Moms for Liberty attendees share why they support the grassroots organization
Attendees field questions at Moms for Liberty''s 2023 Joyful Warriors National Summit in Philadelphia.
The overwhelming feeling at the Moms for Liberty conference in Philadelphia last weekend was joyfulness, which is interesting for an organization that was started and stoked in 2021 by so much anger and outrage at our education system.
The paradox is fructive, both in that it shows us how the group so quickly became the new grassroots of the conservative movement, and why their message has been so persuasive.
On the two floors of the elegant hotel where the event took place were to be seen bright floral dresses mixed with hugs and laughter as attendees met and mingled. Many it appeared were experiencing that oh-so-modern phenomenon of meeting a social media friend for the first time in real life.
There was also something of a secretive nature to the affair as, for example, the media, for the most part, were not allowed into the breakout sessions where strategy was discussed, but can you really blame them for this?
2024 presidential candidate gives remarks at Moms for Liberty's Joyful Warriors National Summit in Philadelphia on June 30, 2023. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)
Time and again the news media has twisted Moms for Liberty words into unrecognizable knots of hatred. Why would the group welcome more of that?
Take an incident earlier this month when a local chapter in Florida used a quote from Adolf Hitler, disapprovingly obviously, to show the dangers of the government indoctrinating children.
The left and their media allies piled on with a bizarre and ridiculous claim that Moms for Liberty supports the ideology of Hitler. At best this take is insane, at worst it is malicious and politically driven. When I asked the chair of that Florida chapter what she made of the backlash, she smiled, shook her head and said, "They just lie."
And this really is the crux of the problem. Much of the left has decided that certain conversations touching on identity simply cannot be had, even if that conversation is central to public policy.
Perfectly reasonable positions, like not exposing young children to sexually explicit images are forbidden, leaving frustrated, often furious parents powerless to have a say in their kids’ education. The members of Moms for Liberty I spoke to simply will not accept this. They do not accept that worrying about your kids is hatred.
the organization spread like wildfire all over the country to now include 285 chapters in 44 states with over 120,000 members working to unify, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government. (Courtesy of Moms for Liberty)
This is the crucible in which Moms for Liberty was founded by Tina Descovitch, Tiffany Justice and Bridget Zeigler, who two years ago fought back, first against lockdown measures, but then also against the curriculums in public schools that push critical race theory and gender ideology.
It was a strange side effect of COVID that no expert could have predicted, a fever spreading across the moms and dads of America as in-person education was being ripped away from their kids, and as the far left cultural messages from school flowed into living rooms on Zoom calls. A phenomenon cited by several attendees I chatted with.
One woman I spoke with had been a teacher for decades but gave it up when she realized that fighting from inside wouldn’t work, that she was not able to do her job under the rules imposed by her school district. It reflected a general attitude that change had to come the education system’s top, or at least its middle management.
Many of the moms and dads I spoke with had run for their local school boards in states from Florida to Pennsylvania and Indiana to name just a few. When I asked one woman how her chapter of Moms for Liberty operates, she told me, "We mainly organize around local elections, that’s where change happens."
2024 presidential candidate gives remarks at Moms for Liberty's Joyful Warriors National Summit in Philadelphia on June 30, 2023. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)
This hyper-focus on the local was evident in how little talk there seemed to be about the 2024 GOP nomination, even at a conference that had impressively drawn almost all the major figures in the race, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley. The general attitude I heard was that most people liked all of them.
Indeed, it was telling that the candidates seemed more interested in Moms for Liberty than Moms for Liberty was about the candidates. It's a testament to the truly remarkable amount of political power they have amassed in such short order.
As is generally the case at such conferences, the chattiest and friendliest people were to be found in the small smoking area just to the left of the Downtown Marriott’s entrance. In this instance, it had the added value of being within the din and flashing rainbows of the protesters, who made their mayhem, in modest numbers, all three days.
Here among the drums and shouting, the sweating anger of young communists in love with their own voices, I asked a question I would pose to dozens of attendees, "When these people call you a Nazi, or White supremacist, or fascist, does that hurt? Does it take an emotional toll on you, especially since this is face-to-face, not disembodied Twitter?"
Many were stoic, I heard a lot of, "water off a duck’s back" or "badge of honor," but not all. Some admitted that it did hurt, especially at first, that having such vile rhetoric hurled at them did have an impact.
And why should it not? Why would an assault of slurs from the left at the right be any less emotionally harmful than the other way around? Of course, it hurt. But as one woman told me, "I know I’m not any of those things, and I just pray for the protesters."
Speaking of those protesters, they were, for the most part, that strange kind of political activist who tries to shut down anyone covering them and their message. When you do find someone willing to be interviewed it is thwarted almost immediately by black bloc Antifa types who block your camera.
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On the rare occasion when you snag a minute or two with a protester, the answers as to what exactly they are protesting are an inchoate regurgitation of lies and exaggerations from the mainstream media.
"They are an official hate group!" "They hate gay and trans people!" "They are banning books!" When you ask what books they are opposed to giving to young children you get met with a blank stare.
Protesters descend on Philadelphia as former President Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis give remarks at 'Moms for Liberty''s 'Joyful Warriors National Summit'. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)
One older man I spoke to was a perfect embodiment of this. His sign called Moms for Liberty fascists. I said, "Why do you think they are fascists?" He said I should ask his wife, who wasn’t there, because she is a librarian.
I persisted, basically saying, "If you’re calling someone a fascist shouldn’t you at least know why?" "Again," he replied, "she knows more about it."
This is doubtless the attitude that many in the mainstream had as they covered the conference. You could see the suspicion in their eyes as media credentials were picked up. After all, this was a real live hate group, right? The journalists were ready to expose the bigots.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the hit piece. As these mainstream media journalists actually talked to the moms, had real conversations with them instead of judging them based on angry school board meeting clips and fabulism from the Southern Poverty Law Center, they didn’t have much bad to say.
The progressive Media Matters went so far as to send a reporter undercover, posing as an attendee. But instead of exposing the dark underbelly of a hate group, the would-be Woodward or Bernstein spent most of her expose discussing the food. Seriously.
Jennifer Pippin, president of the Indian River County chapter of Moms for Liberty, attends a campaign event in Vero Beach, Florida on Oct. 16, 2022. (Giorgio Viera)
This comically induced its own backlash as leftists criticized the coverage for normalizing the group. Progressive influencer George Takai reacted to one ABC News tweet calling the moms "joyful warriors," with "WTF are you doing normalizing these fascists?" The tweet was deleted because ABC News is cowardly, but the message it sent is clear.
When Moms for Liberty is given a free and fair platform, when people actually hear them out instead of hurling insults at them, their message is effective. It resonates, even with those predisposed to oppose them, and obviously, the vociferous critics and protesters know this too.
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During one protest a leader of the Young Communists took to the microphone to say, "There is no room for these conversations in Philadelphia," and that really summed it up. These leftists aren’t afraid of the conversation because it’s harmful or legitimizing. They are afraid because their own arguments don’t stand up.
They will never tell you why a first-grader should be looking at a book with images of oral sex, because it isn’t actually defensible.
At the end of the day, and the end of the conference, this is why Moms for Liberty is winning. With charming smiles and well-kept hair they stay on target, confident that their message of protecting children can and will win the day if they get an honest fight.
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The greatest contribution that Moms for Liberty has made in its brief existence is not just demanding to ask important questions, demanding that progressives answer them, but also giving millions of Americans across the nation the courage and backup to do the same.
One got the sense these three days in the nation’s birthplace that this organization is just getting started, that its righteous fire is spreading fast, and that anyone trying to get between them and their kids should know they won’t stop fighting until that threat is gone.