Weather Alert: Culture War Clouds Building in the West
Part 1 of The Coming School Board Battle: "Meet Moms for Liberty"
School season is in the air here in the mountains of Western North Carolina. The forecast calls for rumbling thunder between storms of attacks on teachers, school board members and books. I’d feel a lot calmer if I could rise above the confusion to see the eye of the storm more clearly.
What’s going on behind the scattered threats of extremist groups and, thereby, of their candidates? What is this overcast feeling I have that psychological ammunition is being stockpiled in some strange fortress?
This isn’t conspiracy thinking. Autocrat Viktor Orban of Hungary, said this week at the Republican CPAC in Dallas,
Politics are not enough. This war is a Culture War.
“Join the fight,” says the national website of Moms for Liberty.
It’s beginning to feel to me less like a war than an invasion. What do they want?
Take local school board candidate and founder of our county’s Mom for Liberty chapter, Tanya. (She’s on the ballot with husband Jake, candidate for Commission Board.) I expect that Tanya and perhaps the sub-group Moms for Libraries will soon be aiming to ban library books here, intimidate school board members, and challenge public school curricula.
Tanya can tell you about the “little-used” legal rights that parents have to protect their children from schools that are up to no good. Also, Moms has a special Guide to help you quiz school administrators. From their answers, you can decide if you need to take action to Defend Your Child. The Guide cautions,
If [your school principal or superintendent] will not answer [you] directly, that will give you an indication that you should dig a little deeper.
But Moms’ real target lies at the eye of the storm: to capture seats on Boards of Education. After all, Orban’s marching orders said,
We have to revitalize our churches, our families, our universities and our community institutions.
I leave it up to you to imagine what this man means by “revitalize”.
What is Moms for Liberty? It’s an extremist group that so far has evaded the description “extremist”, because you won’t find guns and camouflage on their website. Who would dare to frown on somebody’s mom? Their statement:
Moms for Liberty is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. The organization's mission is to organize, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights.
Funded and directed by large national groups, this organization attracts Moms who are tired of not being heard. It’s a friendly women’s club! From their “find a chapter near you” website page:
Ready to stoke the fires of Liberty in your community?
Are you tired of feeling like you are alone in your concerns for the future of your children? Do you try to speak to community leaders about your concerns and your voice goes unheard? There is power in numbers and the purpose of our organization is to fight for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents.
I find it confusing to be relentlessly, brutally attacked by survivalists. These are people who have always lived here and who suddenly seem to need vigilantes, secret societies and foreign leaders, and are all out to wreck the schools and now, I hear, public libraries.
What I do know is that Democrats are the stronghold against the erosion of American democracy that’s being carried out in part through vicious attacks on our public school personnel.
In addition to Tanya, another extremist is running for school board. His yard signs have just begun landing like warning shots in our neighborhoods.
So the first Culture Invasion troops have arrived in our town. I have no idea what to do about it, except to show up to do what I can. More later.
Excellent, Deda!
The Democrats have to message about the importance of SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.... Fasten your seat belts, we are all in for a very bumpy ride!