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The domestic and foreign initiatives – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process in the past to recent actions and warnings – undermine both domestic and international legal frameworks. The implications are broader.

These actions endanger the core idea of what we mean by.

A moral purpose of any advanced culture is to stop the stronger from preying upon and using the weaker. Without this, we risk being locked in a state of nature where only the fittest could survive.

This concept lies at the center of America’s founding documents. It’s also the foundation of the postwar international order championed by the United States, which stresses multilateralism, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

But, it is a fragile construct, often broken by those who seek to abuse their influence. Upholding it requires that the influential have the moral fortitude to abstain from seeking immediate gains, and that the public ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.

Unchecked strength does not make right. It leads to instability, chaos, and hostilities.

Each instance entities that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are weaker, the framework of civilization unravels. If such aggression are not contained, the structure collapses. Allowing it to persist, the world can plunge into instability and violence. We have seen this pattern previously.

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 privileged to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they feel above the law.

The fortunes of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The power of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is likely to consolidate economic and political clout to a greater degree. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is unmatched in recorded history.

Enabled by complicit legislators and an accommodating supreme court, the executive office has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of government in history.

Put it all together and you perceive the danger.

An unbroken thread connects previous lawless actions to current menaces. These were based on the hubris of absolute power.

One observes a similar pattern in the actions of other powers: in military conflicts, in coercive diplomacy, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

However, strength without restraint does not make right. It makes for instability, upended order, and bloodshed.

History shows that frameworks designed to constrain the powerful also safeguard them. If these guardrails are removed, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources in time cause their collapse – and with them their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten global conflict.

This blatant lawlessness will plague America and the global community – and the very idea of civilized conduct – for years to come.