On the wall by the door of our seminar room is a sign. It says: “Children should be: Heard. Respected. Encouraged. Loved. Appreciated. Guided with Compassion. Given Freedom to Learn Without Coercion.”

What exactly that last phrase means is ominously vague.

Now, however, as the last Holocaust survivors are dying, I am aware that fascism is creeping back into the world at large in terrifying ways.

Indeed it is, lady. When the idea of children having freedom to come to their own conclusions on things, rather than being forced to think a certain way, sounds ominous to you, the creeping fascism you sense is a lot closer to you than you realize.

Once inside, I found the members were all stripes of Republican and I was pleasantly surprised to see opinion was not monolithic in the group.

Aw, look. She thinks she's Jane Goodall studying the chimpanzees.

Another surprise I found in the Facebook group was that some huge media outlets were giving them a platform.

Yes, I understand you would have a problem with that, people you don't like and are operating in bad faith with having a place to speak on an outlet that YOU use.

Run for Something was a movement started after Donald Trump won the presidency that was meant to encourage young progressives to start their own campaigns for local political office. This right-wing women’s group seemed to be following the same model, but there was an undercurrent of rage among the group members that I had never seen in a Run for Something meeting.

And I'm sure all those Run for Something meetings you went to were all rainbows and sunshine as they cried and screamed about that horrible, evil Donald Trump winning the election.

Groups like the one I joined often appeal to mothers. The pandemic has hit moms especially hard. Lack of child care has resulted in a “she-cession” with thousands of women leaving the workforce to take care of their children. Lonely, frustrated, financially stressed people tend to be prime targets for radical groups. These right-wing women’s groups offer a sense of community and friendship to women who are isolated at home with their kids.

Yes, having to stay at home to be with your kids, rather than shove them in a daycare while you go to the office where you don't have to think about them is a terrible fate to befall women. So terrible it causes them to go insane! You would definitely know that, ma'am.

On the wall by the door of our seminar room is a sign. It says: “Children should be: Heard. Respected. Encouraged. Loved. Appreciated. Guided with Compassion. Given Freedom to Learn Without Coercion.”

What exactly that last phrase means is ominously vague.

Now, however, as the last Holocaust survivors are dying, I am aware that fascism is creeping back into the world at large in terrifying ways.

Indeed it is, lady. When the idea of children having freedom to come to their own conclusions on things, rather than being forced to think a certain way, sounds ominous to you, the creeping fascism you sense is a lot closer to you than you realize.

Once inside, I found the members were all stripes of Republican and I was pleasantly surprised to see opinion was not monolithic in the group.

Aw, look. She thinks she's Jane Goodall studying the chimpanzees.

Another surprise I found in the Facebook group was that some huge media outlets were giving them a platform.

Yes, I understand you would have a problem with that, people you don't like and are operating in bad faith with having a place to speak on an outlet that YOU use.

Run for Something was a movement started after Donald Trump won the presidency that was meant to encourage young progressives to start their own campaigns for local political office. This right-wing women’s group seemed to be following the same model, but there was an undercurrent of rage among the group members that I had never seen in a Run for Something meeting.

And I'm sure all those Run for Something meetings you went to were all rainbows and sunshine as they cried and screamed about that horrible, evil Donald Trump winning the election.

Groups like the one I joined often appeal to mothers. The pandemic has hit moms especially hard. Lack of child care has resulted in a “she-cession” with thousands of women leaving the workforce to take care of their children. Lonely, frustrated, financially stressed people tend to be prime targets for radical groups. These right-wing women’s groups offer a sense of community and friendship to women who are isolated at home with their kids.

Yes, having to stay at home to be with your kids, rather than shove them in a daycare while you go to the office where you don't have to think about them is a terrible fate to befall women. So terrible it causes them to go insane! You would definitely know that, ma'am.