Project 2025 Democracy Is Born With Bloodshed And Toil, But Dies With A Thunderous Applause

"Democracy is not a spectator sport." - Marian Wright Edelman

"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson

"Democracy dies in darkness." - The Washington Post

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

"A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience." - John Dewey

"Democracy is fragile and must be protected. It requires constant care and effort from all of us." - Barack Obama

"The health of a democracy is measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens." - Alexis de Tocqueville

"Elections alone do not a democracy make." - Barack Obama

"A functioning democracy is fragile. It requires not just adherence to the law but to the spirit of the law." - Joe Biden

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." - Winston Churchill

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." - John Adams

"Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments." - Alexander Hamilton

"Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths." - James Madison

"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." - Benjamin Franklin

"An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others." - Thomas Jefferson

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." - Abraham Lincoln

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." - Alexis de Tocqueville

"Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal." - Aristotle

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." - Winston Churchill

"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism." - George Washington

A Policy Agenda for Christian Nationalists

Heritage Foundation's president, Kevin Roberts, recently stated, "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."

This statement reflects the ambitious tone of the Mandate for Leadership, a policy agenda advocating for the imposition of Christian nationalist principles in U.S. governance. Christian nationalism holds that the Bible, as God's infallible law, should serve as the foundation for government, affecting both public and private institutions. This worldview promotes traditional, patriarchal values, which do not support gender equality or LGBTQ+ rights, and sanctions certain forms of discrimination based on religious beliefs. Christian nationalist ideas are evident throughout Project 2025 and the Mandate for Leadership, with thousands of recommendations, including executive orders to be revoked or enacted, entire laws to be repealed, and institutions to be dismantled. Any opposition to this agenda is portrayed as an attack on the republic.

Central Goals

The overarching directive in Project 2025 is clear: reshape the federal government by targeting specific terms and policies associated with progressive ideals. As outlined on page 4:

The next conservative president must make the institutions of American civil society hard targets for woke culture warriors. This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity ("SOGI"), diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI"), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and other terms used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights, from every federal rule, agency regulation, contract, grant, regulation, and piece of legislation that exists.

This viewpoint implies that First Amendment rights may be restricted to those who align with this ideological perspective.

Social and Cultural Objectives

• Limiting LGBTQ+ Rights: Expresses special opposition to LGBTQ+ rights and identities.
• Constrained Roles for Women: Primarily acknowledges women as wives or mothers, with fewer professional rights.
• Elimination of Head Start: Advocates for ending this longstanding childcare program despite its benefits for low-income families and working parents.
• Abortion Restrictions: Recommends banning abortion and limiting reproductive rights, even to the extent of outlawing mail-order abortion medication.
• Criticism of Single Motherhood: Attributes numerous societal issues to single motherhood and fatherlessness, which it views as central problems in American society.

Structural Changes

Project 2025 also advocates for sweeping changes to federal employment. The plan suggests dismantling the civil service, allowing a conservative president to replace over 50,000 federal employees with political loyalists. This would mark a return to the 19th-century "spoils system," where political loyalty supersedes merit in public service.

This shift would pave the way for a powerful executive branch with fewer checks and balances, where government institutions, now semi-independent or answerable to Congress, would be weakened or directly controlled by the president. Public service would become a secondary priority.

Orbanism in America

If enacted, Project 2025 could transform America into a superpower mirroring Viktor Orban's Hungary, where Christian nationalism and traditional values dominate. The right wing of the Republican Party has shown admiration for Orban's autocratic approach, his consolidation of power, and his staunch patriarchal and Christian-nationalist values, particularly his opposition to LGBTQ+ rights.

Throughout the Mandate, Project 2025 challenges secular principles in American democracy. For instance, it critiques the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for actions taken during the pandemic, questioning the balance of "lives saved versus souls saved" when religious practices were restricted (page 453). The report suggests that the federal government should adhere to a "biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family" (page 481).

In sum, the Project 2025 agenda seeks a future in which America is less a secular democracy and more a religiously governed nation, with Christian fundamentalism guiding its laws and policies.