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His national and international policies – including the effort to overturn the election five years ago to current incursions and threats – erode not only national and global legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.

These actions jeopardize the fundamental meaning of civilization itself.

The ethical foundation of civilized society is to stop the more powerful from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Without this, we would be trapped in a state of nature where might makes right wins.

This concept lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the core of the postwar international order supported by the United States, which stresses multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and the legal authority.

But, it is a vulnerable ideal, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their power. Preserving it requires that the powerful have enough integrity to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us hold them accountable if they don't.

Unchecked strength is not right. It makes for uncertainty, disruption, and conflict.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are weaker, the structure of our shared norms weakens. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can plunge into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.

Today, we live in a society and world with deepening divides. Authority and resources are more concentrated than ever before. This invites the privileged to exploit the weaker because they act with a sense of untouchable.

The fortunes of a small group of billionaires is staggering. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace extends over a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is could further concentrate resources and influence further. The military might of the world's largest nations is unprecedented in human history.

Enabled by political allies and a pliant judicial body, the highest office has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked agent of government in history.

Combine these factors and you grasp the threat.

A clear connection ties past lawless actions to current threats. These were premised on the overconfidence of absolute power.

You see a similar pattern in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

However, raw power does not make right. It fosters uncertainty, revolution, and war.

The lessons of the past reveal that laws and norms to limit the powerful also shield them. Without such constraints, their endless appetite for increased control and resources in time lead to their downfall – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten world war.

Such disregard for rules will plague international stability – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for years to come.