• Economy - Economic systems - Mixed economies - Social economy - Nonprofit organizations - 501(c)(4) organizations - American Principles Project
• ont-uid: ainei6ei
• COMMENT: transphobic organization.
• This is the main entry for the "American Principles Project".
"Society - LGBT and society - LGBT rights - Transgender rights - Critics - United States - American Principles Project" redirects here.
• The American Principles Project (APP) is a populist conservative 501(c)(4) think tank founded in 2009 by Robert P. George, Jeff Bell, and Francis P. Cannon.
It is chaired by Sean Fieler.
It is led by Terry Schilling, the son of the late former U.S. Representative Bobby Schilling, who serves as the organization's president.
It has led efforts opposing the Common Core standard and advocated for monetary reform by suggesting a return to the gold standard.
Recently, the organization has advocated for a legislative solution to address what it refers to as "Big Tech censorship." APP has also focused much of its programmatic efforts on opposing the teaching of critical race theory and gender ideology in public schools.
The organization has an affiliated super PAC, the American Principles Project PAC, which spent nearly $4 million during the 2020 election cycle.
APP often refers to itself as the "NRA for Families." HISTORY.
In 2009, the American legal scholar Robert P. George and political strategist Frank Cannon formed APP.
In 2010, Jeff Bell became the policy director at APP, alongside Cannon.
In 2011, APP served as the lead sponsor of the Palmetto Freedom Forum, a Republican presidential primary debate televised nationally by CNN.
They choose the panelists (Senator Jim DeMint, Representative Steve King, and Professor George) in an effort led by APP program director Emmett McGroarty.
Following the Republican Party's post-2012 election review, in which the GOP suggested de-emphasizing social issues, APP published a report detailing the importance of social issues to the Republican Party.
The report pointed out that Republicans ran almost exclusively on economic issues during the 2012 election to lackluster effect.
Four years later, during the 2016 primary, APP created scorecards on a variety of issues and a pledge to sign the First Amendment Defense Act into law that was subsequently signed by the vast majority of Republican candidates (including Donald Trump).
APP also led the charge opposing the Common Core in Indiana, the first state to legislatively repeal it.
In February 2021 USA TODAY printed an op-ed in which former UFC champion Frank Mir and an Executive Director of the APP were hostile to the proposed Equality Act because "Our athlete daughters shouldn't have to compete with transgender women" who take female hormones.
They raised the spectre "of increased risk of severe injury based on physical differences" and noted that "biological male athletes have an insurmountable physical advantage over biological female athletes".
They felt that "the entirety of women's athletics would be deeply imperiled".
POLICY INITIATIVES.
FAMILY POLICY APP believes that the family stands as the most fundamental unit of society, and supports policy that protects and promotes the welfare of American families.
In 2018, APP's sister organization released a "Contract with American Families" detailing a number of specific policy proposals the organization supports to help strengthen the family.
EDUCATION.
The American Principles Project describes its education initiative as an effort to "promote policies and actions that protect children and secure their future." It has been critical of the Common Core standards.
In 2012, Jane Robbins, Senior Fellow at the American Principles Project, and Emmett McGroarty, Executive Director of APP Education, co-authored a report for the APP and the Pioneer Institute called Controlling Education From The Top: Why Common Core Is Bad For America.
Both McGroarty and Robbins have published numerous articles discussing what they perceive as flaws in Common Core, both in its contents and in the way it was enacted.
APP staff members have testified before state legislatures, encouraging states to withdraw from the Common Core standards.
APP argued that the Republican Party would suffer in the 2016 presidential election if it fielded a pro-Common Core candidate.
The American Principles Project launched an effort to expose what it calls a "radical new Advanced Placement U.S. History framework," charging that the new AP U.S. History framework teaches a "biased, leftist" version of the traditionally objective curriculum.
ECONOMICS AND MONETARY POLICY.
The American Principles Project has been critical of Federal Reserve System monetary policy and has advocated a return to the gold standard.
In November 2014, Steve Lonegan, Director of Monetary Policy at the American Principles Project, sent a public letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen requesting a meeting to discuss how current monetary policy is "reducing" the standard of living for "average working Americans." JACKSON HOLE SUMMIT 2015.
In 2015, American Principles Project funded a conference on economic policy held from August 27-29, 2015, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to advocate for hard money monetary policies and an end to government involvement in the money supply.
According to associates of hedge fund CEO Robert Mercer interviewed by Bloomberg, Mercer was the main financial backer of the Jackson Hole Summit.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Principles_Project
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Discrimination_against_transgender_people
• see also: https://ballotpedia.org/American_Principles_Project
• (2022-04-15, https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2022/04/15/megadonor-uihleins-pac-spends-5-million-in-first-quarter/) "Megadonor Uihlein's PAC Spends $5 Million in First Quarter." The quarterly filing released Friday (2022-04-15) for Restoration PAC - the political action committee almost exclusively funded by GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein - shows it brought in $2.6 million and disbursed close to $5 million in the first three months of 2022.
Taken together, Richard and his wife Elizabeth Uihlein were the fourth biggest donor to super PACs in 2021, a Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) analysis of Federal Election Commission data found.
The billionaire couple also gave millions in grants in 2020 through the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation to support right-wing infrastructure.
The 2021 IRS filing for the Foundation is not yet publicly available.
The quarterly filing shows that Richard gave Restoration PAC $2.6 million in three parts in 2022-02 and 2022-03.
The Restoration PAC filings details over $3 million donated to super PACs and political nonprofits.
The "American Principles Project PAC" (APP PAC) received $650,000 from Uihlein's PAC.
APP PAC is run by Frank Cannon, the longtime political strategist for Susan B. Anthony's List, a major anti-abortion funder.
CMD recently exposed Frank Cannon's strategy for improving Republicans chances in the 2022-11 midterms that Cannon divulged at the Council for National Policy's 2022-02 meeting.
"The worst possible outcome for the pro-life movement - and I believe for the party itself - would be for Republicans to mishandle the abortion issue," Frank Cannon told meeting attendees.
"If we are failed by the Republican Party, and by ourselves not working hard enough to win in the 2022-11 elections, we'll squander the miracle that got us here."