Donald Trump's Policies Pose a Danger to Our Social Fabric.

The national and international policies – including the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to recent actions and warnings – weaken not only national and global law. The implications are broader.

They threaten the very concept of a civilized world.

A moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the stronger from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Without this, we could find ourselves locked in a conflict of all against all where might makes right prevails.

This concept is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the foundation of the modern framework of international relations advocated by the America, built on multilateralism, democratic governance, fundamental freedoms, and the legal authority.

But, it is a vulnerable principle, often broken by those who choose to misuse their authority. Upholding it requires that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that society ensure they answer for their actions when they fail.

Unfettered might does not make right. It leads to uncertainty, chaos, and hostilities.

Each instance entities that are advantaged prey upon those that are weaker, the structure of our shared norms frays. Should such behavior are allowed to continue, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can descend into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.

Today, we live in a global community grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This creates conditions for the elite to take advantage of the weaker because they feel untouchable.

The fortunes of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The influence of global industrial giants extends over numerous countries. Artificial intelligence is likely to centralize resources and influence further. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is without parallel in human history.

Enabled by complicit legislators and a sympathetic high court, the highest office has been turned into the most dominant and unchecked entity of state power in history.

Combine these factors and you see the looming crisis.

A direct line ties previous lawless actions to current provocations. Each were founded upon the arrogance of omnipotence.

You see parallel dynamics in other global contexts: in wars of aggression, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by powerful corporate entities.

But, unfettered might does not establish right. It fosters uncertainty, upheaval, and war.

The lessons of the past reveal that frameworks designed to limit the influential also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their relentless pursuit for more power and wealth in time bring them down – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.

Such disregard for rules will plague international stability – and the very idea of a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.