An Arsonist's Guide to Project 2025

Democracy Moonshot

Project 2025 is a 900+ page plan of attack to quash the last fragile threads of the American experiment and replace them with a dystopian Christo-fascist nightmare.

Nothing says “diversity” like a picture of two white affluent yuppies.

Earlier I provided a

snarky photo-centric review of Project 2025. Since the article was published there have been and are continuing calls for people to read and learn about Project 2025 (which is personally disappointing -I expected 300 million views of my article).

And it should be noted that the fringe extremists who assembled Project 2025 published it with the belief that progressives are so weak, and the center-left, center, and center-right are so inept and readily manipulated, Heritage Foundation (long a so-called “think tank” behind other successful attacks on voting and democracy), thought to put the plan in front of all of us.

Democracy-hating Heritage Foundation and Kevin Roberts

My previous article summarized the 900+ pages of plans to destroy our representative democracy as “‘Traditional’ Christian Family Values for All; China, Woke, and the Federal Government are the enemy; States Rights!; Drill Baby, Drill; and Projecting American Exceptionalism Everywhere.

This article provides a comprehensive plan for progressives, the pragmatic center (left, right, and actual moderates), and the endangered species of conservatives who believe that any competition of ideas sharing the objective of a “More Perfect Union” begins on the foundation of “liberty and justice for all.” The plan, cleverly titled “America 2025” is broken into three easy to follow sections, titled “Now”, “After”, and “President Biden”. There’s also a fourth section which is optional reading for all except for the DOJ’s Merrick Garland. I also recognize there may be some elements of the plan that are dismissed as unconstitutional. I preemptively make my argument here that as the United States no longer has a meaningful Supreme Court that the implementation of any policy, even if ruled upon unfavorably by the current billionaire-corrupted Barre Seid, Harlan Crow, “Confederalist” Court, may be deemed acceptable by a future court should justice prevail over corruption.

Now

Between now and November 5, 2024

• Learn about Project 2025 and/or read Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

• Register to vote and/or check your voter registration.

• Vote for candidates who fundamentally support justice, equality, and democracy. This naturally excludes every member of Federal, State, and Local government who either conspired in the January 6, 2021 insurrection, participated in the attempted subversion of the U.S. Election System, interfered with a peaceful transfer of power, and/or acted as accessories after the fact by obstructing justice, ignoring subpoena’s, and/or interfering with official investigations. (A good starting point is this New York Times article).

• Help others by writing letters and postcards through projects such as:

  https://votefwd.org/

• Learn about protecting your voting rights if you’re ballot is challenged.

  • https://civ.works/voter-rights

  • https://protectdemocracy.org/work/voter-challenges/

  • https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression

  • https://www.lwv.org/blog/voter-challenge-laws-suppression-tactic

  • https://www.democracydocket.com/

    • (Help and support any of the above organizations, and all those working to defend and expand voting rights).

• Report any abnormal issues or concerns you observe to the local precinct or election supervisor, and/or to organizations dedicated to election protection such as: https://866ourvote.org/

  • Election Protection Hotlines

    ENGLISH 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)

    SPANISH/ENGLISH 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)

    ASIAN LANGUAGES/ENGLISH 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)

    ARABIC/ENGLISH 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287)

President Biden

• Expand the Supreme Court. There is historic precedent, and now, given the well-evidenced corruption of this court, it must be done. Failure to do so will result in the destruction of the American system when a convicted felon claims the November 2024 election was “stolen”, creates chaos and confusion, sues in State courts to cause delay, and then uses the chaos, confusion, and friendly media to claim a “Constitutional crisis” and simply moves into the White House while telling violent extremist groups to “stand up and stand by”. Eventually, the cases to be decided by a Corrupted Court Majority with Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Coney-Barrett appointed by the criminal Trump, and Thomas, Alito, and Roberts with their own struggles with a non-addiction to ethics are not conducive to the health of justice or democracy. It should be painfully clear that advocates for Project 2025 will have no issue with remaking the justice system into the same image as the highly corrupt court of the United States.

• Issue a strong statement that Israel has a right to defend itself, and to be recognized by its neighbors, however, no nation has a right to destroy and decimate a civilian population. This administration must stop supplying offensive weapons, cluster bombs, etc. (or redirect them to Ukraine). There must be democratically elected governments in Israel and a new Palestinian State where both and neighboring Middle Eastern countries commit to a respect for sovereignty, fundamental human rights, and agree to live in peaceful co-existence.

• In the unlikely event the DOJ does their job, pass immediate federal legislation codifying reproductive rights, gun violence prevention, voting rights, and addressing the egregious overturning of the “Chevron” decision.

Merrick Garland and the DOJ

Dear Attorney General Garland,

Every member of Federal, State, and Local government who either conspired in the January 6, 2021 insurrection, participated in the attempted subversion of the U.S. Election System, interfered with a peaceful transfer of power, and/or acted as accessories after the fact by obstructing justice, ignoring subpoena’s, and/or interfering with official investigations.

The Fourteenth Amendment, Section Three of the United States Constitution states the following:

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

The DOJ has prioritized public perception of non-partisanship over its duty to defend the United States and our system by correctly applying Constitutional Law. This failure to act has placed our entire system at risk. If correctly applied, all in Congress who effectively voted to overturn the U.S. Election results should be indicted, suspended from voting, and the remaining members of the House and Senate should vote as to whether to remove each “such disability” from Congress.
The New York Times (thank you Karen Yourish, Larry Buchanan, and Denise Lu) prepared this helpful list: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html

The decision to leave our Constitution without an appropriate defense because of “how it might appear” is an affront to every American who suffered and died in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War fought against treasonous racists over slavery, and every World War in which the world had to rise against fascist, murderous authoritarian leadership.

To summarize: Do your job. Thanks, America.

After

Immediately After November 5, 2024

• Voter/Ballot Challenges
  There will be individual and mass challenges to ballots in a new and improved attempt to disenfranchise voters, especially in battleground states. Know your rights and work with election protection organizations if your vote or ballot is challenged, marked as provisional, or you are concerned that your ballot was not counted. (See above section or https://civ.works/voter-rights/

After we have a President-elect

I’ve stated that any meaningful form of democracy (including the American System of Representative Democracy) requires an educated, informed, and engaged society. The following provides some ideas about how to achieve such a society while protecting the system from corruption and subversion along the way). It is a recommendation that an entire set of Federal Legislation is prepared and ready to sign addressing the societal imperatives below on day one of the new Administration:

1. Voting: Congress must prepare comprehensive/sweeping legislative reform to protect democracy to be signed on January 20, 2025 (such as the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021).

2. Climate Action: Leverage individual subject matter expertise, organizational capability and Federal agency regulation and enforcement (F*ck you SCOTUS) to implement bold action to address climate change and provide important environmental protection for America.

3. Race and Gender Equality: -Pass the Equal Rights Amendment already! -and investing in BIPOC communities, public safety, educational opportunities, and fundamental steps to ensure the “American Dream” rises again for all.

4. Retirement Security: -shoring up Social Security by removing the contribution cap (in 2024, no contributions are collected once someone earns more than $168,600).

5. Public Education, Pre-K, K-12, and Higher Education -if you believe that any meaningful form of democracy requires a well-educated society, society must make investment in education a priority. We must have well-compensated teachers (with a curriculum unfettered by politics and/or religion), affordable and universal Pre-K, and world-class affordable Higher Education.

6. Healthcare for all: -the public option -The present system of healthcare delivery in the United States is one of the most expensive systems in the world yielding, at best, mediocre outcomes. Too many are left uncovered, bankrupted by the system, or left to decide between paying rent or paying for necessary medication. We must change the entire culture of the system from a reactive (dealing with a health emergency -when treatment is most expensive) to a proactive/preventative system -and address everything from food/nutrition, physical and mental health/well-being, and high-risk behaviors such as addiction.

7. Campaign Finance Reform: -it should be illegal to subvert the system with a massive dark money contribution (such as Barre Seid’s $1 billion dollar donation the the Federalist Society, or Nike’s Phil Knight dropping millions into a Governor’s race in Oregon, Miriam Adelson funding insurrectionist candidates for public office, or other billionaires looking to subvert the public interest in order to enrich themselves. It is nothing more than a blatant attack on democracy and, as a society, severe civil and CRIMINAL penalties should be warranted. The damage to America is far greater than someone stealing a car stereo, yet the thief is convicted and sentenced, while the billionaire subverting and bending our system to their will is on the cover of Forbes.

8. Clear and Stringent Ethics Guidelines for all Elected and/or Appointed Officials:
   I don’t care whether you are a Democrat like Bob Menendez, a pretend Democrat like Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema, Texas AG Ken Paxton, or so-called ‘Justice’ Thomas -if you are subverting law, policy, and/or the public interest from inside, there will be serious financial and potentially criminal consequences.

1. Gun violence prevention:
   The time for “thoughts and prayers” ended long ago, well-before Sandy Hook and Uvalde. There needs to be sweeping legislation to allow an individual to feel secure in their home, their community, and when they travel, without the need for a military-grade assault weapon, a surface to air missile, a bump stock, a high-capacity magazine, or grenades. Responsible gun ownership is fine. I’m a near vegan, and while I abhor hunting, I think each person should have the freedom to make ethical and moral decisions (regardless of how horribly wrong they might be!). However, let’s agree on responsible ownership with an understanding that an individual’s needs might be different if you live in a densely populated urban area versus a farm 20 miles away from your nearest neighbor or town.

2. Wealth Inequality, Taxation, and Economic Opportunity
   No form of democracy can exist in conjunction with extreme wealth inequality. Congress and the Administration must pass a revamping of the progressive system of taxation to recover much of the wealth concentrated since the Reagan tax cuts of the 1980’s. And I must note, I am not, by any means, anti-wealth (especially since I need significant investment in my “https://civ.works” project). What is antithetical to democracy is allowing wealth transfers (through inheritance) to be untaxed, and for externalities (the transfer of business/industry costs) to society -such as polluting refineries responsible for direct health impact on nearby impoverished communities, or indirect impact due to shifting costs of climate change to society.

   

   

3. Economic Safety Net:
   As a nation (think of us as a community, albeit a really big one) we must provide a fundamental safety net so all Americans can live with dignity, have access to food, housing, shelter, and healthcare. The minimal amount we spend now on Housing, Education, and Welfare is a grain of sand compared to what we spend on taxpayer-funded subsidies for Big Oil and military spending waste. The safety net should really provide a baseline for which people are able to pursue upward economic mobility to sustain themselves and their families that isn’t abruptly removed once someone is just starting to earn enough to live paycheck to paycheck.

4. Love is Love:
   In a world of conflict, extreme weather events, widespread corruption, exploitation of workers, and more, could we please stop trying to legislate what happens between two (or more!) consenting adults. Just stop it. If you want to unleash your religious fervor at something -why not poverty, hunger, and war? Because until we have peace, security, and food in our stomachs, if you are more worried about what is happening in someone’s bedroom, as opposed to worrying about a child who has no bedroom -then hate and bigotry are the core beliefs of your church.

5. Reproductive Rights:
   If you want a small, right-sized government and believe in freedom -then stop trying to insert government between a woman, her healthcare provider, and her family. You cannot claim you are against “Big Government” while wanting to prosecute women, their physicians, and anyone else involved in a decision that is none of your business.

6. Immigration Reform and Dreamers:
   A sweeping immigration reform bill that recognizes that American society is built on a pillar of immigration and dreamers. If a voter can’t recognize that Fox “Spews” and other extremist propaganda declaring that immigrants and refugees are flying first class on Democratic Party planes to come and take high-paying executive positions are lies, then maybe you shouldn’t be participating in an experiment with democracy?

7. Diplomacy-centric Collaborative Foreign Policy:
   Throughout the toxic waste dump previously identified as “Project 2025” the concept of a State Department built around projecting American Exceptionalism. I propose a State Department developing trust, understanding, and working with other nations, governments, and cultures in a collaborative manner to strengthen peace, security, stability, human rights, and trade

8. Independent Media and Journalism:
   Back to my mantra. Any meaningful form of democracy requires an educated, informed, and engaged society. Local journalism supported through advertising is not economically viable under current models. The mainstream media has consolidated making it very easy to “Manufacture Consent” as described by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky. We must, as a nation, support a strong, resilient, and independent (of corporate, religious, foreign, and political interests) through a subscription model. The role of a consolidated media has created significant harm to America, our attempt at democracy, and our worldwide reputation. Whether it’s the New York Times’ Judith Miller on “Yellowcake and Iraq”, or the media’s entertainment (instead of news coverage) of the convicted felon currently running for President, the current news and media model have made it clear they are no longer fulfilling any responsibility to society as a “Fourth Estate”.

   

9. Clear Separation of State and Religious Institutions:
   Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (nominated by Ronald Reagan), in the decision McCreary County v. ACLU stated: “Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?” Notably, her vote was decisive in determining a Kentucky courthouse’s Ten Commandments display, was unconstitutional.

   The framers of our Constitution had concerns with unbridled centralized power, whether asserted by State or church. Religious institutions use societal infrastructure, they lobby politically, and many act as untaxed corporate enterprises whose objective is simply to enrich their leaders. Let’s face it. If prayers were sufficient to stop climate change from causing death and suffering in massive wildfires, floods, or hurricanes, if prayers stopped Columbine, Uvalde, Las Vegas, Sandy Hook or other mass shootings, at this point I’d not only be impressed, I might not be a taoist. In light of the worsening of climate change, and the near daily mass shootings and gun violence in America, we are well past time to begin taxing religious institutions and making sure there is a bright clear line between State and church.

Our challenges today transcend political parties, meaningless sound bites, and the lies and propaganda from the entertainment division of mainstream media. This is about providing enough time and space for democracy, justice, and equality to be the foundation of America. It’s perfectly fine if we have a competition of ideas about a progressive income tax rate, a capital gains tax rate, and corporate tax rate that achieves balance between fostering economic growth while not placing a massive debt burden on future generations of Americans. We can talk about what represents a high-capacity magazine. We can discuss societal priorities and imperatives. Yet if none of our discussions are predicated upon justice, equality, and democracy for all then you are simply on the wrong side of a discussion about the future of America and the American experiment because you despise what the concept of America stands for.

We must have reasoned and adult discussions about the future of America, grounded in equality, justice, and democracy. What does the future of America look like for our sons, our daughters, our grandchildren, and generations yet to come.

Will it be a dystopian hellscape filled with the willfully ignorant?

Or will it be a strong, benevolent nation embracing hard work, fairness, and opportunity for all who contribute to our society and help us move forward.

I know the America that is possible if we have the patience and political will to journey there, and if leaders committed to such a path forward (hello, Merrick?)

will act in defense of the road ahead.

An important quick post-article thought.

I hope if you find the above compelling and informative you will consider sharing the article with others (subscribing to my rants, articles, and posts on Substack are free) and supporting the project I’m dedicated to, https://civ.works.

It is, at-present a tiny, woefully underfunded attempt to build a new trusted civic social network that is subscriber-supported, ad-free, and will not sell or share subscriber information with marketers, advertisers or sinister political operatives. You can help by donating and/or sharing the https://civ.works story with others.

As news media has consolidated into a few networks, and social media platforms like Facebook and the former Twitter are firmly in the hands of billionaire control like Musk and Zuckerberg, there must be a place to share news, information, and opportunities for effective civic engagement and participation in democracy.

It’s a 501c3 non-profit, and the most important project I can think of to break the stranglehold of billionaire and corporate control of news and information in the United States and, potentially around the world.

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