Every four years I sit on the edge of my seat looking at multiple blue and red maps of the United States, eagerly anticipating the results of our presidential election. Due to the heightened political landscape we have seen in the last few months I was already anticipating that the next election will be especially tense. I did not realize how tense until I saw the details of Project 2025, a plan published by the Heritage Foundation for the potential transfer of the White House if the GOP wins in 2024.
The Heritage Foundation is a political think tank based in Washington, DC. It was founded during the Nixon presidency and many of its policies and recommendations were implemented by Reagan. Depending on which side of the isle you fall, this is either a green or red flag. The Heritage Foundation has created a plan for Republicans if they win the White House. This presidential transition project has four prongs: policy, personnel, training, and playbook. Together, each tenet aims to “rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left” by instating “both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration.” The policy section gives specific recommendations that will restructure and overhaul all federal agencies from the intelligence departments, to the Department of Education. The personnel section essentially creates a conservative LinkedIn that can be pulled from when they fire current people from federal agencies that do not meet conservative standards. The training section gives new personnel training on what the POTUS and the GOP wants from them and how to effectively carry out what is asked. The playbook lays out how the GOP will implement the changes in 180 days from the inauguration of a conservative president. I highly recommend you read about the plan from the Project 2025 website itself to create your own conclusions about the scope and effect of this plan if it were to be implemented. [1]
There have been many strong reactions to this plan as it heavily strips power from those with opposing views, defunds many public goods people care about, and raises many other questions and concerns. The AP befittingly called it an “attempt to dismantle the US government.” [2] Politico calls out how the plan schemes to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy [3]
Complete transparency: I am extremely against this plan. That is why I encourage you to read it yourself so you can create your own opinion. The plan will strip all federal powers of any diversity of thought. I believe it is important to recognize and give weight to opinions different from my own and to talk about them with good faith. This plan completely strips power from any non-conservative view on topics like school curriculum, military budget, environmental protections, how media agencies are handled, the housing that is prioritized, and the budget allotted to veterans. The plan strips the opportunity for many important government tasks to be handled in a way that represents the people and rather it will only be handled in a way that represents people who cannot handle healthy debates or opposition. Not only does the plan stealthily escape any chance of opposition or repercussion, it is also alarming that many conservatives see it as their best option. It speaks to a highly prevalent delusion among many on the right that believe there is some looming doomsday that will be wrought by the left. [4] The imagined persecution is bleeding through with every policy recommendation, every training, and every recruited personnel. The narrative that warrants such gross destabilizing of federal powers is highly fictitious and often counterproductive to addressing the issues that affect Americans. Due to the plan’s egregious violations of democracy, diversity, and balance, I highly doubt that we will see the implementation of the plan, but I do believe it speaks to the state of the GOP to consider a truly un-American plan riddled with such bigotry, dullness, and divisiveness. Stripping federal powers of diversity of thought and political standing does not align with the founding principle of the United States. Engaging in political discourse to better understand those with different views, better understand your own views, and better our country is a large part of how this country and its constitution was born. Diversity of thought is how we are able to progress as people, as a country and as a human race. [5] [6] For many Americans, much is riding on this upcoming election. You must start thinking now about the box you fill on November 5, 2024, as the preservation of diversity of thought and all its many fruits are on the line.
