How do the policies of Project 2025 reflect the published RNC Platform? How does the Heritage Foundation's blueprint for changing the Federal government, if the Republican candidate is elected, compare with the RNC Platform? Shouldn't objective science be viewed independently from political policy?
My July 23, 2024, Rogue Valley Voice blog post Drill Baby Drill? focused on how the RNC convention made clear Republican policy intentions to abandon serious efforts to reduce the causes of man-made climate change in favor of fossil fuel interests.
The July 19, 2024 edition of Scientific American takes a broader look, spelling out What to Know about Project 2025’s Dangers to Science.
The Republican Platform
On July 8, 2024, "the Republican National Committee (RNC) Platform Committee adopted President Donald J. Trump’s 2024 Republican Party Platform." That day's press release lists "20 GOP Principles, Roadmap to Make America Great Again."
Republican "America first" priorities regarding the economy favor a smaller federal government; fewer restrictions on fossil fuel production; stimulating American manufacturing growth and American job creation; protectionist international trade policies; strengthening border security, fighting immigrant crime; and an isolationist foreign policy of dominance through increasing armaments (an iron dome missile defense shield.) Conservative social policies emphasize traditional binary gender and family identity; an anti-abortion stance; controlling school curriculum; resistance to gun control; and reversing current voter rights. Appeal to Christian nationalism underpins support of this agenda.
Project 2025
Although the 2024 Republican Presidential candidate now attempts to distance himself somewhat from Project 2025, "in 2022 Trump said the Heritage Foundation—the think tank that authored Project 2025—would 'lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do.'"
"Although Trump is not among its 34 authors, more than half are appointees and staff from his time as president; the words “Trump” and “Trump Administration” appear 300 times in its pages. At least 140 former Trump officials are involved in Project 2025, according to a CNN tally. It’s reasonable to expect that a second Trump presidency would follow many of the project’s recommendations.' " ~ Scientific American
Project 2025 - Presidential Transition Project - Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise is about "taking the reins of government" with proposed changes of specific Federal governmental Departments in common defense, general welfare, the economy, and independent regulatory agencies. Their "goal is to assemble an army of aligned, vetted, trained, and prepared conservatives to go to work on Day One to deconstruct the Administrative State." The 2023 book of 878 pages is a conservative blueprint for "creating policy solutions... based on the core principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. The closing word is"onward", but many American believe it is actually "backward."
On July 9, 2024 PBS News offered A look at the Project 2025 plan to reshape government and Trump’s links to its authors
Resources
Here's a link to the 2024 Democratic Party Platform (note: although this was released August 18, 2024 references in the document are primarily to President Biden rather than Kamala Harris.)
Our Economy from the Bottom Up & Middle Out
Economic Progress
Investing In America
Good Jobs
Small Businesses
Agriculture
Fighting Poverty
Ending Special Interest Giveaways
2. Rewarding Work, Not Wealth
Cutting Taxes For Working Families
Making The Wealthy & Big Corporations Pay Their Fair Share
3. Lowering Costs
Health Care & Prescription Drugs
Child Care, Home Care, & Paid Leave
Gas & Groceries
Corporate Greed
Housing
Education
Social Security, Pensions, & Medicare
4. Tackling the Climate Crisis, Lowering Energy Costs, & Securing Energy Independence
Producing Cleaner, More Affordable Energy
Lowering Energy Costs
Creating Clean Energy Jobs
Reducing Pollution & Making Polluters Pay
Environmental Justice
Building Climate Resilient Communities
Conservation
Global Climate Leadership
5. Protecting Communities & Tackling the Scourge of Gun Violence
Gun Safety
Policing & Public Safety
Criminal Justice
Violence Against Women
6. Strengthening Democracy, Protecting Freedoms, & Advancing Equity
Judges Voting Rights
Stopping The Influence Of Special Interests
Reproductive Freedom
Women’s Rights
Racial Equity
Lgbtqi+
Disability
Tribal Nations
Combating Hate & Protecting Freedom Of Religion
Freedom Of The Press
Arts & Humanities
D.C., Puerto Rico, Territories
7. Securing our Border & Fixing the Broken Immigration System
Securing The Border
Expanding Legal Immigration & Deterring Illegal Immigration
8. Advancing the President’s Unity Agenda
Beating The Opioid Epidemic
Investing In Mental Health
Protecting Kids Online, Strengthening Americans’ Data Privacy, & Promoting Competition
Ending Cancer As We Know It
Meeting Our Nation’s Sacred Obligation To Veterans And Military Families
9. Strengthening American Leadership Worldwide
Europe
Indo-Pacific
China
The Middle East & North Africa
Western Hemisphere
Africa
Strengthening The U.S. And Global Economy
Leading With Diplomacy And American Values
Strongest Military In The World
PBS News offers a broad perspective on What is a party platform? Here’s how they’re made and what you should pay attention to.
CNN offers an annotation of the 2024 Republican Party platform, noting it is their first new platform since 2016 which "mainlines the former president’s policies and makes Trump himself a focus of the party. It is a fraction of the length of the 2016 platform and written in Trump’s voice." Trump’s signature motto, Make America Great Again" is now the official tagline of the Republican Party.
The Non-profit and non-partisan American Presidency Project hosted at the University of California, Santa Barbara has an analysis of the 2024 Republican Party Platform (as of July 8, 2024) and the 2024 Democratic Platform (as of August 19, 2024).
Although now out of date, Diffen attempts to catalog recent differences between Democrats vs. Republicans. One still relevant reader comment is that "The Republican party is not conservative. The Republican party has no platform anymore. The platform since 2020 is whatever Trump says it is. It has become a cult, not a political party."
Comments