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His domestic and foreign initiatives – ranging from the effort to overturn the election previously to latest moves and threats – weaken not only domestic and international legal frameworks. However, the issue goes deeper.

They jeopardize the core idea of what we mean by.

The guiding principle of a functioning society is to stop the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Failing that, we risk being locked in a state of nature where only the fittest prevails.

This concept is central of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the core of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the America, which stresses collective action, popular sovereignty, individual liberties, and the rule of law.

But, it is a fragile construct, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their power. Maintaining it requires that the powerful have enough integrity to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that the public hold them accountable if they don't.

Absolute power does not equal right. It results in turmoil, chaos, and hostilities.

Whenever entities that are advantaged attack and exploit those that are less so, the fabric of our shared norms unravels. If these actions are left unchecked, the system fails. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

We now inhabit a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Political and economic power are more concentrated than in recent memory. This invites the elite to exploit the weaker because they perceive themselves as untouchable.

The wealth of certain billionaires is staggering. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers a vast portion of the world. Advanced technology is could further concentrate economic and political clout further. The military might of the leading countries is unmatched in the annals of time.

Supported by complicit legislators and an accommodating supreme court, the executive office has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked entity of state power in the modern era.

Put it all together and you perceive the looming crisis.

An unbroken thread links previous transgressions to present-day menaces. These were based on the hubris of absolute power.

There is much the same in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by massive conglomerates.

But, unfettered might does not create right. It produces uncertainty, revolution, and war.

History shows that frameworks designed to constrain the influential also shield them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth eventually bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And risk world war.

This blatant lawlessness will cast a long shadow over America and the global community – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for years to come.