For a 1,000-page public policy document, a significant number of Project 2025’s recommendations are built on a Christian Nationalist foundation. It isn’t hyperbole to call it a Republican Christo-fascist manifesto.
Today, we examine how they redefine “the pursuit of happiness” from the Declaration of Independence in Christian Nationalist terms.
To most Americans, living the good life or living my best life means money in the bank, career success, a comfortable home, vacations to desired destinations, and the ability to buy things we want. For others, those phrases might contain the added component of doing good in our communities or in the greater world.
When the Founders spoke of “pursuit of Happiness,” what they meant might be understood today as in essence “pursuit of Blessedness.” That is, an individual must be free to live as his Creator ordained—to flourish. Our Constitution grants each of us the liberty to do not what we want, but what we ought. This pursuit of the good life is found primarily in family—marriage, children, Thanksgiving dinners, and the like. Many find happiness through their work. Religious devotion and spirituality are the greatest sources of happiness around the world. Still others find themselves happiest in their local voluntary communities of friends, their neighbors, their civic or charitable work.
The American Republic was founded on principles prioritizing and maximizing individuals’ rights to live their best life or to enjoy what the Framers called “the Blessings of Liberty.”
Project 2025, pages 13 - 14
I’ve italicized words and phrases above to discuss in more detail. While the Declaration of Independence does state that all men are ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,’ the Christian Nationalist framers of Project 2025 use this language to redefine our Founders’ intent. When they say we deserve the good life, they really mean the Christian life or a holy life.
The Pursuit of Blessedness
Anyone who’s spent much time in Christian Nationalist circles knows phrases like have a blessed day or you’re not lucky; you’re blessed.
But they also believe God blesses those who are faithful to him. The pursuit of Blessedness is a deliberate Christian Nationalist reframing of the founders’ pursuit of happiness. How do I know that’s what they mean? They give it away two sentences later.
Our Constitution grants each of us the liberty to do not what we want, but what we ought.
This is Biblical language drawn from Romans 7:15 - 20. It is based on the idea that all humans are born with flawed urges (see my post Christian Nationalists and Their Urges.) Fighting those urges means doing what we ought, ie: their interpretation of what God commands in the Bible, whether or not we follow their faith.
We’ve already looked at how their definition of pornography would make most of us pornographers. This is also why their abortion bans force women to give birth. It’s why they harass transgender people and those in the LGBTQ+ community. Or why they want to end no-fault divorce.
The pursuit of the good life is found primarily in the family - marriage, children.
Christian Nationalists define marriage as between one man and one woman. Men are the leaders of the home, the providers. A woman is to submit to the man. Her primary function is to produce and mother children. Their definition of the family is the foundation of ‘the good life.’
Religious devotion and spirituality are the greatest sources of happiness around the world.
Given this planet’s recorded history of the horrors of religious wars and atrocities in the name of multiple faiths, I vehemently disagree with this assertion. But it reveals how important their interpretation of faith - Christian Nationalism - is to the policies they intend to force upon all of us.
Tomorrow, we’ll examine one program that already forces American men into religious indoctrination to avoid jail time.
