Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
“We do not co-parent with the government” read signs raised by the self-dubbed “happy warriors” of Moms for Liberty, a two-year-old, ostensibly grassroots, nonpartisan activist group that advocates for the elusive idea of “parents’ rights.”
Formed in Jan. 2021 during a mask-panicked fury by two Floridian former school board members—depending on your perspective, the group is either on a worthy mission to “reclaim our schools” with a Founding Fathers-like “righteous fire,” or they are theocratic-fascists out to censor every book they deem inappropriate for a grade school Republican.
But in the battle for America’s future, there’s a bigger issue, an unchecked assumption. If the choice is between conservative parents with a political agenda or the unfeeling, intrusive power of the state—has anyone thought to ask the kids what they want?