After his vote to support taking food subsidies from poor families and children in order to fund big tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, we are propose finding and supporting a candidate to replace Trump-disciple Cliff Bentz in the 2026 midterm election. Our aim should be to support a reasonable and kind Republican to run for the seat. If you know of a Republican who has excellent communication skills, is courageous enough to stand up to Trump, has a kind heart, and who is willing to run, let us know and we will attempt to recruit her/him for the primary.

In addition to the Republican cruelty towards food insecure families, the bill Bentz just voted for will take health insurance away from many families, again to fund the tax cuts for the billionaire class, and also to fund a Republican gestapo dedicated to rounding up people of color and shipping them to concentration camps. We are truly a nation that has lost its way. And legislators like Cliff Bentz are the reason for our demise. Let’s take back our nation and make America kind again.

Project 2026 is a vision for restoring the values that have been key to making the United States the country that once stood as a monument to freedom and democratic principles. The efforts of the Trump MAGA movement (underwritten by the Republican Party, the Federalist Society, a packed Supreme Court, the Heritage Foundation, et al) have been focused on ridding the nation of constitutional protections, undermining our democracy, and dividing citizens into groups that have varying access to the fruits of our collective national riches. Under Trump we no longer fulfill the core founding promise of liberty and justice for all. We are, instead, confronted by a government that seeks to eliminate the richness of a society that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Trump and the MAGA crowd value whiteness, privilege, and exclusivity.

We can do better.

A Call to Moral Courage, Empathy, and the Collective Well-being

We live in a time of great abundance and profound disconnection.

• We walk past hunger with full bags
• We doom scroll through social media rather than engage in true community
• We’ve mistaken survival for success, and excess for freedom

This is not the way.

There is another way: A life anchored not in fear, scarcity, or domination, but in moral courage and radical empathy.

Moral Courage

We need moral courage to stand with the vulnerable.

• Moral courage means telling the truth even when it costs us comfort.
• It means resisting systems that reward indifference and hoarding.
• It means choosing the common good over personal convenience.

Reject the myth that courage belongs only to warriors. True courage is a neighbor who shares what they have. A teacher who speaks out. A citizen who strives to do more to serve those in our community and nation that need a hand.
We don’t seek to destroy the wealthy—we seek to dismantle the conditions that allow some to amass excessive wealth while others are crushed and impoverished.

No one needs a billion dollars. But everyone needs a place to sleep.

Radical Empathy

Empathy is not weakness. It is the fiercest form of connection—the willingness to feel with, not just for.

• It opens our eyes to those we’d rather not see.
• It turns strangers into kin, statistics into stories.
• It allows us to build systems not on suspicion, but on solidarity.

Reject narratives that contrast empathy and reason as opposites. Zero sum reasoning promotes a fallacy that leads to the belief that one must suffer so another can succeed. In truth, our fates are intertwined. A rising tide lifts all boats.

The Project 2026 vision is a return to the values that support collective well-being:

• No one sleeps on the street.
• No child goes to school hungry.
• No elder chooses between medicine and meals.
• No worker is treated as disposable.
• No life is judged by its profitability.

Project 2026 proposes that:

• Wealth is measured not by what we hoard, but by what we share.
• Success means lifting others as we rise.
• Policy serves people, not profit.
• Freedom is rooted in security, justice, and equity

The Work

This is a blueprint. The work begins wherever we are: in city halls, kitchens, classrooms, union halls, places of worship, and streets.

We will:

• Advocate for policies that guarantee food, shelter, healthcare, and education for all
• Challenge systems of concentrated wealth and political control
• Organize in our neighborhoods to meet immediate needs and demand systemic change
• Practice empathy daily—not as a sentiment, but as an ethic of action

We will work to abolish fear, cynicism, inequity, injustice, and greed. Together we will work to reinvigorate our national pride and shared values: justice, freedom, equity, kindness, and empathy. We are about restoring faith in the inherent humanity embodied in our founding principles.

Our congressional representative, Cliff Bentz, responds to comments on his website about Medicaid with a form letter that says,

“Let me be absolutely clear: I believe in protecting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. These programs represent a commitment to our seniors, our most vulnerable populations, and to working Americans who have paid into these systems for decades. I have no intention of supporting any legislation that would dismantle or jeopardize the benefits we Americans have every right to rely on.

Unfortunately, some in Washington and in the media have engaged in spreading misleading claims that Republicans are seeking to “gut” these essential programs. These accusations are not only false, but they are designed to scare which is reprehensible.”

Imagine my lack of surprise when I read in the New York Times that Cliff supports the Republican proposal for a work requirement for Medicaid:

“We don’t want people to be on this program for forever,” Representative Cliff Bentz, Republican of Oregon, said on Wednesday morning. “And this is a really good way to get off it and get a job.”

The work requirement program proposed by Republicans is based on a statewide program in Georgia that was shown to result in high administrative costs, low enrollment, and healthcare coverage losses. With approximately 24% of his constituents currently enrolled in Medicaid, you might think Cliff would be less likely to take a position on the program that would likely make it more expensive to administer while simultaneously cutting coverage for current recipients.

The Republican goal of making cuts to Medicaid got a boost from Chip Roy (R-TX) when he sent a letter signed by him and 19 of his Republican colleagues to the House Republican caucus. Included in the letter is the following paragraph, which appears to have actually been written by a conservative group called the Paragon Health Institute which receives funding from a libertarian group named Stand Together (a group funded by businessman Charles Koch). Quoting from the letter:

“If the House budget reconciliation package does not include structural Medicaid reform that achieves desired Republican outcomes, we will be setting up massive tax increases and benefit cuts in the future … For once, Congress should stop procrastinating, using excuses, and finally fulfill the Republican agenda.”

This stands in contrast to what Oregon Republican Cliff Bentz is telling his constituents:

Let me be absolutely clear: I believe in protecting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. These programs represent a commitment to our seniors, our most vulnerable populations, and to working Americans who have paid into these systems for decades. I have no intention of supporting any legislation that would dismantle or jeopardize the benefits we Americans have every right to rely on.
Unfortunately, some in Washington and in the media have engaged in spreading misleading claims that Republicans are seeking to “gut” these essential programs. These accusations are not only false, but they are designed to scare which is reprehensible.
The truth is that the reconciliation process is ongoing, and no final proposal has been agreed upon. Reconciliation is a tool used to bring our budget into balance, identify areas of waste or fraud, and ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly. Like every serious legislator, I am reviewing every provision carefully to ensure that any reforms proposed are rooted in fiscal responsibility, not cuts that harm those who depend on these programs.

It seems that Cliff may either be out of the loop, or that “some in Washington or the media” are actually speaking truth that Cliff just refuses to acknowledge. If you read Project 2025 you’ll notice that they have some big concerns about letting Medicaid continue to work as it is currently designed.

HHS is home to Medicare and Medicaid, the principal drivers of our $31 trillion national debt. When Congress passed and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law these programs, they were set on autopilot with no plan for how to pay
for them. The first year that Medicare spending was visible on the books was 1967. From that point on through 2020—according to the American Main Street Initiative’s analysis of official federal tallies—Medicare and Medicaid combined cost $17.8 trillion, while our combined federal deficits over that same span were $17.9 trillion. In essence, our deficit problem is a Medicare and Medicaid problem.
— Project 2025, page 283

The Republicans are not to be trusted with programs that are designed to help all Americans. They just care about cutting taxes for the wealthiest.

Our Oregon District 2 representative in congress is apparently not well versed in what the US Constitution says about due process. The 5th Amendment says:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

But when asked about the detention and transportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the concentration camp in El Salvador by Donald Trump (and about court rulings that Abrego Garcia was denied the due process described above in the 5th amendment) Bentz responded to constituents by saying:

Let me be clear: this is not about denying due process to any individual. It is about restoring the constitutional balance between our branches of government and ensuring that immigration enforcement is consistent, accountable, and rooted in the law, not subject to the ideological whims of certain judges.

This reflects Bentz’s misunderstanding of what due process means. Multiple courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States have ruled that Abrego Garcia was denied due process. Bentz flatly misunderstand that it is the courts (and judges) who are given authority in the constitution to determine what is and is not the appropriate interpretation of the law and what is due process. The first sentence of Article III of the constitution states:

The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;

Judicial power is reserved for judges and the courts, not for the executive. Trump (and the Republicans who support him) do not like this restraint, but the framers were careful to create a constitution to protect against the tyranny of a unitary executive. Bentz and the other Trump sycophants who whine about Judges either misunderstand the constitution or just don’t care about preventing tyranny.

Project 2025 was crafted by a group of writers who perversely twist the constitution in ways that would appall the framers. Project 2026 will take an originalist view of the constitution and propose policies consistent with with the values of the separation of powers that constrain the executive and prevent tyranny. In addition to supporting candidates in 2026 who support our view of the constitution, we will actively confront candidates like Bentz who willfully misrepresent what makes America great.