Moms Like Us

“If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslav’d. This will be their great security.” — Sam Adams.

I’ve long believed that the surest way to salvation, upward mobility, and all-around Liberty is through education. Like most Americans, I attended public school, one of the best in the state I lived in at the time. Luckily, as my grandmother used to say, I received an education despite the public education system.

Thanks partly to COVID forcing children across this nation to get their education remotely and Loudoun County’s chokehold on mask mandates and harmful, divisive education material, Americans have witnessed the pinnacle of deprivation that has become of the public education system.

Mothers like Cheryl Onderchain, Debbie Edsall, Monica Sadeghi, and Beth Hess, who stood up the Moms for Liberty Loudoun County Chapter, and fathers like Brandon Michon Americans were given a glimpse into the otherwise ignored world of School Board meetings and local government.

This past Tuesday night, Moms for Liberty had their monthly meeting highlighting local Republican candidates and their guest speaker, Luke Rosiak.

Luke Rosiak is an investigative reporter for The Daily Wire who has recently authored Race to the Bottom — Uncovering the Secret Forces Destroying American Public Education, set to release on March 8th. However, I’d argue what he is most known for in Loudoun County is his work uncovering the truth behind the sexual assault cover-up that shocked the county and the nation.

In addition to giving a sneak preview of his new book, Luke imparted some essential advice when it comes to fighting for the future of our country.

Until the last two years, unless you were a political junkie like me, most Americans had little interest in local government. National politics has generally always seemed more important. The national level is reported on the most and tends to be sexier and juicier, besides the implication of immediate subsequent impact on the everyday life of the average citizen. But, until recently, the reality that has always been ignored is that local politics shape daily lives and is where the most significant damage and the greatest good occur.

For too long, the extreme liberal movement has used local government as a backdoor into shaping the future to fit their self-interests while the rest of us have been distracted by National politics. Luke discussed this in-depth with his explanation of how he moved from an interest in national political journalism to local investigative reporting. He learned quickly that members of his school board never really talked about education or how to make education better for children. Instead, they discussed ridiculous alleged hot button issues like ‘menstrual equity’ in elementary school and ‘culturally responsive education.’ None of which deals with the actual needs of children. On the contrary, these programs hiding behind the ruse of equity are meant to elevate billion-dollar ‘philanthropic’ foundations and “charlatan consultants” concerned more with dividing Americans to ensure the future lining of their pockets.

So why should Americans who don’t live in Loudoun County or, like me, who homeschool their children care about what is happening in Loudoun County or any other public school?

The best two reasons to care were given by Luke last night:

• Loudoun County is merely a case study of thousands of counties across the nation
• Your property taxes go to your local public school system

And I would argue my added third reason to care is :

• The security and prosperity of our nation depends on future generations of Americans

It can be easy to feel as though there is no way to affect change when faced with a system working unabated against us for decades with billions in funding through special interest groups. However, we must not let the seemingly impossible discourage us.

On the tails of George Washington’s birthday, I think it is important to remember that this is not the first time in our history that the odds have not seemed in our favor. There was no reason to believe that General Washington and the colonists could defeat the British. Numbers and history were not on our side as the British navy and monarchy at the time were the most powerful in the world. But alas, here we are today, interestingly in some parts of this country arguing the merit of having George Washington and other Founding Fathers’ names on our public schools.

The way to combat a seemingly insurmountable force is to be involved, be skeptical, and vote.

While this may sound easy, it’s not, and it’s not meant to be. Being involved takes time. Time away from what we prefer to do, time away from family perhaps, requires us to have uncomfortable conversations with our children, our spouses, and our communities. As parents, we should know on a detailed level how our children are doing in school academically, physically, and socially. It can be tempting to feel the need to give our children autonomy and their own space, but it is our duty as parents to ensure that they are learning what they should, doing what they should, and developing the way they should. And that means being involved to the point of probably irritating our children. It means going to board meetings, committee meetings, and organization meetings like Moms for Liberty. It means having discussions with our neighbors and not just finding common ground that may not be immediately evident, but also understanding and articulating uncommon ground to find compromise when available.

For too long, we have trusted the Federal and State government to take care of our children. We believed that public school was the best option and that administrators had the best intentions for our children. We abdicated our responsibilities as parents for the promise that the system was set up appropriately. Now that we have woken up to the truth, it’s time to be skeptical. It’s time to research, educate ourselves, and ask hard questions. To hold any office is to be a servant to those you represent. It is our right and duty to ask the questions and requires that those we elect to serve are doing so in a way that is right for our communities.

This brings me to the final, possibly most accessible yet most underutilized tool in our arsenal: vote. It is a civic duty to vote. It is how we can all participate in the greatest political experiment. Yet too many of us don’t vote, especially in local elections. We forget, we think our vote doesn’t matter, we feel too ill-informed, so we don’t vote. As someone who has been all over the world in locations where the freedom to vote is nonexistent for most, if not all, I can tell you we are squandering a delicate and essential right.

As a veteran and patriot who spent 20 years defending our country abroad and sacrificing some of my rights to represent this country impartially in uniform, I cherished my most fundamental right and duty, my duty to vote. Now that I am retired, I am eager to be involved, be skeptical, and help energize our community to vote.

Being a part of groups like Moms for Liberty is an excellent step in being involved. I can attest as someone who is not always comfortable with large groups of women (what can I say, I have lived in an alpha male-dominated world), this organization is welcoming, fun, and energetic. So if you are worried about your children’s education and where your tax dollars are going, if you are interested in helping push the conversation on learning loss remediation for our kids, then this group is for you.

If you are a candidate looking to get your message out, then connect with groups like Moms for Liberty to articulate your platform and hear from your potential constituents.

It’s time to get in the trenches, get comfortable with discomfort, and take back our communities. No more can we continue to do business as usual. No more can we blindly trust administrators and elected officials. Instead, we must do what our Founding Fathers did and expected us to continue to do. We must hold our government at all levels accountable. We must raise the bar and dare to believe that we can do better.

They say that Moms like us are going to change the country. I sure hope so.