Project 2025

TO: Editors of The Economist:

Thank you for publishing the essay by Paul Dans. After endless “explanations” and “denials” of what is in Project 2025, we now have it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Dans underscores the necessity of reform citing the looming U.S. financial crisis. The country has $36 trillion in debt. The 2025 budget includes $7 trillion in expenditure, $1.9 trillion more than expected revenue, thereby increasing the debt by $1.9 trillion. Without aligning federal spending and revenue, the country faces economic stagnation and a loss of confidence by the creditors financing the debt.

Not all that $7 trillion is being well spent. An overhaul is long overdue. But a woodchipper and a chain saw are not the tools for the job. The ill-conceived attack on waste and fraud in the federal bureaucracy has produced its own waste – of time and money. By violating laws and norms, the so-called DOGE is upending countless lives of government employees and the people they serve, and having to back pedal on many of its initiatives. The loss of institutional knowledge is a serious setback for future functioning of the government; the baby is being thrown out with the bathwater.

What needs to be reformed is how we govern. There is only one president. As Dans wrote: the executive power is invested in the president. “Execute” is a synonym for “administer;” the president administers – runs – the government, in accordance with the laws set by Congress, whose job it is to “legislate.” The judicial branch adjudicates controversaries. That is why there are three branches of government specified in the Constitution.

The policies of the current administration are clearly designed to benefit higher income families at the expense of lower income families. Looking for cuts in nutrition programs or health services or education, while extending a massive tax cut for wealthy taxpayers, is indefensible. A country that has been blessed with unprecedented wealth should continue to find resources for providing those threatened services. The U.S. has the know-how and the capacity to repair physical and digital infrastructure, increase housing supply, assure adequate energy, clean the environment, improve healthcare, and fund the research that will make all these goals possible.

The entire population will benefit when all members of society have the wherewithal to enjoy comfortable and productive lives. The influence of “big money” got the country into dire straits. Restoring the vote to people rather than dollars would be a start. The amount of money spent on elections is obscene. Corporate executives and lobby-funding organizations can vote at the local library like everyone else. Repeal Citizens United and we will be on the way.