The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Atwood is a renowned piece of literature that depicts a version of the United States where a hyper-religious group overthrew the government, and society was altered to one where the LBTGQ + community was wiped out and women were stripped of their rights, turned into objects. I loved this book because of the writing and how well-written it is. However, at the same time, I was also afraid of the book. After reading it, I couldn’t help but look at American news differently. The book made be scared because I saw so much of it in today’s world, especially reading it right after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade. However, despite politicians such as Trump, who had authoritarian possibilities, I had hope that the democratic infrastructure that the United States was built on would hold firm. However, that hope crumbled as soon as I was introduced to Project 2025.
So, what is Project 2025?
Project 2025 is an incentive formed by far-right conservative Republicans in the US, mainly by the Heritage Foundation and former Trump officials. Their goal is to “save the country from the left” and make the US a better country. Within Project 2025 they have written 887 pages of policy they plan to implement once Trump or another one of their members gets elected and a 180-day playbook that states what will happen in the 180 days of the Trump administration. The point of it is to prevent having a repeat of Trump’s last term where they were ill-prepared which led to him not getting a second term.
Why is it so concerning?
The policies propose a majority of things that will cause the United States to turn from the oldest democracy to a handmaid’s tale/Hunger Games dystopian dictatorship.
The policies and plans we should be concerned about:
-Strip the Justice court of their autonomy would make it challenging to deliver fair and non-corrupt justice
-‘Administrative state’ Would allow the administration to oust federal workers who they believe are standing in the way of the president’s agenda, giving them the ability to quickly fire thousands of workers and allow them to get rid of political enemies legally
-Eliminate incentives for clean energy transition, pulling out of the pair’s agreement, stopping climate change programs, and increasing reliance on fossil fuel, which would lead to and increase climate change given the number of emissions the United States already gives out
-Abolish DEI programs in governments, Criminalizing the teaching of LBTGQ+ in classrooms, criminalize being transgender, prevent there from being federal programs supporting Queer citizens
-Criminalizing the abortion pill, removing the term abortion from all federal laws, withdrawing federal funding to agencies that provide abortions, eliminating any government programs that are pro-abortion, and reversing Biden’s law that requires hospitals to perform abortions in medical emergencies
-Impose work requirements on Medicare, preventing the people who need it from getting it
-Restrict legal immigration. You could be punished for simply living next to an illegal immigrant
-Decrease education funding and remove specific government programs meant to help improve education
-Increase in book bans (bans will include history books, books about minorities and the LBTGQ+)
-Many, many more that raise concern
Only seeing a few of the plans can hint at the true intentions of those who wrote it. They don’t care for any citizen who is not a majority. They only care about power and securing their place in the government. Additionally, they violate a considerable amount of human rights. (Articles: 1,2,3,6,7,10,12,13, 14,17-23,26-30). You could say these are just harmless plans, and in reality, they wouldn’t be implemented. Still, unfortunately, projects like these have been seen in history before The Heritage made a similar plan for the Regen administration, and he adopted 2/3rds of the policies. Many will also say the American Constitution would protect the nation from these frightening policies. Unfortunately, there are a significant number of loopholes within it that allow abuses, as seen above. However, throughout history, politicians have had the forbearance to go along with the unspoken rules of politics and not abuse those, something which, due to party polarization, has decreased in the past years, a topic I could probably write another article on.
Unfortunately, we are in Switzerland, and it is difficult to make a direct change; however, there is power behind knowledge and informing people of what is happening. When I proposed this as my article idea, half the people in the High school had no idea what it was and thought it had something to do with the new library being built by the school.
For those non-Americans reading this article, you may think that Project 2025 won’t affect Europe or your home countries; however, the global impact would be devastating. While America does have its faults as the longest-standing democracy, it has become a symbol in our world and an enforcer of democracy of sorts. (Though a lot could be said in contrast to that, which again is another article.) If our democracy falls, then quite a few other nations are expected to decline with us. We enforce the World Bank and many different international organizations and have veto power in the UN. If human rights are violated in the US that means even more will be violated around the world. In conclusion, Project 2025 affects all of us, and we need to fight and use our voices to bring awareness so those with the power to vote can keep these politicians out of office.
In a world where book bans and restrictive policies are becoming more common, voice and knowledge are the most powerful weapons we can use to combat them.
