Kickstarting Project 2029 and a Bold Declaration of Interdependence
Today, we are kicking off a series about Project 2029 and having a short discussion about a companion to the Declaration of Independence.
Today, we are kicking off a series about Project 2029. It will cover who is working on it, what it should include, and how to implement it. The clock is ticking, so here we go.
There are two things I love about Project 2025. The fact that they had a bold plan and put it out in the open. Now, it’s our turn. Trump had to run from Project 2025 while campaigning. Once elected, it was the playbook. Done right, Project 2029 should be a great asset, something to run for instead of running against MAGA. People are looking for concrete plans from their elected officials.
I think Project 2029 comes from inside the coalition of groups aligned with the Democrats, not the Democratic Party itself. The Republican Party didn’t develop Project 2025. The Heritage Foundation published it, a conservative think tank with a revolving door to the Republican Party.
What we will cover
My first focus in this series will be governmental reform topics. They are the linchpin for real change. We are going to be treading water at best on issues until we fix the way our government functions.
No one has much faith in their government. There is a good reason for that. Now that we are into Trump’s second term, it’s worse. The norms that hold our government together are being torn apart. The swamp of corruption and dysfunction is growing.
Fundamental reforms to the system will attract the independents and Republican defectors we need to win elections. I have seen evidence of this firsthand while canvassing in rural Wisconsin. Independent voters who voted for Trump were on board with the idea of a candidate focused on government reform.
We will also cover other areas with the governmental sphere of influence. We will focus on the forces and factors driving our economy, healthcare, criminal justice, foreign policy, and more.
Along the way, we will cover the groups working on all of this, including a group developing Project 2029. Whatever plan develops will have to incorporate these issue-specific groups, some of whom have had legislation before Congress.
Finally we will cover what you can do about all of this. From direct work for these groups, to demanding your elected officials support reform, and educating your fellow citizens.
What’s in a Name and The Long Game
Some people don’t like the term Project 2029. The name matters, but not as much as the plan. One thing I do dislike about it is that it sets expectations that with four years of prep and four years of work, we can move a mountain. Done right, we can certainly accomplish a lot, but our problems won’t all be solved 8 years from now.
We also need a “shared vision” for where we want our country to be. We cannot be a nation that fights back and forth every four years over the same issues. We need to work through a higher-level, longer-term vision of where we are going together. This vision is how we renew our country, not with conflict, but with heated debate about what we want to pass down to future generations to work towards.
The Iroquois Confederacy was a powerful alliance of Native American nations who united under a sophisticated system of governance based on peace and consensus. It significantly influenced colonial politics and is considered one of the earliest examples of democracy in North America. It is also an inspiration for this idea of a longer-term vision. They grounded their decisions in thinking about how their actions will affect people seven generations from now.
.We are not just owners of this land. We are stewards. We received this world as a gift from our ancestors, and it is our job to maintain it so we can pass it along to our descendants. We can’t be the generation that uses it all up.
Next year marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It spoke of our rights as human beings. That idea was perfect for its time. You could live off the land. There was plenty of it to go around. Those days are gone.
Today, we live on a “flat, hot, and crowded planet”. We are all interdependent. No one truly lives without help from others. Even if you live off the grid, you still depend on law enforcement or the military to keep you safe. The idea of “true independence” is “largely a myth”.
Because we are so connected, we can’t just talk about our rights. We must also talk about our responsibilities to each other. Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl understood this. In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, he argued that freedom can degenerate into arbitrariness without the balance of responsibility. He even proposed a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast as a counterpoint to the Statue of Liberty.
Declaration of Interdependence
I’d like to see a “Declaration of Interdependence”. A companion document to the Declaration of Independence. One that outlines the responsibilities of safeguarding our liberty. One that cements foundational beliefs we can all agree on. One that helps us keep the vision despite our differences.
I’m working with Gemini on what that might look like if it mirrored the original in structure. Here are some parts I’ve worked out that I like.
We affirm these truths to be foundational: that all people are created equal, and that their inherent rights—including life, liberty, and the pursuit of well-being—are inseparable from their responsibilities to the collective community.
We acknowledge that the world we inhabit today, two and a half centuries removed from our founding, is entirely transformed and accelerating at an unprecedented rate. Therefore, when an established form of governance, though once vital, is no longer equipped to help us thrive within these complexities, it is not merely the right but the urgent duty of the people to adapt and evolve that system. We are not absolving old political bonds, but rather rebuilding essential connections of cooperation with our neighbors, recognizing that our true strength is found only in our collective success.
In the middle are the grievances against the crown, there is no end shortcomings of our current form of government we could list. And it needs a nice call to action at the end.
If the idea sounds good feel free to run with it. When we look at what has held us together for 250 years, there is nothing more foundational than the Declaration of Independence, and maybe it’s about time that we balance that out with the Declaration of Interdependence.
Again, the goal of this series of podcasts is to cover short-term steps we should take, along with the long-term vision that aligns our government with the needs of all the people. One that leaves the world better than we found it.