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Loaded for Bear, or How Moms Take Back Our Country
You’ve heard how parents having been fighting back at some school board meetings to take back the rearing and education of their children. Now Florida has set a new standard for fighting back, and it’s spreading all over the country. The message it is sending is more than a shot over the bow to angry Progressives. This exciting movement is called Moms for Liberty.
The group was started by Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, and they began their efforts fighting mask mandates. When those goals were pretty much met with the help of Gov. Ron DeSantis, they started to go after books they called pornographic, as well as books that discussed gay and transgender questions, such as “Gender Queer.” Their message is being heard not only all over the state but all over the country. Currently, they have 60,000 members in 152 chapters in 33 states. Chapter locations can be found here.
It’s not surprising that Progressives are upset at their efforts and are pushing back:
. . . Wes Hodge, chair of Orange County’s Democratic Party, sees Moms for Liberty as less grassroots and more part of a ‘coordinated effort’ to influence 2022 elections by firing up supporters of former President Donald Trump through culture war issues.
The group’s views do not represent mainstream thought in Orange County, he said. A Quinnipiac University poll from August found 60% of Floridians supported mask requirements for students, teachers and staff.
‘This is a way to keep the Trump Train engaged,’ he said. ‘If you want to show up in a clown suit and spew nonsense about how masks cause UTIs, more power to you. That’s Democracy. Does that mean they have a right to have policy enacted after their viewpoints? No.’
Mr. Hodge managed to try to tar them with a connection to Trump and then added a sexist comment (UTIs) for good measure.
Even though most of Moms for Liberty’s donations are small, the left has tried to tie their success to the Republican Party. Sarasota County School Board member Bridget Ziegler’s husband, Christian Ziegler, who is the vice chairman of the Florida Republican Party, said he expects education issues will mobilize voters for “liberty-minded” candidates up and down the ballot in next year’s elections. That “tie” to Republicans sounds ominous to some:
The group’s ties to Republican leaders prompted speculation that Moms for Liberty is bankrolled by GOP donors with deep pockets. Because the group is so new its financial records with the Internal Revenue Service haven’t been made public.
Descovich said Moms for Liberty is supported through small donations and merchandise sales. The group’s online store offers t-shirts and hats and a Moms for Liberty flag that costs $75.
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These women are sending a powerful message to the people who care about this country. First, women, who are usually most engaged with childrearing, can do much more than raising their kids (the most important job for a mom). They can unify and be politically active in their communities too. Second, they are role models, not only for other citizens who care about the future of this country, but for their own children who are watching them take risks, speak out, and use their power productively. Finally, they are becoming known and respected for their efforts.
It sounds like Moms for Liberty are the mama bears of 2021!
Published in Politics
Wonderful! I hope critical race theory is also high on their list of things to oppose.
DeSantis already mandated against CRT. I don’t know what the other states are doing. I hope they are taking action elsewhere, too!
Speaking of moms for liberty, today I learned about “mamalitia.org.”
From their site:
They sure have ticked off a lot of people who are trying to defame them. But then again, it’s California.
I don’t see anything explicit on their website. They do explicit say they promote the principles of America’s founding, which is the opposite of CRT.
As I said in the comment above, DeSantis has prohibited CRT in Florida, which is where the group was founded. I’ve signed up for their mailing list, but I don’t know how well they’re keeping track of other states’ activities.
Our office staff from about five years ago.
Awesome! I’d fit right in!
That looks familiar. You’ve posted it before, right?
I like it.
Yes. I’ve posted it before.
Susan, because you said these moms were cool, I donated!
I find this type of pushback from The Left ironic given how much The Left objects when people bring up that many lefty projects are mostly or entirely funded by wealthy individuals (see Soros, George and Steyer, Tom, for example) who may or may not have much grassroots support.
I’m not in favor of banning books. But it is worth noting that the chair of the Orange County Democrats doesn’t make so much as a peep about books of the Western canon being rejected. However, if the target is Heather Has Two Mommies” and how they gibber!
Maybe everybody should just leave the books alone. They’ll sit in the school libraries gathering dust as they always have.
Neither am I. But these are school libraries. I think oversight is appropriate.
True Parent Power means repealing the school mandate!
I spent many hours in the library when I was in elementary school, but it was mostly looking at National Geographics from the WWII years.
Kate, that’s terrific! I’m sure they appreciate all donations.
That must have been fascinating, Randy. Did they show the photos back then of naked natives?
I don’t remember. But they showed lots of photos of WWII aircraft and ships. I was, after all, only 9 or 10. The aircraft and ships were a lot more interesting.
Yeah, just go ahead and kick the hornet’s nest.
I’m a proponent of doing away with the public education system entirely. If there were no Federal involvement at all, if the state did not give local schools any mandates, then perhaps.
But I just can’t see any of this actually happening – so, sounds like Moms for Liberty is a reasonable alternative.
Carter should never have gotten the Feds involved. It’s always been a disaster.
I know that quite apart from Federal involvement, although perhaps because of it I don’t know, in my own state there are state mandates that local public school systems are required to implement: Things like adult education and catering to non-english speaking children. There is a cost to these things.
I hope so but it needs to be for more than just 2022. The Libs just never give up. It seems like their attacks on our traditions never stop and our counters are passing fads.
I think we need to start seeing the lives of Conservatives as an endless battle. There is no giving up, Manny; there is only resilience, persistence and determination to fight back.
The more the left equates liberty and patriotism with Trump, DeSantis, and Republicans, the stonger our side gets. They don’t understand Americans.