The Former President's Policies Pose a Risk to Our Social Fabric.

His national and international strategies – from the challenge to the democratic process previously to latest actions and warnings – undermine not only national and global jurisprudence. But that’s not all.

They endanger the core idea of civilization itself.

A ethical foundation of civilized society is to prevent the more powerful from preying upon and using the weaker. Without this, we could find ourselves trapped in a brutish war where survival of the strongest could survive.

This ideal lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the core of the postwar international order advocated by the United States, emphasizing collective action, democracy, human rights, and the supremacy of law.

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

Unfettered might does not equal right. It leads to turmoil, disruption, and hostilities.

Whenever people or corporations or countries that are advantaged target and use those that are not, the structure of civilization frays. If these actions are not contained, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.

Today, we live in a global community marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This creates conditions for the privileged to take advantage of the less fortunate because they act with a sense of above the law.

The fortunes of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors spans numerous countries. Advanced technology is poised to centralize resources and influence even more. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in the annals of time.

Empowered by a compliant faction and an accommodating judicial body, the executive office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked instrument of state power in the modern era.

Consider this confluence and you see the danger.

A direct line connects earlier breaches of norms to present-day provocations. Each were based on the arrogance of absolute power.

You see much the same in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.

However, strength without restraint does not create right. It fosters fragility, upended order, and bloodshed.

The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to check the influential also shield them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources ultimately cause their collapse – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And pave the way for international catastrophe.

Such disregard for rules will plague the nation and the world – and indeed a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.