While Moms for Liberty propaganda says it is about uniting parents to save America, the impact of the group’s censorship and school board campaigns has disrupted school systems and divided communities. The shock-and-awe approach to governing displayed after Moms for Liberty candidates take over school boards—firing successful and popular superintendents, censoring books and curricula, reversing policies supporting LGBTQ students—have created turmoil.
That destructive turmoil has sparked energetic resistance from students, parents and educators who have organized to defend public schools and the freedom to learn – including People For the American Way’s Grandparents for Truth organizing project, which was launched during this summer’s Moms for Liberty summit.
In its report on Election Day defeats for Moms for Liberty candidates, Forbes magazine examined how this dynamic played out in Bucks County, Pennsylvania:
Backed by some of the right-wing movement’s deep-pocketed political powerhouses, including the Heritage Foundation and Leadership Institute, Moms for Liberty is not planning to go away.
Indeed, the group may be doubling down on its far-right agenda and authoritarian intimidation tactics. Moms for Liberty activists in Florida have reported librarians to local law enforcement, pointing to popular young adult literature to claim that librarians were distributing “pornography” to minors. “To see the orchestrated campaign to remove books from schools escalate to a police station is shocking,” said Kasey Meehan of PEN America.