Until, that is, about two weeks ago, when nearly every notable Republican 2024 presidential candidate attended a Philadelphia Moms for Liberty summit to campaign, and people took notice.

“What we’ve seen across this country,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on June 30, “in recent years is awakening the most powerful political force in this country, Mama Bears, and they’re ready to roll.”

Perhaps two election cycles ago, parental rights fights were hyperlocal, at least for the parents. It would be about a specific school where parents witnessed discipline issues, poor academic performance in a specific district, or anecdotes of age-inappropriate curriculum surfacing here and there. Rarely was it a national effort, and certainly not an organized one.

Then the pandemic hit, schools closed physically and took education online, and children were attending classes right in sight of their parents. It created the perfect storm.

‘More Eyes Are on Public Education’

Shortly after the summit, Moms for Liberty dismissed a slew of accusations and labels thrown their way by a bevy of detractors. It was nothing new; organization co-founder Tina Descovich said both positive and negative press has followed the organization since day one. Plus, both co-founders were embattled moms who ran and served on their children’s school boards long before Moms for Liberty came about.

The organization is not politically affiliated in any way, said Ms. Descovich. “We’re a non-partisan organization,” she said. “We accept moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, [and] community members that are concerned about education in America.”

The group has no partisan policy ask either. “One of the biggest things the federal government can do is return authority back to states and local school districts for a lot of the decisions that need to be made for education,” Ms. Descovich said.

Moms for Liberty handles its business much the same way, organizing monthly training sessions for all chapter leaders but leaving it to each locale to decide what is right for them. The number of reasons people have wanted to start a chapter is nearly as many as the number of chapters themselves. Sure there are similar issues across the nation, such as tax referendums or a textbook that’s used across several states, which is where the members benefit from having a nationwide network with which to share knowledge, but the focus is on local communities working together to find local solutions, Ms. Descovich explained.

The Philadelphia summit’s speaker list came about like the last one: the organization surveyed members, asked whom they wanted to hear from, and invited the most-requested speakers. The organization had also extended invitations to President Joe Biden and Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but the former did not respond, and the latter had to cancel due to a scheduling conflict. This wasn’t the first time Moms for Liberty shared a stage with campaigning candidates; politicians have rightly taken note that parents have begun to organize.

The group formed in January 2021 now has 300 chapters across the country, which averages roughly a new chapter about every three days since its inception. Growth has been steady, voluntary, and not fueled by any one issue, Ms. Descovich said. The first New York chapter opened because of the forced masking of children. Expansion to California started because parents were trying to keep the schools open.

Being a nearly all-volunteer organization, Moms for Liberty doesn’t even fund school board races except in Florida, she said. Of the 500 they endorsed last year, 275 won.

“But what we found in places even where we lost the school board races, like Dutchess County, New York, had three times higher turnout for the school board election [than] they’d ever had,” Ms. Descovich said. “So, for us, that’s a win because more eyes are on public education. Together we can work as communities to improve public education.”

‘Change on the Horizon’

Kimberly Ells, author of “The Invincible Family” and policy adviser for Family Watch International, says parents’ political capital will only grow in upcoming election cycles until attacks on families are abated. Yet, the once-disparate group coming together still won’t function the way other political interests groups do “because their investment is greatest and their motives are most pure.” They might not band together around a specific policy item and use it as a rallying cry to advance a certain agenda, but they will defend against policies and entities that continue to encroach on their right to parent.

“When parents advocate for their own children, they are not campaigning for re-election; they are fighting for the souls of their kids, which is the ultimate fight,” Ms. Ells told The Epoch Times. “The stewardship of parents over their children—which is motivated by love, not money or power—is the most powerful force on earth.”

“Political entities who target parents are waking a sleeping giant, and the fight will not be pretty,” she said. “Right now, in this moment, we see the moms and dads of the world starting to understand their own power and beginning to wield it. The power of parents is unstoppable. As parents step into their own power, there is change on the horizon, and the future—despite the immediate gloom—looks glorious.”

Featured Image: Parents gather in mass to express their concerns for mandatory vaccine mandates for their children at the Placentia Yorba Linda Unified School District building in Placentia, Calif., on Oct. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)