Three years ago, the left had a virtual lock on education in the United States. American parents were powerless to challenge what their children were being taught and were, in essence, being told to sit down and shut up if they raised any objection to the teaching of critical race theory, gender fluidity, and other controversial ideas that left-wing school boards and teachers’ unions were trying to impose on America’s children.
Many parents honestly had no idea what their kids were learning in school. They assumed — erroneously — that their children were pretty much learning what they had been taught when they were their kids’ age.
Then the pandemic came and despite overwhelming evidence that most children were in no danger from the coronavirus, teachers’ unions and school boards shut down classrooms for weeks at a time and forced kids to wear masks — masks that didn’t protect them from a disease that few children were in danger from.
For many parents, the on-again-off-again classroom instruction and the silly mask mandates were the last straws. Moms For Liberty sprung up from the true grassroots and showed that it’s a new phenomenon in American politics. What makes them different is “their refusal to follow the playbook common to parent advocacy organizations, which tend to wither and die when their philanthropic support dries up,” according to American Enterprise Institute’s Robert Pondiscio writing in The Free Press.
“I think they’re one of the few truly authentic and responsive edu-parental rights groups that has emerged in recent history,” says a prominent parent-choice supporter not associated with Moms for Liberty, who would only speak anonymously. “They’re not just mouthpieces on social media; they have a real following. If they weren’t effective, and if their message wasn’t resonant, they wouldn’t be so vilified.”
Now with 120,000 members in 300 chapters across the country, Moms For Liberty is prepared to make a gigantic impact on the 2024 elections. Realizing this, Democrats and their radical-left allies have started a smear campaign unprecedented in its lies and misinformation.
When a Moms For Liberty chapter in Indiana published a quote from Adolf Hiter, intending to warn parents about government indoctrination, the media exploded in rage, tarring all 300 chapters and 120,00 members as belonging to a “hate group.”
Even before the Hitler controversy, media coverage of the group has been harsh. The Nation described Moms for Liberty as “hateful fascist bigots.” The New Republic said the group has “created nightmares for schools across the country.” An article in Vice reported they have ties to the Proud Boys—a claim that co-founder Tiffany Justice strenuously denied to me. A story in The Washington Post led with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s recent designation of Moms for Liberty as an “extremist group” devoted to spreading “messages of anti-inclusion and hate.”
When [chairman of the Florida Republican Party Christian] Ziegler’s wife, Bridget, one of the original Moms for Liberty, started serving on the school board in Sarasota County, Florida, nearly a decade ago, the negative press coverage reduced her to tears. Now, Ziegler tells the room, the couple compares their bad press clips on date nights.
“You actually get to this amazing moment when you realize, ‘Hey, if they attack me, I can go raise money on this. I can get my message out by piggybacking on that attack,’ ” advises Ziegler.
On the eve of a Philadelphia Summit, co-founder Tiffany Justice said, “We are fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating, and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”
Indeed, the Moms For Liberty slogan is “We Do Not Co-Parent With the Government.”
Moms For Liberty admits that they have some bad apples in the barrel.
“There is no doubt in my mind that there will be things that chapters do that we may not agree with, or we may not be able to stop in advance,” Justice said. “If it rises to something that’s the level of violating our code of conduct, we have no problem removing a chapter chair or taking the steps to remove a member. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. This work is difficult. And we know that.”
In an organization that lacks ideological cohesion, it will be difficult to practice the self-discipline necessary to avoid incidents like the Hitler quote going viral. But that’s the power of Moms For Liberty. They have no ideological “tests.”
“Philanthropists will never be able to control these women,” says Colleen Dippel, the founder of Houston-based Families Empowered, a parent support organization with no connection to Moms For Liberty. “Why? Because these women are college educated and they don’t need their money. They also have time, they have skills, and they’re empowered primary voters. The message they send to elected officials is, ‘No, no, no. My kid, my money, you work for me. And if you don’t, I’ll organize all these other women, tell them what’s going on, and kick you out of office, because that’s democracy, right?’ ”
Yes, that’s democracy. And God bless Moms for Liberty for understanding that.
