Florida Is Project 2025’s Canary In The Coal Mine

Source: GIORGIO VIERA / Getty

The lines between reality and partisan fear-mongering grow fainter every day, demanding we use these last 5 days until Election Day to remind voters that conservatives’ apocalyptic vision for America’s future will only take root if we allow it.

If you’re still having trouble grasping what life in the United States could look like under a second Donald Trump presidency, guided by conservatives’ Project 2025, several key tenets of the democracy-dismantling playbook are already on full display in Florida.

From its abhorrent 6-week abortion ban and ever-expanding limits on LGBTQ+ rights to the removal of all “climate change” mentions from state law, Florida’s current political landscape offers a glimpse at how the Heritage Foundation’s 900-plus-page policy blueprint will upend practically every aspect of daily life for most Americans.

Consider, for instance, that nearly 200 languages are spoken in Florida, yet language restrictions deter non-English-speaking voters from accessing the ballot box. Our voting hours continue to dwindle, voter registration sites persistently malfunction, registration rolls are purged, and local governments persist in obstructing accommodations for our disabled voters. Florida’s ruling party persists in obstructing the voting rights of minorities, and under current law, they will continue to find ways to legally manipulate district maps to marginalize minority groups statewide.

When Congress gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, a void emerged that our legislatures and presidents have allowed to fester rather than safeguard our right to vote. Instead, voter misinformation, partisan districting and state-sponsored legal attacks on minority groups from Miami to Milton have only widened this us-versus-them narrative.

And then there are the book bans, the authoritarian police task forces and the reprehensible “Don’t Say Gay” law, all of which use tax dollars to impose regressive, often punitive policies for having the audacity to exist as a free-thinking human.

All of this is by design, and the chief architects are just getting started, unless we hold them to account.

And let’s not even waste breath discussing the proposed disbanding by Project 2025 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal agency charged with forecasting, monitoring and informing the public about weather-related disasters. In the immediate wake of Hurricane Helene’s powerful path of destruction, it is unconscionable to even consider nixing such a vital public service when emergency management officials are still accounting for the dead and missing, some as far inland as 500 miles away from where the storm made its Florida landfall.

Climate change is undeniably real, and anyone living in my beloved home state who thinks that sharing life-saving meteorological information amounts to government overreach should take a moment to reflect deeply on the privilege required to turn a blind eye – and cold heart – to indiscriminate death and destruction, especially as Hurricanes Helene and Milton ripped through several parts of the state.

Fortunately, Florida voters have the power to halt actual government overreach by casting their ballots on Amendments 3 and 4, which would legalize recreational marijuana use and possession for anyone at least 21 years old and limit government interference with abortion and the right to bodily autonomy, respectively. 

The important thing to remember in the homestretch to Election Day is the power of effective, coordinated voter education to empower voters to make informed choices that serve their own best interests and support the communities they call home and family.

If your vision for a life well-lived includes the autonomy to make personal health decisions, live your truth and cast a ballot in peace, recognize now that Florida is Project 2025’s canary in the coal mine and that caged bird is singing a sorrowful song.

Moné Holder is Chief Advocacy & Political Officer at Florida Rising, where she develops strategies to build political power in marginalized communities with a distinct focus on the Black and Brown communities most frequently disenfranchised by partisan maneuvering.

SEE ALSO:

Advocates Breakdown Project 2025 And Other Important Issues For Black Voters

NAACP President Derrick Johnson Delivers Powerful Breakdown Of Project 2025’s Impact On Black People

Read more