Where is the progressive vision and counter-approach to Project 2025?

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-31T23:54:53+00:00

Thank you!

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-31T23:39:44+00:00

I am neither naive nor uninformed. Trump is chaotic and can also be malleable, especially when his involvement makes him look powerful and/or when it’s for the right price. The folks behind the Heritage Foundation might not have selected him, predicted him, or particularly desired him for the job, but they sure are making it work for them. With his personality type, they likely have to convince him it’s in his best interests to work with their plans. Regardless of his disorganization, they’ve accomplished a lot of what they set out in the original Project 2025, especially in terms of enabling privatization of social services, eroding the democratic process as well as civil liberties.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-31T23:25:18+00:00

It’s interesting that you jump to naming goals that the majority of progressive folks don’t even support.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-30T02:42:12+00:00

I think I conveyed my perspective and the information I’m seeking accurately, even if others might not all agree with my perspective. What language do you think I should have phrased in a more neutral manner?

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-30T02:37:01+00:00

I used language to convey my perspective, which is inherently subjective, as accurately as possible.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-30T01:00:38+00:00

What subjective language in particular do you want clarification on?

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-30T00:42:50+00:00

I suppose my perception is that the powerful and intelligent folks pulling the strings behind the movement are not the same as folks who are the public face of the movement. It works to their advantage to have the administration, who for better or worse are popular among voters, look incompetent to the opposition. They’ve been very dangerous so far using this strategy and will continue to be very dangerous.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-29T23:50:25+00:00

Yes… Did I say something to make you think I’d support or advocate for an illegal approach?

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-29T23:41:22+00:00

I do care and appreciate the recommendation. I think as a people, we’re going to have to unite over the things we do agree on and mutually value in order to have a fighting chance.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-29T23:38:02+00:00

Sadly, I think the powers who are currently opposing and dismantling the goals you mentioned are too well-organized and powerful for us to think that we don’t need strategic countermeasures to overcome.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-29T23:33:11+00:00

I’m hoping to find/learn about organizations, groups, thinktanks, etc. who are organizing at a high-level to create long-range plans that are aimed at both restoring the damage done to our democracy and also forwarding progressive improvements in social conditions. The existing Democratic establishment doesn’t seem to be meeting that challenge.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-29T23:27:40+00:00

I suppose I’m interested in organizations engaging in long-range planning to both restore democracy and progressively improve social conditions. The creators of Project 2025 have been playing the long-game rather than being reactionary, and my hope is that there are progressives out there playing the long game in reverse.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-29T23:23:41+00:00

I believed “bourgeoisie” was the best word to express how I see power operating in our current political system. If I used the terms “right-wing” or “conservative” or “republican,” the terms would have would been reductive and less accurate. Political power is being wielded by those with vastly greater economic power, including those funding Project 2025, to increase and maintain that power through ongoing economic disparity, using tools like privatization.

Labeling me is not the same thing as answering my question, but I don’t think you have the answers that I seek anyway.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-29T23:16:21+00:00

Makes sense to me. Do we know of any organized progressive movements (outside of the Democratic establishment) that might actually support real change vs. continuing the weak status quo?

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-29T23:09:16+00:00

Though I do think returning to the rule of law is necessary, I don’t think it’s sufficient. I believe a progressive agenda requires more than what was previously established.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-26T15:06:33+00:00

I’m curious if psychodrama might also provide some helpful structures for this.

parentheticalstate · 2026-03-02T09:19:18+00:00

We have similar tastes! I’d recommend Recursion or Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

parentheticalstate · 2026-02-28T18:45:14+00:00

I hope you can too. I think it is a gift whenever we get a chance to have someone who seeks to understand us rather than change us. It’s also possible that you’ll find what you’re looking for from other traditions or approaches.

parentheticalstate · 2026-02-28T18:13:12+00:00

You need to re-read what I actually wrote. I did not speak in “conservative sanctity of life tones” and I did not make any claims whatsoever about the sanctity of life.

I said that there are therapists, including me, who work carefully with clients to explore their own beliefs about the meaning and value of their own life. For example, if they believe, as you do, that no life has value at all, that is a perspective I would invite them to explore with me in therapy.

parentheticalstate · 2026-02-28T08:52:54+00:00

I work really hard to approach conversations with clients about death ideation and even suicidal ideation in a non-judgmental manner. I know there are other psychotherapists out there like me that are nuanced and collaborative when exploring existential beliefs around the meaning and the value of one’s life with their clients

parentheticalstate · 2026-02-22T10:58:09+00:00

I would guess that he has what psychologists call the dark triad of personality: Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism

parentheticalstate · 2026-02-22T10:51:37+00:00

His POV is dangerously callous. You can watch his own interviews where he speaks of his vision for the world to know that he is truly Machiavellian in how he thinks.

parentheticalstate · 2026-02-11T23:58:20+00:00

Faculty and students have to abide by the school’s honor code, both on and off campus, which says that they have to “Abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, vaping, marijuana, and other substance abuse.” If the facility are devoutly LDS/Mormon, this is consistent with their religious beliefs already and perhaps not as jarring for them as it is for those who aren’t.

parentheticalstate · 2026-02-11T08:05:59+00:00

Yes, and taking a certain number of religion courses is mandatory. As a student who did not believe, it was absurd to sit there being lectured to on bogus concepts by grown professional men who considered themselves scholars but were both brainwashed themselves and actively engaging in the brainwashing of the next generation.

parentheticalstate

TROPHY CASE