written 14 July, 2024
published 21 July, 2024
In 1973, a military junta, with US assistance, overthrew the elected Allende government in Chile, and installed Pinochet as dictator. Massive changes were swiftly made at all levels of government, destroying the previous democracy. "Shock Doctrine", by Naomi Klein, describes this in detail. Chile didn't recover until 1990. Similar events are brewing in the US.
The billionaire class knows their self-serving policies are unpopular, and they are losing demographically. They have aligned with so called "Christian" fundamentalists, another declining demographic, to push through a last gasp effort: Project 2025.
The GOP has yet to articulate any specific policy goals for this campaign, but Project 2025 has been in secret development for years. Trump serves as a media distraction, with his torrent of lies, fantasies, and bombastic behavior, while right wing organizations have created a detailed, 900 page agenda, for the first 180 days of his next administration. Trump claims to "know nothing about it", yet over 30 members of his first administration are authors of the various sections.
One hundred groups, led by the Heritage Foundation, funded by dark money from the Donors Trust and the Koch network, funneled through the Federalist Society vice president Leonard Leo, plan to remake our government to suit their limited desires. You can read it for yourself, just search on "Project 2025 document", or find summaries.
Numerous agencies in the government would be eliminated, or redefined. Over 50,000 civil service positions will be reclassified as “at-will” workers, which the administration could then fire and replace. A list of 100,000 possible applicants is already being compiled, with MAGA loyalty the primary requirement, and knowledge appropriate to the job they will be assigned being secondary. A training academy will provide appointees with background knowledge and expertise, to immediately begin rolling back "unwanted" policies, advancing conservative, and "Christian" Nationalist ideals.
Of the ten major sections in Project 2025, this article focuses on just Climate Change.
The core goals are: ending climate protection, gutting clean energy programs, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, and deregulating the oil industry.
Four specific agencies are defined for elimination: Clean Energy Corps, Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies, DOE Loans Program, and DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. These offices invest in American manufacturing, create good paying jobs, set minimum energy efficiency standards for appliances and equipment, drive research and development, and help launch utility-scale solar and wind industries, expanding domestic manufacturing.
Another agency to chop is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, managing fishing, and protecting marine mammals in the US economic zone. For the GOP, ignorance is bliss.
The chapter on the Agency for International Development plans “rescinding all climate policies from foreign aid programs” and shutting down any offices or departments connected to the Paris Climate Agreement. It will eliminate or curtail funding to federal programs or offices related to climate change, and recommends reopening the Arctic for oil drilling, expanding other drilling projects, and leasing land in western states for coal mining.
The chapter on the Environmental Protection Agency calls for shrinking the agency by firing new hires and eliminating the environmental justice department. The author, Mandy Gunasekara, Trump's former EPA chief of staff, claims the left has "overstated the climate crisis, which will be mild and manageable".
Mild and manageable? These people are ignorant, delusional, or corrupt.
Heat is setting records everywhere, becoming more lethal. Availability of affordable homeowner's insurance is a growing concern. In Texas, millions are still out of power and flooded by hurricane Beryl, with heat coming next. Midwestern farmers can't work their flooded field. In the last two weeks, Ruidoso, New Mexico evacuated from devastating fires, and was then twice inundated by flooding.
Project 2025 will destroy our democracy and threatens the planet, so the GOP must lose. We can still vote. The Democratic candidate for president is irrelevant, compared to what the MAGA GOP Project 2025 plans. Even a head of cabbage would be better. Pick a section of Project 2025 that is important to you, and educate yourself. Decide if that is the world you want. If not, vote Democratic across the board. Democrats have their issues, but they are not pushing theocratic autocracy. Talk to everyone you know about Project 2025, so we all see what is coming. Let's leave a habitable planet for our descendants.
