Section 3: The General Welfare

Rebuttal to Section 3 of Project 2025: The General Welfare

Section 3 of Project 2025, The General Welfare, claims to promote policies that will enhance the well-being of all Americans. However, upon closer examination, this section advocates for deep cuts to essential social programs, a rollback of healthcare protections, and the dismantling of regulatory frameworks that protect public health, education, and economic security. Rather than improving the welfare of Americans, Project 2025 pushes an agenda that will widen inequality, weaken public services, and place the most vulnerable populations at risk.

Dismantling the Social Safety Net

Project 2025 promotes the idea of reducing the federal government's role in providing social services, arguing that private markets and states should take on more responsibility. This framework proposes drastic cuts to programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment benefits. Far from enhancing general welfare, such cuts would leave millions of Americans—especially seniors, low-income families, and people with disabilities—without the support they rely on.

Social Security and Medicare, in particular, are lifelines for older Americans. Proposals to privatize or reduce these programs would undermine retirement security for millions who have paid into these systems throughout their working lives. Instead of protecting the elderly, Project 2025 seeks to gamble with their financial stability by introducing more private-sector control, which exposes retirees to market risks and cuts guaranteed benefits.

Similarly, Medicaid is crucial for low-income families and individuals who cannot afford private health insurance. Reducing or block-granting Medicaid to states would result in reduced coverage and services for millions of Americans. States with limited budgets may further cut benefits, leading to unequal access to healthcare across the country. This would exacerbate health disparities, particularly in rural and underserved communities.

Attacks on Healthcare Protections

Healthcare is a major focus in The General Welfare, and Project 2025 calls for repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and cutting back on federal healthcare regulations. The ACA has provided health coverage to millions of previously uninsured Americans and established important protections, such as prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

Repealing the ACA, as Project 2025 suggests, would strip healthcare from millions of Americans and reinstate a system where insurance companies can once again discriminate against those with pre-existing conditions. This would disproportionately harm people with chronic illnesses, low-income individuals, and minorities, who often face greater barriers to accessing quality healthcare.

Additionally, the push to deregulate healthcare markets in the name of “choice” and “efficiency” ignores the real-world consequences of such policies. Deregulation could lead to skyrocketing healthcare costs, fewer patient protections, and reduced quality of care. In a country where healthcare expenses are already the leading cause of bankruptcy, Project 2025’s vision would only deepen the crisis.

Gut Environmental and Public Health Protections

In its bid to reduce the role of government, Project 2025 also advocates for rolling back regulations that protect public health, safety, and the environment. These regulations exist to ensure that all Americans have access to clean air, safe drinking water, and a healthy environment—basic components of general welfare. However, the project frames these protections as burdensome regulations that stifle economic growth.

The reality is that weakening environmental regulations will have devastating consequences for public health. For example, the deregulation of industries that pollute air and water can lead to higher rates of asthma, heart disease, and other health issues, particularly in low-income and minority communities that are often disproportionately affected by pollution. Removing these protections would prioritize corporate profits over the health and safety of Americans.

Furthermore, gutting regulations aimed at combating climate change threatens the long-term welfare of the entire planet. Climate change is already causing increased extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and food and water insecurity. By rolling back environmental protections, Project 2025 not only endangers the current population but also jeopardizes the future of generations to come.

Education: Undermining Public Schools

In The General Welfare, Project 2025 calls for reducing federal involvement in education and expanding school choice programs, which often translate into the privatization of public education. While advocates of school choice argue that it empowers parents and fosters competition, the reality is that such policies drain resources from public schools, leaving them underfunded and less able to serve their students.

Public schools are the backbone of the American education system, and they serve as a critical equalizer, providing education to students regardless of their socioeconomic status. Diverting funds to private schools and charter schools, which often do not face the same accountability standards as public schools, weakens the public education system and exacerbates educational inequality.

Moreover, reducing federal oversight in education means that states and localities with fewer resources will struggle to provide quality education. This is particularly concerning for marginalized communities, where public schools are already underfunded and face challenges such as overcrowded classrooms, lack of materials, and outdated facilities. Instead of addressing these systemic issues, Project 2025 promotes policies that would further entrench educational disparities.

Widening Economic Inequality

The economic vision in The General Welfare prioritizes deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy, under the assumption that this will lead to job creation and economic growth. However, decades of evidence show that trickle-down economics does not benefit the majority of Americans. Instead, it widens the gap between the rich and the poor, concentrating wealth in the hands of a few while leaving working families behind.

Cutting taxes for the wealthy and corporations while reducing public services means that the burden of paying for basic services like education, healthcare, and infrastructure will increasingly fall on the middle and lower classes. This will further strain already struggling families, particularly as wages stagnate and the cost of living rises.

Project 2025 also promotes reducing labor protections, claiming this will boost economic competitiveness. However, these protections—such as the minimum wage, workplace safety standards, and the right to unionize—are critical for ensuring that workers are treated fairly and can earn a living wage. Weakening these protections will not lead to a more prosperous workforce; it will lead to increased exploitation of workers and greater economic insecurity.

A Vision That Ignores the Realities of Inequality

Ultimately, Project 2025’s vision for The General Welfare is one that ignores the realities of inequality and dismisses the importance of government’s role in promoting public health, education, and economic security. Its proposals to cut social safety nets, deregulate healthcare and the environment, and reduce federal involvement in education would harm the most vulnerable Americans while disproportionately benefiting the wealthy and powerful.

Rather than dismantling the programs and regulations that protect the general welfare, policymakers should focus on strengthening these systems to ensure that all Americans have access to the basic necessities of life—healthcare, education, clean air and water, and economic opportunity. A true commitment to the general welfare means addressing inequality and building a society where everyone has the chance to succeed, not just the wealthy few.

Conclusion: A Threat to the General Welfare

Project 2025’s approach to The General Welfare is not a plan to improve the well-being of all Americans—it is a blueprint for increasing inequality, weakening public services, and placing corporate interests above the needs of the people. By undermining social safety nets, public health protections, and public education, the project threatens the welfare of the very people it claims to serve.

If we are to truly promote the general welfare, we must invest in policies that support working families, protect the environment, and ensure access to healthcare and education for all. Project 2025 fails to meet these goals, and its vision must be opposed to protect the future of American society.