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My Point of View by Brad Kramer

Recent criticisms of Project 2025, particularly from liberal media and local political groups, have been alarmist and misleading. Some have even gone so far as to create dramatic representations, like a mannequin holding a “Handmaid’s Tale” sign, to stoke fears about this plan. To get a clearer picture, I decided to investigate the document myself. It’s available online at: https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf, and while it’s 922 pages long, my review of about 200 pages shows that much of the criticism is humorously exaggerated.

Project 2025 is a comprehensive plan developed by a conservative think tank, divided into five sections: Taking the Reins of Government, The Common Defense, The General Welfare, The Economy, and Independent Regulatory Agencies. Each section details recommendations for various government departments. For example, the chapter on the Department of Housing and Urban Development is authored by Dr. Ben Carson, MD.

After printing and reading about 200 pages of the document, I have one response for all the criticism leveled at it: Laughter! The utter dramatics as the left throws around dystopian messages that Project 2025 is going to strip women of rights and send us back to one room schoolhouses are a complete and utter farce!

As a conservative, I found everything I read to be reassuring and in line with my values. I printed the chapters related to the departments I am most familiar with and the departments like Health and Human Services, Housing, Education and other departments that would most impact my daily life, and the Department of Defense, which plays a critical role in our national security. There is nothing cryptic or weird in this document, as far as I can see. Nothing that would relegate women back to second-class citizens. Anyone who says otherwise has not read the document itself.

Much of each chapter spends the bulk of the time explaining the layout of the department, its responsibilities, accomplishments or weaknesses, if it has become politicized and how so, and other explanations of the department that put the recommendations into context. I must say that this explanation of the executive branch of the federal government was very interesting. It explains the best way I’ve ever seen what all the cabinet positions are and how they impact us. They would also explain how Trump’s vs. Biden’s policies impacted the department (Biden’s policies are horrible … spoiler alert).

In The General Welfare section, they laid out the path to eliminating the Department of Education to return that authority back to the state and local levels. The U.S. DOE contributes very little to the outcome of children’s education and focuses more on politicizing education, adding ever increasing mandates and serving the teacher’s unions.

Remember that Democrats constantly call conservatives fascists and remember that the definition of a fascist is that it “exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” There are numerous topics within Project 2025 that aim to return power to local and state representatives. That is the opposite of fascism.

In the chapter on Health and Human Services, the writer lays out five goals:

1. Protecting life, conscience, and bodily integrity

2. Empowering patient choices and provider autonomy

3. Promoting stable and flourishing married families

4. Preparing for the next health emergency

5. Instituting greater transparency, accountability and oversight

Goal 1 leads to several places in the document where they focus on the intention to limit funding or public resources related to abortion, but not to ban abortions. It refers the actual legality back to the states to decide and explicitly states, “Miscarriage management or standard ectopic pregnancy treatments should never be conflated with abortion.”

It makes the case to ban funding for Planned Parenthood and abortion travel. It also aims to prioritize funding for home-based child care, education and resources for parents, doulas for maternal care and more.

Project 2025 takes aim at bureaucracy, red-tape and wasteful spending. For example, it spells out several ways that big pharma is currently funding CDC and NIH inappropriately, creating millions of dollars worth of conflict of interest. Rather than eliminating welfare programs like SNAP, WIC and TANF throughout the Department of Ag and Health and Human Services, it lays out ways to improve the services of those departments while cutting wasteful spending and bureaucracy.

In summary, Project 2025 is not the threat some portray it to be. It’s a strategic plan aimed at improving government operations and addressing current inefficiencies. I encourage you to read the document yourself to understand its true nature and the thoughtful recommendations it contains. We in the Republican Party want a strong and prosperous America, where the American dream is alive and well, where all Americans live in a safe and prosperous nation.

Brad Kramer is a member of the Freeborn County GOP Party.