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The national and international strategies – from the effort to overturn the election five years ago to current incursions and threats – undermine not only national and global jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.

They endanger the core idea of what we mean by.

A ethical foundation of a functioning society is to forestall the dominant from preying upon and using the weaker. Otherwise, we would be permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where only the fittest wins.

This ideal is central of America’s founding documents. It’s also the core of the postwar international order advocated by the America, which stresses collective action, democratic governance, individual liberties, and the rule of law.

Yet, it is a delicate ideal, often broken by those who would exploit their authority. Maintaining it demands that the those in charge have a sense of duty to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that society hold them accountable if they don't.

Unfettered might does not equal right. It results in instability, disruption, and conflict.

Every time individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are weaker, the structure of civilization weakens. If such aggression are not contained, the fabric unravels. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into instability and violence. History provides ample precedent.

Today, we live in a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are more concentrated than in modern history. This encourages the powerful to take advantage of the less fortunate because they feel untouchable.

The wealth of a small group of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers much of the globe. Artificial intelligence is could centralize economic and political clout further. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is unmatched in human history.

Empowered by political allies and a pliant high court, the executive office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked agent of state power in history.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the threat.

A clear connection ties past breaches of norms to present-day threats. Both were based on the arrogance of absolute power.

One observes a similar pattern in international affairs: in military conflicts, in expansive ambitions, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.

However, strength without restraint does not make right. It produces fragility, upheaval, and bloodshed.

History shows that frameworks designed to constrain the influential also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth eventually bring them down – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And risk world war.

This kind of lawlessness will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.