In anticipation of the 2024 election, a specter has appeared on our national political landscape that bears serious scrutiny. Under the auspices of the Heritage Foundation, a principal influencer of the Republican Party, a 920 page document called “Project 2025,” with contributions from more than 400 conservatives, has been produced, not as a “white paper,” but a “battle plan” for the first 180 days of the next Republican administration to radically alter the present philosophical direction and democracy of our government.
If implemented, it could decimate the federal government’s climate work, stymie the transition to clean energy and shift agencies toward nurturing the fossil fuel industry rather than regulating it by blocking the expansion of the electrical grid for wind and solar energy; slashing funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice office; shuttering the Energy Department’s renewable energy offices; preventing states from adopting California’s car pollution standards; delegating more regulation of polluting industries to Republican state officials, and to generally roll back climate law.
It also addresses other areas of government by rooting out the so-called “deep state” by building up a conservative database of up to 200,000 replacement employees of those who agree with conservative/authoritarian principles to replace many present government employees.
The “Project” also advocates for instilling conservative Christian principles as a foundation on the national government. Much of this is contrary to the principles of our national Constitution, which was written to encourage democracy and get us away from the European authoritarians and religious influence in government during the revolutionary period.
Today, all of this leaves us to wonder what the Republicans have planned for, if they again lose the ‘24 election, and what they’ll attempt to ensure their coup is successful this time.
John Kennington, Cottonwood Heights