Project 2025: A High School Essay… ? (And Rather Poor at That; And a Disastrous Flop)

The Perched Eye blog is 16 years old,  beginning from 2009 with President Barack Obama's election. The Perched Eye is eclectic ...  we strive to see and write about the styles and directions of American politics and culture, with an occasional comment on the impact of new technologies. We hope our observations attract and sharpen the eye of the reader... in today's world the 'pen' still remains unblunted.  Pericles 21, Author.

PROJECT 2025 IS A DEBACLE!

Project 2025 was supposed to be the conservative GOP's solution to their notions of America's problems - government size and inefficiencies, immigration, crime, economic waste, and more, much much more.

But 10 months later, '2025 has turned out to be more of a superficial, strung-together essay written in ignorance of adult, real world consequences.

 '2025' can still sound with its catchy, but empty phrases that ring around the brain for second or so ....until one realizes how much real-world pain and destruction they've caused. And 2025 is especially painful and damaging to the very audience '2025 was claimed to be written for...Trump's MAGA base.

’25's authors - Heritage Foundation? The Federalist Society? Clubby elitists, Elon Musks managerial-IT flying monkeys … have turned out to be naive, inexperienced (and generally underaged) phrase mongers who apparently sat around at exclusive country spots and downtown gathering places patting each other on the back for ‘smart’ phrases they believed would solve America's governance 'problems (as hey saw it) and incientally preserve 'their' way of life whatever that meant. 

But 'lo and behold' 2025 quickly began to wreck not only the democratic institutions Musk's minions claimed to want to help (but seemed to detest) but 2025  just as quickly threatened their own safety, economic security and peace of mind. (2025 continues to affect America like a bad hangover.)

To the casual eye, a first ‘reading’(look-scan) of the voluminous ’25 tome might have impressed one by the apparent ‘work’ that went into compiling such a lengthy target list of hated institutions that included Medicare, SNAP and USAID..essential elements of America's social safety net and its global diplomatic outreach.

But after ten-plus months we've realized  that that the list is superficially lacks real thought and consideration of consequences, linkages and of what 2025's erasures actually might mean for America and America’s allies and global economic alliances.

’25 reveals its authors have neither sophistication of thought and planning nor an even elementary notions of basic business school principles.

Project 2025 has proven have a startling lack of insight and foresight about consequences.

For example, in the agricultural arena, ’25’s targeting of immigrant farm labor (for deportation) was quickly implemented by masked non-uniformed vigilante raiding-crews…decisive yes but depleting a critical tool needed to plant and harvest America’s crops…in many sectors resulting in fruits and vegetables rotting in fields.

And then the tariff issue. The quickly enacted so-called defensive tariffs actually revealed a shocking gnorance of what ‘tariff’ actually means and who pays tariffs…it’s not the nasty foreign (-er) source, it’s America who collects tariffs at incoming ports. The application of high (and shifting) tariffs on close allies revealed ‘25’s ignorance of global trade interdependences and consequences...America’s historical trading partners have been forced to find more favorable trading partners…amongst America’s long established enemies. T

2025's resultant shift and warping of post World War 2 trade alliances and partners has gotten out of control. We've has even estranged CANADA!

Project 25 even successfully sold itself to the very domestic groups it has turned out to wreck: agribusiness, auto manufacturers, ‘protected’ immigrants whose protections are being canceled (Cubans especially), cancellation of birthright protection, and many more reversals of immigrant policies that appear to target people of color.

In other words, Project 25 seems to be at root a 'plan' implemented by a klan-like cabal of threatened white male elites who hide their race-fears and race-elitism behind hollow sophistry…that fooled and distracted so many groups that were the actual targets.

GOP : A Lesson of Non-Survival from the Past - the Ruin of the Roman Empire because of Too Much Looking Back for Answers to the Present

James J. O'Donnell (Provost, Georgetown University) writes that in the sixth century the Roman Empire failed largely by not being able to keep up with change both inside the empire and in the world outside. Instead of coming up with new ideas and policies, Rome adopted a conservative outlook and blindly held on to beliefs and policies (ideologies) of the past (James J. O'Donnell, The Ruin of the Roman Empire: HarperCollins e-books, 2008). Professor O'Donnell describes, in Rome's moment of crisis, the empire's leaders desparately needed to understand how Rome was changing and how Rome might adapt to new nations and rivals. Instead, Rome chose to be true to its past ambitions and accomplishments, with catastropic consequences and the end of the empire. Dr. O'Donnell writes:

Old errors are easy to reenact—as fading empires, bereft of self-awareness,struggle again to use their old power to preserve themselves, and in so doing risk weakening beyond repair; as religious communities mistake their faith for destiny and find pretexts for behavior that goes beyond even the unconscionable and the imaginable...[and generate] a noisy anxiety of those who would transform — that is, ruin — what they do not understand.

Dr. O'Donnell advises a current path for America: calmness, pragmatism and putting aside fear of the future.

However, the GOP appears to be repeating the demise of 500AD Rome. GOP is so out of touch it can only dig in its heels at every intellectual or policy challenge facing America that calls out for change and say "No".

To be sure, the world and America are undergoing rapid changes. But to many Americans, the quickened pace and new directions are exciting challenges because they point to welcomed "Change" by providing opportunities for new ideas and policies. While the majority of Americans and the world are putting their shoulders to the wheel and helping to dig out solutions, the GOP seems without a clue except to vainly, desparately do absolutely nothing and to block all forward movement. The best the GOP seems capable of is to plaintively invoke the old shibboleth of "Reaganism".

The plight of GOP spokespersons is clear: they appear empty-minded and lacking new ideas that are appropriate for current times. Sadly, also, the GOP have perfected the art of embarassingly bad-behavior such as making adolescent, racist jokes at awkward and ill-timed moments(Limbaugh, Beck, Bachman, Hannity, et al). The GOP show is so ragged it is hard to look at. Are GOP truly that bereft of ideas, honor, maturity, self-respect? 'Fraid so. But,.... the tickets are free to those of us watching the clown in center ring.