As the culture wars heat up, the number of new “parent” groups has expanded. One is called Moms for Liberty. Peter Greene explains who they are and what they want? They say they believe in parents’ rights, but they only support certain parents.
Greene writes:
As folks in Florida–the steaming petri dish in which Moms for Liberty originally grew–it’s important to remember the third founding member of the group.
“Founded in January 2021 by Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, Moms for Liberty” is the pretty standard version of their one-line origin story. Descovitch and Justice make a fine pair of faces for the group–two moms who ran for their school boards, won once, and then once they had a track record, were rejected by voters a second time.
M4L took a few months to find their footing, aka the issues that they could use to fire folks up. They got into the game by flogging masks, but quickly circled around to “CRT” panic, ferreting out naughty books, and anti-union grievance, all under the umbrella of parental rights. They added a seasoned PR pro in Quisha King (former regional coordinator of Black Voices for Trump), and they also moved pretty quickly to mute the involvement of the third founding Mom.
That’s Bridget Ziegler. Ziegler squeaked out a victory for Sarasota School Board in 2018. Ron DeSantis thinks she’s swell. And she’s married to Christian Ziegler, who just decided not to run for re-election to a county commissioner seat because he’ll be busy helping his wife and DeSantis each run their own campaigns (that and new rules that would have made it harder for him to win). Ziegler has some other gigs as well– vice chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and head of his consulting firm Microtargeted Media LLC.
Christian Ziegler told the Washington Post that he has been “trying for 20- and 30-year old females involved with the Republican Party, and it was a heavy lift to get that demographic. But now Moms for Liberty has done it for me.” That was in October of 2021, when Ziegler’s involvement had gone quiet; Tim Craig at WaPo reported that Ziegler’s wife was “loosely” connected to M4L–not that she was a co-founder of this group that emerged to accomplish just what Ziegler had long searched for a tool to accomplish.
Christian Ziegler’s Microtargeted Media (“We do digital and go after people on their phones”) was a big player in the 2020 Florida race, on the ground for Trump and other GOP candidates. He pulled in $300K from a Trump-related PAC. He was once a Heritage Foundation Fellow. He’s buddies with Corey Lewandowski. He appears to be behind the Protect Wyoming Values PAC (a Trump anti-Liz Cheney proxy), Governor Kristi Noem’s election integrity website, and a bunch of other conservative Trump-backing websites. You may remember Andrew Pollack, the Parkland parent who came out against gun control and in favor of hardening the target, getting an invite to Trump’s White House among other places. How did he get such big exposure so quickly? Let Pollack explain himself:
Just days after the Parkland shooting, Christian with Microtargeted Media reached out and offered to help guide me with my communications, press relations and he launched my social media outreach channels, giving me a vital distribution channels to get my message out. Christian also helped connect me with his network of elected leaders, so that I could advocate for and eventually pass school safety legislation. This was all done pro-bono and simply because he had a passion to help.
In November of 2021 he was telling Breitbart about the shift in Florida’s GOP-Dem balance because pro-freedom conservatives were flocking to Florida out of love for the Trump-DeSantis wing of the party, damping down the Democratic majority (so, sometimes replacement is good, I guess). His critics have called him an “empty-suit candidate” backed by developers’ dark money.
All this for a guy who, in 2017 at the age of 29, was a “30 under 30 rising star of Florida politics.” In that interview he told an admittedly cool story about meeting GW Bush on a plane at age 9, and opined about the importance of integrity and honesty in politics. He particularly admired business owners turned elected officials, like Medicare fraudster Rick Scott (so, wiggle room on that integrity and honesty thing).
Point is, Bridget Ziegler is married to a well-connected guy who would like to bag some votes for GOP candidates.
Moms For Liberty is very much a GOP joint. There was a time when they tried to lay claim to bipartisnaship; not so much these days. And they’re backing is for partental rights, but Florida-style, as in all parents have rights to make choices about their children’s education as long as the choices are acceptable. Parents should not be free to choose drag queen shows or Certain Naughty Books or a school with anything carrying the faintest whiff of “CRT” Justice has said that they’re going to “take over” school boards and then fire everyone and get search firms to find new conservative leaders.
I’ve seen choice fans argue “Hey, wait a minute, I thought the idea is parents could choose what they wanted,” and no, that’s not the idea at all, and I can almost feel bad for actual school choice advocates who have hitched their wagon to people like M4L who use the same language to mean something completely opposite. Choice MAGA style means choice only for the Right People– Those Other People over there should have their preferences outlawed.
There is more. Open the link and read on.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Moms For Liberty Obliteration are aligned and probably FUNDED by the same crowd who hosted The Road to Majority Policy Conference In Nashville TN May 2022.
Violent rhetoric was the order of the day. A so-called Christian theology of Dominionism was preached in conference sessions. A hypnotic, power-addicted, Biblically-derived Mandate COMPELS them to take control of All aspects of government/society.
The 7 Mountains are seen as the KEY mountains or MOLDERS of American Society.
SCOTUS is viewed as THE Legal Arsenal.
But the other “arsenals” are loaded up with By Any Means Necessary.
There are posters, postings and preachings about the Seven Mountain Mandate.
The Seven Mountains to be conquered are identified explicitly.
Referred to as “pillars,” “shapers,” “molders,” and “spheres.” Those who follow the seven mountain mandate speak of occupying the mountains, invading the culture and transforming society.
TARGETS = Education, Arts&Entertainment, Business, Family, Government, Media, Religion.
We are in their Bullseye.
https://digbysblog.net/
https://www.gotquestions.org/seven-mountain-mandate.html
A huge, prominently-placed Moms for Liberty billboard is evident to drivers on I-71 in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati area is ideal for the group. It has a largely Catholic and Republican demographic (except for the Black voters). Single sex Catholic schools are the dominant religious schools and the number of them likely exceeds what one would find in most other cities in the midwest- possibly St. Louis is a rival.
Commenter Greg recommended the new book, “The Pope…Secret History…Mussolini, and Hitler.” As we face the specter of the U.S. as a Christo-fascist nation, never has it been more important to read a book, than Kertzer’s. Excerpts from reviews of the book follow, “If the faint-hearted Pope was no war criminal, he was surely no saint…what deep slime the Vatican was wading in…brace yourself for a story full of horrors…why Pope Pius XII stayed silent in the face of the mass murder of Jews.”
We’ll see what the religious war criminals do when they are the ones in charge of the American Christo-fascist state and not just acquiescing partners.
It seems the guiding principle of Moms for Liberty is “Some parents are more equal than others”.
George Orwell would recognize them for what they are.
So ironic that this group is called Moms for Liberty
But I’m sure that the irony is lost on these morons.
Moms for Liberty is a front organization for traitors that apparently disagree with the US Constitution, and they are also fascists.
While there are fascists that pretend to be traditional conservatives, there are few if any traditional conservatives that think like these fascists.
Lloyd,
Thank you for your candor!
Genus- fascist for hire …subordinate species- religiono-logic acolyte
Shills for (Their Kind of) Order!
I had a shorter description. In fact one word . But it is not age appropriate for many in this group. . Nor would I say it on Dianes blog.
This “Parental Rights” thing is getting way out of hand. These so-called parent groups act as if whatever they want should be listened to and then get done. My question is–how should school boards vote on issues if half of their constituents favor one side, but the other half favor the opposite side? What if one of those sides is extremely vocal & passionate about their point of view, while the other side is just quiet & logical while expressing their views? And how many parents can actually attend, or even speak at these meetings? Who should the board listen to? Parental involvement is wonderful and important, however parents need to understand that just because they want certain policies enacted or changed, it doesn’t mean that they automatically get their way. Board members were elected to use their best judgement to formulate policies that are best for the majority of students. No decision will please every constituent, so we all need to learn & understand that our elected officials were elected to make decisions that may not always please everyone, but ultimately we all have to accept those decisions & if we don’t like them, go vote in the next election.
Thanks, loved2teach, a school board must be perplexed when parents are split down the middle. I think that in many communities, a tiny minority makes 90% of the noise. But when the community votes, the noisy ones lose.
One of these “moms”, Quisha King said, “I heard someone say a great awakening is usually preceded by a rude awakening.” I do not think she knows what a Great Awakening is. It’s a progressive movement, not a reactionary conservative one. Time to learn real history instead of dismissing it.
Gay teachers can’t have family pictures on their desks or wear rainbow clothing (in Florida). I can just imagine what happens at open house – only one of two gay parents can attend.
Whose rights? Whose liberty?