In one of their satirical songs, the Austin Lounge Lizards lampooned the ridiculous bigotry of some Christian factions, singing: “Jesus loves me. But he can’t stand you.”

That could be the bellicose anthem of a quasi-religious Republican front group with a very sweet-sounding name: “Moms for Liberty.” Far from sweet, however, these moms are funded by rich Republicans to be ground troops in the party’s culture wars – essentially an anti-liberty campaign against people, books, teachers, and ideas they don’t like. In the last few years, squads of these moms have turned into political hate groups, persecuting small town school board members by baselessly accusing them of conspiring to indoctrinate children with pornography, hatred of white people, and “liberal” thinking.

Having stirred up dust devils of division and fear, the momsters ran candidates in local board elections this fall, hoping to take over public schools. But they miscalculated on an essential political reality: Most Americans are not right-wingers, bigots, or Christian Nationalists. The group had counted on surprising voters in what are usually low visibility/low-turnout races, but the extremists were the ones surprised by an aggressive voter pushback against their scheme.

Indeed, various surveys show that the GOP’s mom-wing lost about 80 percent of its races across the country, even in major swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. For example, in the very conservative school district of Pennridge, Pennsylvania, where a far-right majority of the board was attempting to impose a national model of a politically-driven educational system, five Republican incumbents were up for re-election. All five were swept out, turning the Pennridge school board blue for the first time in years!

To help push back against right-wing politicizers of your school district, contact Campaign for Our Shared Future: CampaignSharedFuture.org.

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