âCLICK THIS PICâ ⌠for âcauseâ and âinspirationâ.
By Dr. Isaiah (Ike) Wilson III
Founder, Wilson W.i.S.E. Consulting | Strategist of Civic Resilience & Compound-Era Governance
Friends and readers,
Youâve heard me talk before in these pagesâabout the dangers of performative politics, of strategic dishonesty, and of the slow erosion of our democratic institutions. But today I want to do something different.
Today, I want to build.
I want to talk to you not just about whatâs wrongâbut about whatâs next.
Because make no mistake: while the architects of Project 2025 are already implementing their blueprints for a post-democratic Americaâbacked by billion-dollar war chests and a web of coordinated powerâwe need our own Project 2028: a plan for open society democratic renewal, civic restoration, and strategic resistance.
This isnât just a political vision.
Itâs a republic-level operating system update.
Itâs not partisanâitâs pro-democracy.
And if done right, it wonât just protect whatâs goodâit will reimagine whatâs possible.
đ§ą What Is Project 2028?
At its core, Project 2028 is a multi-pronged initiative to reclaim and rebuild the American Republic in the face of authoritarian drift. Think of it as the progressive, pluralist, and strategic counterweight to Heritageâs Project 2025.
Where Project 2025 centralizes control, Project 2028 decentralizes power. Where they restrict rights, we restore them. Where they erase pluralism, we reweave it into every fiber of our political and civic life.
But this isnât about slogans. Itâs about structure.
Weâre not fighting a culture warâweâre building civic capacity, institutional trust, and policy scaffolding for the next generation.
Project 2025: A Conservative Blueprint for Government Overhaul
In April 2023, The Heritage Foundation, a prominent conservative think tank, unveiled Project 2025, a comprehensive plan aimed at reshaping the U.S. federal government to reflect conservative ideologies.
This initiative was developed in anticipation of a Republican victory in the 2024 presidential election and outlines a strategy to consolidate executive power and implement significant policy shifts across various sectors.
Key Objectives of Project 2025:
Executive Power Consolidation: Project 2025 advocates for a unitary executive theory, proposing that the President should have overarching authority over the executive branch. This approach seeks to centralize decision-making processes and reduce the influence of other governmental branches and agencies. â
Federal Workforce Transformation: The plan includes replacing a substantial number of civil servants with political appointees who align with conservative principles. This move aims to ensure that the federal workforce is more responsive to the President's directives and policy preferences. â
Policy Revisions Across Sectors: Project 2025 outlines extensive policy changes, including:â
Environmental Deregulation: Proposes dismantling environmental protections and promoting fossil fuel industries. â
Social Policy Reforms: Advocates for policies that emphasize traditional family structures and could potentially roll back rights related to reproductive health and LGBTQ+ protections. â
Immigration Overhaul: Suggests implementing more stringent immigration controls and enforcement measures. â
Potential Consequences of Implementing Project 2025:
Critics of Project 2025 have raised concerns about its potential impact on American democracy and civil liberties:â
Erosion of Democratic Checks and Balances: By centralizing power within the executive branch, there is a risk of undermining the system of checks and balances that is fundamental to the U.S. Constitution. â
Civil Rights Implications: The proposed policy shifts could lead to the rollback of civil rights protections, affecting marginalized communities and potentially reversing decades of progress in social justice. â
Environmental Concerns: Deregulating environmental protections may exacerbate climate change and result in negative public health outcomes. â
Understanding the objectives and potential ramifications of Project 2025 is crucial for developing informed and effective responses that uphold democratic principles and protect civil liberties.
đ THE VISION: What Project 2028 Stands For
A reinvigorated democracy rooted in participation, transparency, and accountability
A fairer economy that rewards value creation, not extraction
A just society that protects civil liberties and rights for allânot just for some
A secure republic built not on militarism, but on strategic resilience across diplomacy, development, defense, and geoeconomics
A future-facing nation that leads with science, ethics, and equity in a polycentric world
đ§Š THE STRATEGY: Five Pillars, Countless Impacts
1. Democratic Renewal
Ranked-Choice Voting nationwide to break duopolies and reward coalition-building
Independent Redistricting Commissions to kill gerrymandering for good
National Civic Curriculum that teaches not just the facts of democracy, but the skills of it
Term Limits for SCOTUS Justicesâ18 years, staggered, no reappointments
Open-Source Governance Platforms that let citizens co-create policy, not just consume it
đ§ Why it matters: Democracy isnât just about who wins. Itâs about how we build trust in the systemâand that means reducing zero-sum politics and returning power to real people, not party elites.
2. Justice & Civil Liberties
End Mass Incarceration with restorative justice and decriminalization reforms
Rebuild Public Defendersâ Offices with federal funding and staffing
National Police Standards Board with power to accredit and decertify agencies
Federal Civil Rights Voting Act 2.0 that restores and expands voter protections
Immigration Reform & Citizenship Pathways that humanize, not criminalize
đ The hard truth: Liberty without justice is theater. If our systems only work for some, they donât work at all.
3. Economic Equity & Civic Resilience
Universal Basic Income Pilots, scaled regionally and linked to automation impact zones
Worker Ownership Incentives and support for co-ops and ESOPs
Tax the Unproductive Eliteâunearned income over $10 million taxed at 60%
Affordable Housing Expansion via federal land release and zoning reforms
National Infrastructure for Care: childcare, eldercare, disability care funded like defense
đ¸ Economic freedom without security is a myth. Real freedom is the ability to live with dignityânot just survive another week.
4. Sustainable & Strategic National Security
Climate Security Doctrine embedded in national strategy
Rebuild USAID & State Department to match DOD in personnel and resourcing
Cyber-Democracy Corps to fight disinformation and protect electoral integrity
New NATO 2.0 focused on climate migration, food insecurity, and health systems
National Service Reimaginedânot just military, but climate, education, and democracy corps
đ Security in the 21st century isnât just bullets and bordersâitâs food, water, climate, and data. Letâs prepare accordingly.
5. Cultural Renewal: A Republic Worth Believing In
National Arts & Humanities Corps: writers, artists, public historians on federal grants
Library Justice Act: restore libraries as civic sanctuaries and digital equity hubs
Truth and Reconciliation Forumsâlocal, non-carceral, focused on history and healing
Freedom from Disinformation Act: independent oversight body with media literacy missions
Reclaim the Commonsâopen internet, public spaces, national parks funded as public goods
đ Civic life isnât just institutionsâitâs stories, symbols, and shared meaning. We need a cultural renaissance that meets this democratic moment.
đ Why â2028â?
Because this isnât about winning the next election. Itâs about rebuilding the republic for the next century.
Yes, 2024 will be a pivotal year. But what we build now must be strong enough to last through 2025, 2026, 2027âand be ready to fully launch a new American civic architecture by 2028.
Thatâs the goal: by the nationâs 252nd birthday, we donât just surviveâwe begin to thrive.
đŽ âWhat If...?â â A Speculative Vignette from the Future
July 4, 2028. A massive open-air celebration is held not just in Washington, D.C., but simultaneously in Atlanta, Tulsa, Detroit, Albuquerque, and Oakland. Project 2028 has turned these cities into flagship âDemocracy Innovation Zones,â where citizens vote on budgets via blockchain, community councils sit alongside elected officials, and school kids learn civics by running their own mock legislatures.
The public square is alive againânot with partisanship, but with pluralism. Not with warfare, but with wisdom.
đŹ Final Word: From the Ashes, a Blueprint
To my friends, readers, strategists, activists, and students: this is not a moment for fear. It is a moment for blueprints.
Project 2025 is real. And its architects were working while far too many of us were (and still are!) sleeping.
But so too is Project 2028. And we are wide awake.
Let us be clear: we are not just opposing their projectâwe are building ours. And if we build it boldly, inclusively, and strategicallyâwe just might reclaim this American experiment not only for ourselves, but for generations yet to come.
Let. Us. Get. To. Work!
With clarity and conviction,
â Ike
đ New essays each Monday, Wednesday, Friday â and âSpeculative Saturdaysâ in between. Subscribe to follow the full âBlueprint Seriesâ from Compound Security, Unlocked.
âđ˝ Relevant Reads:
đŹ Want to explore the roots of this Project 2028 vision? Start with these key writings from my earlier collections:
đ Letters to the Republic:
đ Blueprints from the Ashes:
Together, these writings shape the ideological architecture of Project 2028âand the civic imagination it calls forth.đ Want to co-author or build with us on Project 2028? Reach out directly.
đŹ [Subscribe to Compound Security, Unlocked] â Strategic Essays for a Republic in Crisis.
âCLICK THE PIC!â




Two new words/word uses for you today:
1) Grogger - MAGA person who is suddenly realizing what s/he elected and is rejecting the results. They are not quite "woke". They are about halfway there, so they are groggy.
2) Magasplaining - It is derived from the word "mansplaining". It involves the proliferation of fake news and pseudo-facts that are produced by the MAGA community to justify their rhetoric. They never stop to listen to truth or research the real facts about the ideas they are explaining. Since it is gender neutral because both MAGA men and MAGA women do the same thing, it gets the broader moniker of "magasplaining".
Today I look at the courts. There is an article in mainstream media titled "Judge orders administration to submit plan for return of migrants deported to El Salvador prison under AEA". I have no argument with the direction this is going. America has a constitutional amendment that prohibits "cruel and unusual punishment". The administration side stepped this amendment by deporting immigrants to places where there is no prohibition against such treatment. Moreover, the destination was not even the country of origin of the immigrants.
My concern is not the court ruling. It is December. The first wave of people to El Salvador was almost 12 months ago. What happened to "speedy trial"? Is this not a matter of life and death? Why are lawyers who sit comfortably in their penthouse suites being given lots of courtesy time to ponder all of the legal possibilities, while the daily lives of the victims are a living hell? Why is this not on a "zero day" track, so that we would have been at this point 12 days after they were deported? Why is no one in the administration being arrested for defying the courts? How are we believing that justice even has a chance to breathe in a country where people can be disappeared, and then the ponderous wheels of the court system begin to turn and consider and think, and debate, and wonder, and reconsider, and avoid, and delay, and ignore, and coerce, and threaten, and review, and .... until all victims are dead, and the final decision requires no real action, but precedent is established as an entry point for the next atrocity that might offend the senses of the public.
A person on trial for murder deserves the ponderous consideration of the courts. A person, or group of people who have been treated extra-judicially, and are suffering deserve unreserved speed from the justice system, including orders to incarcerate obstructing leaders. Anyone who refuses to follow the order of the court should be removed from the position of leadership and the next person in the chain of command should be given a few hours to follow the court's orders. Instead, we see an entire administration say "no", and then we argue about it for months, as if the rights of the perpetrator exceed the rights of the victims. The inversion here is indefensible.
SCOTUS has so weakened the power and credibility of the courts that we now see a flaunting of court authority. It has been almost an entire year. How can we call this justice? It is not even justice for the perpetrators, because it gives them the impression that they are "right" enough, when "cruel and unusual" is prohibited at a foundational level that parallels the much enshrined "right to bear arms". American lawyers and leaders have fought harder for the right to bear arms - inanimate objects - than they have for the lives of humans whom this administration deems "refuse". Read carefully the words etched in stone at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Read carefully the description of those to whom America offers "liberty": "Send these, the wretched refuse of your teaming shores". The declaration of these immigrants as "refuse" by this administration only increases their qualification for our offers of "liberty". Patrick Henry, in his famous speech equated liberty with life. The Declaration of Independence establishes "life" and "liberty" on equal footing. Yet for nearly a year, the "blessings of liberty" have been denied, by undue delay in process, to those immigrants who have been declared to be refuse.
What has happened to America?