[DiogenesLamp]

So basically you’re admitting that there’s no consistent underlying principle, just a subjective opinion of importance.

What principle was at stake requiring the sending of five Warships and a troop carrier to subjugate the people of Charleston?

On a whim Lincoln could have simply ordered the garrison out. Indeed, the National Republican newspaper (Lincoln's own propaganda organ) said he was going to do exactly this.

What President could have simply ordered Pearl Harbor shut down?

[Bull Snipe]

“What President could have simply ordered Pearl Harbor shut down.”

FDR. Before May 1940 the Pacific Fleet’s Battleships, Aircraft Carriers, Crusiers and destroyers, plus support ships were based at San Pedro and San Diego CA. He ordered them to Pearl, he could order them back to CA. Had he done so, the Japanese would have bombed & torpedoed oil barges, garbage scows and a tug boat or two.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

What President could have simply ordered Pearl Harbor shut down?

Any of them, in the same way they've ordered the shut down bases many, many times in the past.