Alturas Takes

Latest Take: The Rule of Law Fights Back

Oct. 23, 2022

October 20, 2022, was a good day for the rule of law and the constitutional authority of Congress. The January 6 Committee issued a subpoena to the former—and disgraced—President Donald Trump to testify about his leadership and organizational role in the insurrection at the nation’s capital and the ongoing effort to undermine the electoral outcome of the 2022 election. Meanwhile, Steve Bannon, Trump’s intimate adviser on ways and means to subvert American democracy, was sentenced to four months in prison and a $6,500 fine for criminal contempt of Congress.

The rule of law sometimes, perhaps, often, moves too slowly and, for many in America, frustratingly so. But the two defeats for Trump and his minions, those who have tried to tear down constitutional protections and democratic values, represents a victory for those committed to the defense of the United States.

Many more battles lie ahead. Trump’s foot soldiers, those who speak publicly, boldly and loudly, and those elected members of his party who, in their silence, are complicit in the cause of authoritarianism, continue to represent an existential threat to our constitutional democracy. But the rule of law is fighting back.

The Court Wrongly Strips Women of a Fundamental Right

July 11, 2022

On June 24, 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented power grab, eviscerated a fundamental, constitutional right. This decision will be judged by history as harshly as the decades have condemned Dred Scott and Korematsu. The willingness of the far-right majority to strip women of the right to abortion demonstrates contempt for women’s rights, bodily autonomy, history, reason and legal precedent. The practice of abortion, contrary to Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion is, in fact, deeply rooted in our history. At the time of the founding, state laws protected access to abortion until the point of quickening. As the world has long known the Court, in the landmark ruling in 1973 in Roe v. Wade, held that women possess a constitutional right to govern their own reproductive organs. Justice Alito’s lame effort to undercut the right of abortion because it is not enumerated in the Constitution, is of no moment. Click to read more.

What Happens Without Freedom of the Press? A Look at Life Behind the New Iron Curtain

April 7, 2022

Vladimir Putin’s infliction of a second Iron Curtain on the Russian people demonstrates anew the critical importance of freedom of the press in maintaining governmental accountability.

Putin’s nationwide censorship of any news reports that contradict his false claims of “de-nazifying” Ukraine, enforced by a brutal 15-year prison sentence for violators, has plunged most Russians into a state of darkness and ignorance. Most know very little about the horrific, unprovoked war that he has launched against Ukraine and the atrocities perpetrated against civilians that constitute war crimes, by any measure.

Such is life in a totalitarian nation, in which freedom of the press is beyond comprehension. Some Russians, with access to private internet networks, are aware of Putin’s horrors and engaged in demonstrations against the dictator. Some 8,000 courageous protesters have been imprisoned, leaving them to face an uncertain future. Click to read more.

Why America Needs a Caretaker to Lead Her Future

by Gina M Bennett

Gina M Bennett is a retired member of the CIA’s Senior Analytic Service, author of two “National Security Mom” books, and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where she teaches “Hunter-Gatherer National Security” at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She also serves on the Alturas Institute’s Board of Directors and as Strategic Advisor to Girl Security.

Wars, mass shootings, pandemics, droughts, supply shortages, recession, and political divisiveness...it’s ugly in America these days. Do you ever remember a time when you were a kid and everything seemed dark around you? Maybe you were being bullied or your parents were divorcing, or perhaps you just lost a loved one. If during that moment of despair someone swooped in and gave you a hug, some tenderness, and a word encouragement, can you recall that immediate feeling of comfort? Of finding the courage to go on and the hope that things would get better?

That’s the kind of moment America needs right now. We need a nurturing caretaker in charge rather than a bellicose commander. America’s national security has long been founded on physical protection, military defense, and law enforcement—all elements of physical security that owe their roots in the protector-hunter traditions of early humans. I am not arguing to abandon our national defense or law and order, but can we please be honest about how one-sided our national security priorities have been?

Our posture against physical threats to the territorial integrity of the United States has done nothing but increase over two and a half centuries.The idea of America may have been vulnerable to extinction by a conquering force at one point, but that was a long time ago. Even as recently as the Cold War, did we really think that in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust surviving Americans would have bowed to communist Russia? No! Americans would have resisted by remaining steadfast in their commitment to democracy despite the physical toll.

In reality, America’s national security has never been comprised of territorial and physical safety alone. Even before the civil war, Lincoln disputed that armies from abroad were an existential threat to the still young United States when he said, “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide.” Lincoln understood that America’s security rested only in the sustainment of the Constitution by willing Americans.

While we have traditionally focused on the advancement of the protector-hunter role to securing our nation, what has been missing is building on the gatherer-caretaker roles that are equally important to the advancement of the human race. Ancient gatherers were the community planners, responsible for short and long-term resource strategies for the growing demands for water and food as families and societies grew larger and lived longer. And they excelled at manufacturing, sustaining, and preparing the most important product of all: people. Caretakers teach children everything they need to know to survive, thrive, and be the Presidents, CEOs, entrepreneurs, scientists, and citizens of the future.

This omission of the caretaker role as a national security imperative is why America is suffering so greatly from bitter divisiveness and distrust in democratic institutions. Had caretaking all along been a priority on par with border security and military readiness, every American would understand their individual role in citizenship. Civics would not be an easy class in high school you take as a one-time requirement. Americans today would understand exactly how our democratic republic is supposed to function. And they would know their individual and combined responsibilities, how to participate and engage in every aspect of governance, and how to fend off all threats to the pillars of democracy regardless of their origin. And gatherers would have prioritized strategic and innovative acquisition and sustainment of the resources required for healthy living with the same fervor that protectors demonstrated in expanding our industrial military complex. With that level of urgency, gatherers would have planned to mitigate the impact of droughts, ever expanding energy needs, weather and climate changes, and food shortages as well as the technologies in medicine to fight off pandemics and other threats to human health.

Keeping our territory, infrastructure, public places, and people safe is a national safety priority. But there is a difference between national safety and America’s security. And if you don’t see that, picture America as one massive prison. We can live in a safe and impenetrable fortress, but have absolutely no freedom. Ensuring the sustainability of the Constitution against all kinds of threats — whether from malign influence abroad or political polarization, citizen apathy, or even self-sabotage as Lincoln warned in his Lyceum Address — is national security.

As a footnote, I want to point out that I never used gender in describing any of these roles. So if you thought I said that a woman should be President — that’s on you.

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