A serious concern for the coming election

by Joseph Nangle, OFM
Pax Christi USA 2023 Teacher of Peace

A specter lurked over the Republican National Convention this week and lurks over its entire presidential campaign. It is “in the shadows,” so to speak, and not much spoken about publicly. But it exists. Drawn up by the hard right think tank the Heritage Foundation,* it is called “Project 2025” or formally “The 2024 Presidential Transition Project” and lays out a 900-page plan for a takeover of the entire United States government apparatus.

The 2024 Presidential Transition Project has laid out its stated goals. And, if true, they are frightening.

Executive power

• Replace civil servants and agency experts with MAGA loyalists
• Order the prosecution of political opponents
• Pardon January 6 insurrectionists
• Defund the Department of Justice
• Dismantle the Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Eliminate the Department of Commerce
• Require local law enforcement to use stop and frisk

Education

• Eliminate the Department of Education
• Eliminate early childhood education and nutrition assistance through Head Start
• Allow guns in classrooms
• Cut funding for schools with mask mandates

Climate

• Dismantle National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Attack National Environmental Policy Act
• Push a pro-fossil fuel agenda.

Immigration

• Mass deportations
• Re-instate family separation policy
• Re-instate Muslim ban
• Terminate the legal status of 500,000 Dreamers
• Block federal financial aid for up to two-thirds of all U.S. American college students
• Threaten funding for states who do not share drivers’ licenses and taxpayer info with federal authorities

LGBTQ+ Rights

• Promote heterosexual marriage
• Discriminate against transgender communities
• Ban school teachers from using names or pronouns other than those assigned sex at birth

It would take many more pages than we have here to parse these objectives. But a word here about two or three of the most egregious of them:

• “Allow guns in classrooms”: Can we imagine what it means to have curious children know that in their teachers’ desks are, presumably loaded, guns? How many parents have had such weapons in their homes with tragic results?
• “Mass deportations” and “Terminate the legal status of 500,000 Dreamers”: Project 2025 would forcibly send away literally millions of immigrants who have lived, paid taxes, and continue to take the most menial jobs in our country.

Despite the relative secrecy surrounding Project 2025, it is out there and needs to be taken seriously.

Catholic Christians have a word to say about this ominous initiative. In contrast to the “principles” of Project 2025, consider the principles of Catholic social teaching:

• Life and dignity of the human person (the foundation of a moral vision for society)
• Call to family, community and participation (the human person is sacred and social)
• Rights and responsibilities (human dignity can be protected if only human rights are protected)
• Option for those who are poor and vulnerable (a moral test for any society)
• The dignity of work and the rights of workers (the economy must serve people, not the other way around)
• Solidarity (we are one human family)
• Care for God’s creation (we are called to protect people and our planet)

Practically speaking, there are rays of hope. The Project can be combatted beginning with honest poll workers. (The Franciscan Action Network has sent out a call for people across the country to serve in that capacity.) Local elections – school board members, city councils, neighborhood organizers – fill accessible, elected positions which clearly the promoters of Project 2025 will attempt to capture.

*The Heritage Foundation is a Washington-based think tank with the self-described aim to ensure GOP majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate by aiding “key conservative fighters” in “tough general elections.”

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Joe Nangle OFM is a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace and the 2023 Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace. As a member of the Assisi Community in Washington, D.C., he is dedicated to simple living and social change. Joe also serves as the Pastoral Associate for the Latino community at Our Lady Queen of Peace, Arlington, Virginia.