The Former President's Policies Present a Danger to Civilization.

The domestic and foreign initiatives – ranging from the attempted coup in the past to current actions and statements – undermine not only domestic and international jurisprudence. But that’s not all.

These actions endanger the very concept of a civilized world.

The guiding principle of civilized society is to forestall the more powerful from attacking and exploiting the less powerful. Failing that, we would be locked in a conflict of all against all where might makes right wins.

This ideal lies at the center of the nation's founding texts. It is equally the core of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the United States, built on international cooperation, democratic governance, human rights, and the legal authority.

But, it is a delicate ideal, often broken by those who seek to abuse their authority. Preserving it necessitates that the influential have enough integrity to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.

Unfettered might does not equal right. It leads to uncertainty, upheaval, and war.

Every time entities that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are weaker, the framework of society unravels. If such aggression are left unchecked, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. History provides ample precedent.

We now inhabit a global community marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are more concentrated than in recent memory. This encourages the elite to take advantage of the less fortunate because they feel above the law.

The resources of a handful of billionaires is staggering. The power of global industrial giants covers much of the globe. Advanced technology is poised to centralize economic and political clout further. The military might of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in the annals of time.

Enabled by political allies and a pliant high court, the executive office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked entity of state power in recent memory.

Consider this confluence and you see the danger.

A direct line links past lawless actions to ongoing threats. Both were founded upon the overconfidence of invincibility.

There is much the same in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in expansive ambitions, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

Yet, raw power does not create right. It produces uncertainty, upheaval, and war.

The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for more power and wealth in time bring them down – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk global conflict.

This blatant lawlessness will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and indeed civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.