The grandfather of Project 2025

Ever heard of the Powell Memo?

Before Pres. Richard Nixon chose him to be an associate justice on the Supreme Court, Lewis Powell was a successful corporate lawyer who in 1971 wrote a document for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Powell was concerned with what he saw as the (see the document’s subtitle) “Attack on American Free Enterprise System.” Powell wrote:

No thoughtful person can question that the American economic system is under broad attack. This varies in scope, intensity, in the techniques employed, and in the level of visibility.

The attackers were, wrote Powell:

…the Communists, New Leftists and other revolutionaries who would destroy the entire system, both political and economic. These extremists of the left are far more numerous, better financed, and increasingly are more welcomed and encouraged by other elements of society, than ever before in our history.

He bemoaned the popularity of Connecticut’s Ralph Nader; Yale’s Charles Reich’s book, “The Greening of America;” newspaper columnists who decried the country’s unfair tax system, and colleges who sent liberal graduates out to change the world.

Powell thought that corporations should take an aggressive role in society, including in

• Politics

• The judicial system,

• Mass media,

• And educational curriculum.

Does any of this sound familiar? It should. The Powell memo was a blueprint for corporations to insert themselves into every facet of our culture — and from all indications, they followed it slavishly.

See Citizens United.

See just about any of the recent Supreme Court decisions.

See corporate ownership of the media.

See our shoddy textbooks and the fake discussions about CRT.

So this isn’t new, this fuckwittery. Stay strong. There are more of us than there are of people who write and adhere to this tripe.