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The internal and external strategies – ranging from the challenge to the democratic process five years ago to recent incursions and threats – erode not only national and global jurisprudence. The implications are broader.

They threaten the very concept of civilization itself.

The guiding principle of any advanced culture is to prevent the dominant from harming and taking advantage of the weaker. Failing that, we risk being trapped in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest could survive.

This principle lies at the center of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the heart of the postwar international order supported by the US, emphasizing collective action, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

However, it is a delicate principle, frequently ignored by those who choose to misuse their influence. Upholding it requires that the powerful have enough integrity to avoid seeking immediate gains, and that the rest of us ensure they answer for their actions if they don't.

Absolute power does not equal right. It results in turmoil, upheaval, and war.

Whenever people or corporations or countries that are wealthier and stronger prey upon those that are weaker, the framework of society unravels. If such aggression are not contained, the system fails. If not stopped, the world can fall into chaos and war. History provides ample precedent.

Our current reality is a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in modern history. This encourages the privileged to take advantage of the weaker because they act with a sense of omnipotent.

The wealth of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The power of global industrial giants extends over a vast portion of the world. Artificial intelligence is could consolidate resources and influence to a greater degree. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is without parallel in human history.

Empowered by political allies and an accommodating high court, the executive office has been transformed into the supreme and answerable-to-none entity of government in recent memory.

Consider this confluence and you perceive the threat.

A clear connection connects earlier lawless actions to ongoing provocations. Each were premised on the arrogance of absolute power.

You see parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in territorial invasions, in strategic threats, and in the worldwide exploitation by industrial titans.

But, raw power does not make right. It produces fragility, upended order, and armed conflict.

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also protect them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for increased control and resources ultimately lead to their downfall – and with them their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten international catastrophe.

This kind of contempt for legal order will haunt America and the global community – and indeed a rules-based order – for the foreseeable future.