning of civilization itself.

The guiding principle of civilized society is to prevent the stronger from attacking and exploiting the less powerful. Failing that, we could find ourselves permanently immersed in a brutish war where survival of the strongest could survive.

This principle is central of the nation's founding texts. This is also the heart of the global system established after WWII championed by the US, built on multilateralism, popular sovereignty, human rights, and the rule of law.

However, it is a fragile construct, easily violated by those who seek to abuse their influence. Upholding it requires that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking short-term wins, and that society demand responsibility if they don't.

Unchecked strength does not equal right. It makes for uncertainty, chaos, and hostilities.

Whenever entities that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are less so, the structure of society unravels. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into instability and violence. It has happened before.

Our current reality is a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This encourages the privileged to leverage their position against the less fortunate because they act with a sense of omnipotent.

The wealth of a small group of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is poised to consolidate economic and political clout to a greater degree. The military might of the world's largest nations is without parallel in human history.

Empowered by political allies and an accommodating judicial body, the presidency has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none instrument of the state in the modern era.

Combine these factors and you see the danger.

A clear connection ties earlier lawless actions to present-day menaces. Each were founded upon the arrogance of invincibility.

There is a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.

However, raw power does not make right. It makes for uncertainty, upheaval, and bloodshed.

Historical evidence demonstrates that laws and norms to check the powerful also shield them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth ultimately cause their collapse – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk world war.

This blatant lawlessness will plague international stability – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for years to come.