A FEW FREE THOUGHTS: Voting Matters : by Ken Hurley

Your vote makes a real difference.
    “Conservative warriors,” a term used by Paul Dans, are on the march! They want to forever change America as we know it, based on their belief that America is and should be a Christian Nation.
    Who is Paul Dans? Dans directs the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, which is a Presidential Transition guide book for organizing policy and personnel for the next Conservative president, should he get elected… specifically aimed at guiding the former President 45, who desperately wants to get reelected and then be recognized as King. I think he prefers the term Dictator. Let's note, the project cannot mention Trump by name. Wink. Wink. 
    Dans served in the Trump administration as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, essentially the Human Resources department for millions of federal workers.  
    Project 2025 was created by the Heritage Foundation and others as a blueprint to dismantle the administrative state and give unfettered power to an unchecked executive branch, operating on the premise of the “unitary executive” theory. This theory argues that the power of the executive branch lies entirely with the president, therefore all other administrators work exclusively at the president's beckon call. This would include eliminating the independence of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and other agencies.
    The general principle that the President controls the entire executive branch comes from an extreme vision of Article Two of the U.S. Constitution that vests executive power solely with the president. The theory was originally considered benign and harmless because it was believed that the President would obey the laws. (Ha! Cue laugh track.)
     Project 2025 is an autocratic form of the theory developed for the president to wield unprecedented power that can exceed the law. Former White House counsel, John Dean, warned in his book Broken Government (2007), "In its most extreme form, unitary executive theory can mean that neither Congress nor the federal courts can tell the President what to do or how to do it, particularly regarding national security matters."
    Project 2025 is a 900 page conservative Christian Nationalist manifesto that offers a vision of the United States where the threat to bodily autonomy is real. Where married heterosexuality is the only valid form of sexual expression and identity. Where all pregnancies would be carried to term, even if that requires coercion, prison, or death. Where transgender and gender-nonconforming people are considered non-existent.       These Conservative warriors seek to equate legal personhood with an embryo. Demand gender conformity. Make motherhood compulsory by removing mention of any alternative from all laws, all government agencies, all grants and contracts, and any other official regulations.  
    The plan proposes to slash funding for the DOJ. Dismantle the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Remove environmental and climate change regulations to favor fossil fuel production, and eliminate the cabinet Departments of Education and Commerce.
    Furthermore, Project 2025 seeks to block federal financial aid for up to two-thirds of all American college students if their state permits certain immigrant groups, such as Muslims, including Dreamers with legal status, to access in-state tuition. 
    Project 2025 wants to bar U.S. citizens from qualifying for federal housing subsidies if they live with anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. 
    These Christian Nationalist conservatives believe that freedom is defined by God. They take their cue from the Bible. “So, help me, God.” 
    If you'd like to set aside part of your precious time, please learn more about Project 2025 here: https://www.project2025.org/.      
    Makes me grateful for the First Coast Freethought Society. 
    Don't like Project 2025? Vote accordingly.
    Voting matters.

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Ken Hurley, President    
The First Coast Freethought Society; American Humanist Association, Jacksonville Chapter