SWANK Position 004

SWANK POSITION PAGE 004 — PROPORTIONALITY IS NOT OPTIONAL

This document records the point at which authority exceeds necessity and mistakes scale for legitimacy.

Following escalation as default (Position 003), this position identifies the next structural failure: action untethered from measurement.

Disproportion is not caution.
It is excess.

When the magnitude of intervention exceeds the harm it purports to prevent, authority invalidates itself — regardless of how procedurally correct the process appears.

What This Position Establishes

Proportionality is an ethical requirement, not a discretionary preference.

Necessity must precede intensity.
Evidence must precede scale.
Outcomes must govern continuation.

Where imposed harm outweighs prevented harm, legitimacy collapses. No further inquiry is required.

What This Is

• The fourth position in a closed ethical doctrine
• A constraint on authority grounded in outcome, not intention
• A citation-stable Canon entry

What This Is Not

• A policy recommendation
• A technical legal analysis
• A debate
• A justification exercise

This document does not attempt to refine excess.
It records why excess, once normalized, nullifies authority entirely.

It is priced deliberately.
It is intended for readers who understand that scale without necessity is not protection.