Heritage Foundation’s Vision for America: Project 2025
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In a nod to Ronald Reagan’s 1967 inaugural address as governor of California where he stated, “Freedom is a fragile thing, and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction,” Kevin D. Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, highlights this sentiment in his foreword to Project 2025. This initiative serves as a comprehensive plan for the Trump administration, with a focus on preserving a particular vision of freedom. Roberts outlines four primary objectives: fostering family as the cornerstone of American life, dismantling federal bureaucracy, safeguarding U.S. sovereignty and borders, and protecting individual freedoms.
Project 2025 provides insight into the priorities of Donald Trump’s second term, with significant emphasis on reducing federal government influence. The initiative to revive traditional family structures is less publicized but holds the potential to significantly impact the lives of many Americans. This focus on family reflects the deeply held beliefs of Project 2025’s contributors, although the challenge remains that diminishing the administrative state may hinder the implementation of these proposed changes.
The project underscores a commitment to traditional family models, particularly heterosexual, married couples with children. Roger Severino, author of a chapter on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), asserts that these family units are the “foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society.” He advocates for federal support of organizations that uphold a “biblically based, social-science-reinforced definition of marriage and family,” citing stability and potential financial prosperity as benefits.
Strategies for realizing these family-centric goals are detailed across various executive departments. Proposed changes include more favorable savings rules for married couples, collaboration with faith-based organizations to support low-income fathers, and educational initiatives to strengthen marriage and encourage commitment among unmarried couples. Furthermore, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program would gather data on marriage and family formation.
In this worldview, traditional gender roles are emphasized, with men as providers and women as caregivers. Max Primorac, in his chapter on USAID, argues against “woke” politics and positions the agency as a tool for U.S. policy. Jonathan Berry, writing about the Department of Labor, calls for understanding the challenges women face professionally and the causes of wage disparities. Suggestions include monthly data on family welfare and educational data sorted by family structure. Severino proposes compensating parents for childcare or funding family-provided care, opposing universal daycare which is seen as encouraging women to work outside the home.
Despite its conservative leaning, Project 2025 finds some common ground across political lines. Severino envisions universal access to doulas for expectant mothers, while Berry suggests incentivizing workplace childcare and reforming overtime pay policies to offer more time off instead of additional pay. He also proposes requiring time-and-a-half pay for Sabbath work, with flexibility for different religious observances.
Realizing these plans would necessitate significant engagement from federal agencies. However, recent actions by Trump and Elon Musk to reduce the workforce in key departments may impede these efforts. Plans to dismantle the Department of Education and HHS’s buyout offers to employees exemplify these challenges.
Elements of Project 2025 already being implemented by the Trump administration focus on a binary gender concept, which has implications for trans and nonbinary individuals. Measures include an executive order defining sex as binary and the dissolution of the White House Gender Policy Council. Further actions include banning transgender women from women’s sports, limitations on transgender military service, and redefining Title IX to address biological sex only.
Attacks on nontraditional gender identities have become a hallmark of right-wing politics, despite the fact that transgender individuals represent less than 2% of the population. Project 2025’s emphasis on a pro-family agenda provides insight into why these individuals are considered a threat to this worldview, which does not accommodate gender fluidity.
While Trump has not aggressively pursued stricter abortion policies, Project 2025 advocates for significant changes, including withdrawing FDA approval for abortion drugs and promoting abstinence-only education. The vision for America under Project 2025 resembles a return to 1950s values, with traditional family roles, minimal government intervention, and limited recognition of LGBTQ rights.
This article has been adapted from David A. Graham’s new book, The Project.
