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Susan Young is the Bangor Daily News opinion editor.
I give a group of conservative Republicans, led by the Heritage Foundation, props for putting their agenda for the next presidency, which they obviously hope is won by Donald Trump, into writing. They didn’t just produce some vague policy talking points as so many candidates for office do. They put together a very detailed and lengthy blueprint for a Republican in the White House.
And they posted it online for all the world to see. All 900-plus pages of a document called Project 2025.
That, however, is where my praise ends.
Project 2025, whose architects include several officials from the administration of former President Trump, is a sweeping document with hundreds of objectives. Some of the agenda items, like reforming farm subsidies and more transparency in agency rulemaking are modest, and frankly, make sense. But I find many of the agenda items objectionable. As do most Americans, if polling on issues like abortion, civil rights and climate change are to be believed.
The document, for example, calls for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reverse its 24-year-old approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. The U.S. Supreme Court, led by a six-justice conservative majority, rejected a challenge to the FDA’s approval earlier this year.
Project 2025 also calls for a reinstatement of a ban on transgender Americans serving in the military and calls for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to emphasize that married men and women are the “ideal, natural family structure” and to promote the health of unborn children.
Some objectives are downright mean, such as a call to end universal free school lunches. Some, like the elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, are longtime GOP wishlist items. Some, like repeated calls for the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and critical race theory, focus on newer Republican targets.
Others appear simply vindictive, such as a call to essentially fire tens of thousands of federal government employees and replace them with GOP loyalists.
So, it wasn’t surprising that when people beyond conservative circles began to hear more about Project 2025, opposition to the agenda grew.
With criticism on the rise, even Trump backed away. He disavowed any association with the document, confounding and disappointing some of its authors. To be clear, the document references Trump many times, but it was not technically written by his campaign. It was written by many people who served in his presidential administration, and presumably, hope to return to power and to do the many things they outline in Project 2025.
Oddly, but not surprisingly, some Republicans are blaming Democrats for the criticism of Project 2025. One lesson they seem to have taken from the criticism is that putting your plans out in the open for the world to see is a bad idea.
I’d suggest a different lesson: When your plans are counter to the goals and worldview of the majority of Americans, don’t be surprised when those Americans speak out. Critically.
The American government is in serious need of reform. Strengthening ethics for judges and members of Congress come to mind. As does the need to reduce bureaucracy that legitimately impedes business growth and harms American families. Immigration policies and practices clearly need updating. And how about simplifying the federal tax code?
Such reforms are hard work (in part because of entrenched interests that fear losing power and influence if changes are made) and shouldn’t be subject to popularity contests.
But when your ideas are as roundly rejected, as many aspects of Project 2025 have been, you probably need a different agenda. Perhaps one that is inclusive of all Americans rather than one that clearly tries to shunt some to the sidelines. One that respects women instead of trying to dictate what they can and cannot do with their bodies and their lives.
Publishing Project 2025 wasn’t the problem. Some of the ideas contained in the conservative agenda are.
