The Powell Memo 2.0
The billionaire backed corporate Right wing think tanks have generated a new long game plan for the next Republican administration.
The Plan is explicitly designed to “dismantle the administrative state”.
It’s name is “Project 2025”.
Back on July 28, I wrote Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette and legislative environmental leaders and NJ press corps a warning note regarding this plan. I assume they thought it was an exaggerated conspiracy theory.
Once again, we were way out in front of the issue. Once again, NJ “leaders” fail to lead.
Now, I see that The NY Times wrote about this plan last, week, see:
Of course, the NY Times story omits a lot of context and history, which we made very clear in our warning note, see:
———- Original Message ———-
From: Bill WOLFE <>
To: “shawn.latourette@dep.nj.gov” <shawn.latourette@dep.nj.gov>, “Sean.Moriarty@dep.nj.gov” <Sean.Moriarty@dep.nj.gov>, senbsmith <SenBSmith@njleg.org>, “tmoran@starledger.com” <tmoran@starledger.com>, “fkummer@inquirer.com” <fkummer@inquirer.com>, “wparry@ap.org” <wparry@ap.org>, “jonhurdle@gmail.com” <jonhurdle@gmail.com>, sengreenstein <sengreenstein@njleg.org>, “kduhon@njleg.org” <kduhon@njleg.org>, asmmckeon <asmmckeon@njleg.org>, Robert Hennelly <rhennelly55@gmail.com>, “jpillets@icloud.com” <jpillets@icloud.com>
Date: 07/28/2023 9:39 AM PDT
Subject: “Project 2025”
Dear Commissioner LaTourette:
I write to give you a heads up and urge you to read the Heritage Foundation’s recent initiative called “Project 2025”. It is explicitly designed to “dismantle the administrative State”. FULL REPORT HERE:
Chapter 13 provides a radical agenda to dismantle EPA and virtually all regulatory, science, and climate programs – read it here:
https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_CHAPTER-13.pdf
I strongly urge you to get out in front of and do everything within your power to derail this freight train. This includes a strong public defense and expansion of regulatory programs, which is something both you and Gov. Murphy consistently either fail to defend or overtly run away from (“we’re not mandating ….” et al).
The Heritage Report is the radical right’s second long game strategic plan.
The first was outlined in the 1971 Powell Memo. The Powell memo was not taken seriously at the time it was released and the radical ideological and policy threats it posed were ignored. That abdication by people and professionals who support effective government and environmental protection contributed to the dire straights were are now in.
You know what they say about those who fail to learn from history.
Bill Wolfe
[Update: Project 2025 is an ideological-attack:
The specific deficiencies of the federal bureaucracy—size, levels of organization, inefficiency, expense, and lack of responsiveness to political leadership—are rooted in the progressive ideology that unelected experts can and should be trusted to promote the general welfare in justabout every area of social life.
The Constitution, however, reserved a few enumerated powers to the federal government while leaving the great majority of domestic activities to state, local, and private governance. As James Madison explained: “The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people; and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the state.”31 Modern progressive politics has simply given the national government more to do than the complex separa- tion-of-powers Constitution allows.
That progressive system has broken down in our time, and the only real solution is for the national government to do less: to decentralize and privatize as much as possible and then ensure that the remaining bureaucracy is managed effectively along the lines of the enduring principles set out in detail here.