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The domestic and foreign policies – from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to recent actions and statements – weaken not only national and global law. However, the issue goes deeper.

They jeopardize the very concept of what we mean by.

The ethical foundation of a functioning society is to stop the stronger from preying upon and using the weaker. Without this, we could find ourselves locked in a conflict of all against all where might makes right wins.

This ideal is central of the nation's founding texts. It’s also the core of the global system established after WWII championed by the United States, built on international cooperation, democratic governance, human rights, and the rule of law.

However, it is a vulnerable ideal, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their authority. Upholding it necessitates that the powerful have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that society hold them accountable if they don't.

Unchecked strength does not make right. It leads to instability, upheaval, and conflict.

Whenever people or corporations or countries that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are less so, the structure of society weakens. If these actions are allowed to continue, the structure collapses. Allowing it to persist, the world can fall into instability and violence. It has happened before.

Our current reality is a global community with deepening divides. Influence and wealth are more concentrated than in recent memory. This encourages the privileged to leverage their position against the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.

The resources of a handful of billionaires is difficult to fathom. The influence of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace covers much of the globe. Advanced technology is likely to further concentrate economic and political clout even more. The military might of the world's largest nations is without parallel in the annals of time.

Empowered by a compliant faction and a pliant judicial body, the executive office has been transformed into the most dominant and unchecked entity of government in the modern era.

Combine these factors and you see the danger.

An unbroken thread links previous lawless actions to current threats. Both were premised on the hubris of omnipotence.

There is much the same in international affairs: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.

But, raw power does not make right. It makes for instability, upended order, and bloodshed.

History shows that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also shield them. Absent these limits, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches eventually lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten world war.

This blatant disregard for rules will plague the nation and the world – and indeed a rules-based order – for a long time.