As a professor who has written for over 20 years about conservatives and women, it’s clear to me that Moms for Liberty isn’t just another flash-in-the-pan organization

Moms for Liberty, a conservative group founded in 2021, aims to reshape public education by taking over school boards and banning books they view as inappropriate. Though new, the strategy of focusing on education issues to advance conservative goals is not novel. The group seeks to influence the 2024 Republican presidential primary and has gained influence within the GOP and conservative movement. While some call Moms for Liberty an extremist group, its members see themselves as protecting families and liberty. However, critics argue the group actually seeks to limit democracy by restricting the rights of those they disagree with.

  • VerdantSporeSeasoning@lemmy.caEnglish
    20·
    1 year ago

    I’m sure there are plenty of podcasts that cover this group and happening. This is the one I like.

    They are doing the same playbook. The longer I’m an adult, the less inclined I am to defend parents’ rights so strongly. Children are people, not property.

    • SkepticElliptic@beehaw.orgEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      The only people worse are those that want grandparents rights. Those were always the worst legal advice stories. People would escape or try to escape their manipulative family and they would try to force them to give them visitation or stop them from moving out of state.

    • Hyperreality@kbin.social
      11·
      1 year ago

      Sounds like it’s time to post that Sartre quote again. It’s about anti-semites, but you know, if the shoe fits…

      “Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

      • jarfil@beehaw.org
        2·
        1 year ago

        In Ancient Greece they called it the “art” of rhetoric, nowadays we call it trolling. The techniques haven’t changed much.

    • jarfil@beehaw.org
      8·
      1 year ago

      It seems to be a trend in some political movements to use terms in their name that are the opposite of what they defend:

      • Liberty -> wants to restrict others’ liberty
      • Popular -> defends the elites
      • Voice -> tries to shut you up
      • Common -> restricted to an in-group
      • Life -> defends deaths

      …and so on.

    • StringTheory@beehaw.orgEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      Are these the ones who quoted Hitler in their newsletter? Or was that another crazy-ass mom’s group? (How sad is it that there are so many?)

    • jcarax@beehaw.orgEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Nah, this is something new. We don’t know what the authoritarian capitalist endgame is going to look like, yet, but we likely will soon.

      • t3rmit3@beehaw.orgEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        They (the nutjob “moms”) are not doing this to be pro-business. There are multiple existential threats facing our basic rights and lives. Capitalism and Conservatism may often overlap in their methods, but they’re distinct threats with distinct goals, and have to be treated as such.

        If businesses could be magically brainwashed into thinking that they would get infinite money by letting everyone be one giant polyamorous group, they’d do it without blinking, because money is the only thing they care about. Conservatives, not so much; they of course care about money, but they care more about power over people.

        The problem is that businesses naturally see choice as bad, because that implies the choice to do something other than what the business wants (which is for you to give them all your money). So they much more readily coalesce with the Conservative belief in removing personal choices/ freedoms, than they do with any notion of “free markets”, which is why “true” Capitalism doesn’t actually work.

  • Bizzle@lemmy.moorefam.netEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    I’ve noticed that many of these right wing extremists really like the idea of “liberty” without actually knowing what it is or actually supporting it at all for anyone other than the mega-wealthy. They’re legislating their own rights away. I blame 24 hour news.

  • Storksforlegs@beehaw.orgEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    I want there to be a movement on the left to reclaim these words and terms. Even though they are full of shit just the use of these words gives them some kind of legitimacy (at least to some people).