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The national and international policies – including the effort to overturn the election five years ago to current incursions and statements – erode both domestic and international jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.

They endanger the fundamental meaning of what we mean by.

A moral purpose of civilized society is to stop the stronger from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Otherwise, we would be trapped in a brutish war where only the fittest prevails.

This concept is embedded of the nation's founding texts. This is also the heart of the postwar international order advocated by the US, built on international cooperation, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

However, it is a fragile ideal, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their influence. Upholding it requires that the influential have a sense of duty to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.

Unfettered might is not right. It leads to instability, chaos, and conflict.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are wealthier and stronger attack and exploit those that are weaker, the framework of society weakens. If these actions are allowed to continue, the fabric unravels. If not stopped, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. We have seen this pattern previously.

Today, we live in a society and world grown vastly more unequal. Influence and wealth are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This encourages the privileged to exploit the less fortunate because they act with a sense of above the law.

The wealth of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The reach of global industrial giants covers a vast portion of the world. AI is could consolidate wealth and power to a greater degree. The destructive power of the world's largest nations is without parallel in human history.

Enabled by political allies and a pliant high court, the presidency has been turned into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of government in history.

Consider this confluence and you see the looming crisis.

A clear connection links previous transgressions to ongoing threats. These were based on the hubris of absolute power.

One observes much the same in other global contexts: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the rampant monopolization by massive conglomerates.

But, unfettered might does not make right. It fosters uncertainty, revolution, and war.

The lessons of the past reveal that rules and conventions to limit the powerful also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for increased control and resources in time bring them down – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.

This kind of contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for a long time.