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The Democratic Party is in the process of preparing for the next presidential election, and the New York Times reported at the end of June that they're working on a new policy agenda called "Project 2029," a play on the conservative Project 2025 plan that Republicans began enacting after President Trump took office.
The New York Times says that "Andrei Cherny, a onetime Democratic speechwriter and state party leader," is "organizing a group of Democratic thinkers to recreate what Mr. Trump’s allies did when he was voted out of office: draft a ready-made agenda for the next Democratic presidential nominee."
Project 2029 will roll out over the next two years and eventually become a book designed as a platform for the Democratic Party to rally behind during the presidential primary in 2028.
We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community what they'd want to see in this Project 2029, and here's what 29 of them had to say:
1. "Tax billionaires their fair share and use that money to subsidize childcare, healthcare, and any other basic life necessities."
2. "Abolish ICE, restore abortion rights, implement term limits, and expand the Supreme Court."
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3. "Take Project 2025 and add a 'no' in front of everything. We need to reverse the damage they’ve done. Then add provisions for childcare, judicial ethics, education funding, and campaign reform."
4. "Maybe not bombing civilians overseas and policing the world like every other Democrat and Republican Party and president has done for decades."
5. "Find a moderate middle-of-the-road agenda that ALL Americans can identify with and restore the changes of Project 2025. Organize a 'shadow government group' like Trump did at Mar-a-Lago around a charismatic personality with believable integrity."
6. "Raise the minimum wage so people can at least try to keep up with the cost of living."
7. "Equal protection means equal protection. Religion is not a basis to deny someone medical coverage at work. It is not a reason not to bake a cake. It is not a reason to discriminate against someone. Reverse Dobbs and protect women at all costs."
8. "A plan if a president is not reelected and refuses to leave the White House. Bills so that the next president has very limited executive order writing power. Reverse all of the current president's executive orders. All of us know we have internal, state, and federal audits so that everyone is doing their job and not stealing, so hire the federal workers back."
9. "They need to undo everything that DOGE took away. I think they need to make requirements that dictate that any member of the president's cabinet needs to be qualified and an expert in the field of that cabinet position."
10. "I think one of the Democrats' top priorities should be increasing taxes on corporations and implementing a significant flat tax rate on the ultra wealthy (something akin to Mamdani’s proposed 2% tax on the top 1% of earners in NYC) in order to increase the federal budget for programs like Social Security and Medicare for all."
11. "Politicians at all levels need to find funds and prioritize infrastructure projects. Clean air, clean water, ecosystem restoration and preservation, transportation (rails, roads, bridges, rivers), electric and pipeline grids, mail and communication, etc."
12. "Destroy monopolies. And rein in private equity firms."
13. "National voting should be either: A) moved to Saturday to afford the most people the opportunity to vote, or B) made a national holiday to allow for more voters."
14. "Use the new executive authority in our favor and against the conservative movement. Conservatives are not going to appreciate the constitution or checks and balances in power until they see such power used against them, so I reject the idea that the next Democrat president should worry about decorum and 'decency' the way Biden did."
15. "Thirty-two-hour workweeks and guaranteed vacation time (no less than four weeks per year)."
16. "Restore funding for public media and PBS, renewed funding for research and science, projects aimed at reducing climate change, and creation of sustainable housing plans."
17. "Graduated flat tax with no deductions and balanced budget amendment."
18. "Every citizen should be required to register and vote, and be fined if they fail to do so."
19. "I would like to see leaders make decisions that would benefit the younger generations, so policies on climate change, making housing prices more affordable, and equal salaries for men and women."
20. "Sign into law that ALL employees, regardless of what they do, are guaranteed a minimum of three weeks of paid time AND 10 paid sick days. This should apply to part-time employees as well, so corporate jerks can't just cut the little guy's hours to get around it. The people who need paid time off the most are usually the ones least likely to have it."
21. "Plans to overturn the Citizens United ruling. So much of the mess we’re in now came about because corporations and lobbyists are allowed to give basically as much money as they want to politicians."
22. "No more than $50,000 should be spent on any political campaign. Anyone caught spending over should be immediately disqualified and banned from ever running for any campaign again. Lifetime ban. PERIOD."
23. "Equal rights for everyone. That's it, that's the bullet point in the plan. No asterisks."
24. "Define marriage as a legal partnership between two consenting people of adult age, with sexual and/or gender identity not mattering. If we want church and state to truly be separate, making all forms of marriage federally valid on a constitutional level is required. That means a marriage between a gay couple should be just as valid as one between a man and a woman, period."
25. "Considering Roe v. Wade got taken down in federal courts and women are literally dying in certain states due to a lack of medical care while having a miscarriage, make medically needed abortions of any kind a federal right for all women and/or any pregnant human, at a minimum. Furthermore, I want it added as an amendment to the USA's constitution."
26. "Medicaid for all. Daycare until the age of 6. Six months of paid maternal leave for the parents of newborns. Make the Fairness Doctrine law. What Congress funds, no one can suspend. Tax the rich."
27. "Close the loopholes and tax the billionaires...heavily. Term limits for all. Put a reasonable cap on campaign contributions. Emoluments Clause enforcement. If congressional leaders can't work together and make progress on issues, then paychecks for those leaders also stop. Do the job or find a new job, they work for US."
28. And finally, "Student debt forgiveness."
29. Now I'd love to know: What do you think? Do you agree with the ideas laid out here, or are there other things you'd like to add? Let us know in the comments. And if you'd like to remain anonymous, you can use the form below.
Comments have been edited for length and clarity.
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