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The national and international policies – ranging from the effort to overturn the election previously to recent actions and warnings – undermine both domestic and international jurisprudence. However, the issue goes deeper.

These actions endanger the fundamental meaning of a civilized world.

A guiding principle of civilized society is to forestall the stronger from preying upon and using the less powerful. Failing that, we risk being permanently immersed in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest wins.

This principle is central of America’s founding documents. It’s also the core of the postwar international order supported by the America, built on international cooperation, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

However, it is a vulnerable principle, easily violated by those who would exploit their power. Maintaining it necessitates that the influential have enough integrity to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that the public hold them accountable if they don't.

Unfettered might does not equal right. It makes for turmoil, disruption, and war.

Each instance people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful prey upon those that are not, the framework of civilization frays. If these actions are allowed to continue, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can plunge into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.

Today, we live in a society and world marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are more concentrated than in modern history. This invites the elite to exploit the less fortunate because they feel untouchable.

The wealth of certain ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The reach of global industrial giants covers numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is likely to further concentrate wealth and power further. The destructive power of the major powers is unprecedented in recorded history.

Empowered by complicit legislators and a sympathetic high court, the presidency has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked agent of government in recent memory.

Put it all together and you grasp the danger.

A clear connection links previous breaches of norms to present-day threats. Both were founded upon the hubris of invincibility.

There is a similar pattern in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.

But, raw power does not create right. It fosters instability, upended order, and armed conflict.

History shows that laws and norms to limit the powerful also protect them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth eventually cause their collapse – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.

Such disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over international stability – and indeed a rules-based order – for years to come.