House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (center) is flanked by Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (left) and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar
As we watch in horror as Project 2025 wreaks its havoc on the American landscape, its policies, and institutions, the one consolation we have is that the perpetrators are clumsily implementing their blueprint for dismantling government with reckless abandon, hubris, and incompetent people in critical roles, a recipe for failure. However, the damage the MAGA mob is inflicting upon the nation, its citizens, and residents may take decades to repair, even if they fail in their quest to transform the USA into an authoritarian regime.
I see this as another stress test for our democracy. The Civil War and the battle over slavery were the mother of all stress tests, and the Union survived, barely under the superlative leadership of President Abraham Lincoln. However, it cost him his life at the hands of an assassin, John Wilkes Booth. The Framers knew of the fragility of democracy when they set out to create a self-governing nation of citizens. It has survived for nearly 250 years, but not without a struggle. As Benjamin Franklin quipped when asked about the nature of the government he had helped create, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Last year, I was asked to write an article for the Encyclopedia of Social Work titled, Politics of Preserving Democracy in a Diverse Society, an eye-opening exercise. Like many Americans, I thought I knew the story of the founding of the United States. The more I learned about the Framers’ struggles, the more I appreciated their genius. One of the threats to democracy they feared most was diversity among the citizenry because they knew a bad actor would eventually try to use that diversity to divide the country. They understood the danger slavery posed to the new nation, which is why they left voting and decision-making to land-owning white males only, an attempt to reduce diversity.
The nation has had a few bad actors. J. Edgar Hoover readily comes to mind. But, few believed citizens would elect a foul-mouthed, prevaricating, shameless grifter to the presidency—not once, but twice! But he’s here with a blueprint—Project 2025—for transforming the United States into an illiberal democracy at best, where elections are conducted but democratic norms are eviscerated, and election results are preordained.
Democrats are imploding as the clock ticks, as we move toward the 2026 midterm elections, with the need to flip the House of Representatives if we are to hold the MAGA movement in check. Democrats need to tell voters what they will do in 2027 if they regain control of the House. They need to put it on paper. Democrats disagree on several key economic issues and often get tripped up dealing with cultural issues, but they must lay out a plan for the American people. The last time Democrats presented a comprehensive plan was the New Deal. It’s time to reboot.
Republicans flipped the House in 1994 after 40 years of Democratic control. They used their Contract with America to propel Newt Gingrich to Speaker and passed legislation that solidified the conservatives’ control of government policy that began with Ronald Reagan. The Contract with America may not have convinced voters to elect Republicans, but, if nothing else, it allowed Republican candidates to speak with consensus and clarity about their ideas for a social contract with government and the American people. It is beyond time for the Democrats to devise a plan and put it on paper.
It’s been reported that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has “teased” a project for Democrats to outline a “blueprint for a Better America,” which will be worked on over the next 100 days and present the Democratic Party’s vision for the country’s future.
CRISP has been laser-focused on American democracy’s fragility since 2018, shortly after Nancy MacLean’s book Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America was published. It was the middle of Donald Trump’s first term, but her book was not about the MAGA movement. It was a deep investigation of the Libertarian movement and the Republican Party’s effort to exert disproportionate influence on elections and governance by oligarchs led by the Koch brothers. In their thinking, majority-rule democracy impeded wealth creation. Trump did not start this onslaught on democracy, but the MAGA crowd believes they are winning. Democrats need a plan to convince American voters they can and will do better.