The world's a stage

     I've neglected reading the plodding "Mandate for Leadership" lately because it is so much easier to get digestible, tasty bites about Project 2025  in Facebook posts and television specials such as The Reid Out on MSNBC. But today when I returned to the Mandate to reread Chapter 6: Department of State, I was struck  by how Project 2025's depiction of the world stage pales against the the drama unfolding there in recent news. 

    The Mandate views the Department of State as a huge debacle that needs major overhaul, just as it describes every level of the US government. And I am quite sure some reorganization and streamlining would help any business or government. But when President Joe Biden rolls out a complex negotiation with Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia and Turkey to get 16 prisoners released from Russia, you've gotta standup and applaud. Somebody in the state department is doing something right.  

     I was also struck on this reread of organizational criticisms how often the Mandate's problem with current international relations boils down to the pro-life/pro-choice disagreement. Repeatedly the mandate blasts any program which supports abortion or birth control as offensive to the cultures of the world and says our influence should be confined to "human rights" issues. Can't get much more "human" than abortion and birth control. Unless it would that other Mandate criticism ---LGBTQ rights.