Childrens bookstores are full of titles celebrating Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Supreme Court justice. Why not Amy Coney Barrett?
Its a question that bothers Bethany Mandel, the editor of a new series of childrens books aimed at conservative families. The series, called Heroes of Liberty, features a roster of luminaries of the right that so far includes Alexander Hamilton, Ronald Reagan, Thomas Sowell, John Wayne and, indeed, Justice Barrett. Margaret Thatcher will be next.
On Twitter and in her opinion columns, Mandel is a conservative firebrand and a fierce critic of what she views as liberal policies such as mask mandates for children. But the books, she insists, are not ideological. [Antifar's note: a patently absurd claim to make.]
For me, its: Who do I want my kids to be reading about? Mandel said in an interview.
The books are the latest sign of how red America and blue America are becoming separate cultural ecosystems. From TV networks to coffee, chicken sandwiches to automobiles, Americans increasingly want the products they buy, the clothes they wear and the media they consume to be infused with their political preferences and values.
Growing up, Mandel said, I hated American history. As a child, she was more likely to be found reading The Chronicles of Narnia or The Baby-Sitters Club series than biographies of, say, Winston Churchill.
Now, she says, there are too many left-wing titles flooding bookshelves, and too few options for parents like herself, who prefer their children learn about the values that made America great.
The new series comes amid a conservative backlash against books focused on race and sexual or gender identity that is playing out across the country and in political campaigns. Republicans say these books are invading public schools and libraries without their consent. And while Democrats often flag works they find problematic, liberals denounce what they see as a retrograde effort by groups on the right to censor viewpoints that conservatives dislike.
Republicans in Congress have rallied behind a Parents Bill of Rights that would grant parents a federal right to know what their minor child is being taught in school, including, but not limited to, curricula, books, and other instructional materials.
And while it remains to be seen whether that agenda captures the imagination of voters nationwide, the timing of the new series seems to fit a moment when many on the right are unhappy with what they see as the cultural hegemony of the left.
Mandel, a convert to Orthodox Judaism who home-schools her five children, said she was disturbed when one of her children stumbled upon The Breakaways, a graphic novel about a middle-school soccer team that includes a character who is undergoing a gender transition.
It kind of spooked me a bit, she said. I dont feel like I can go to the library and have my children pick out a book anymore.
Its not that Mandel has a problem with L.G.B.T.Q. identities, she insisted. [Antifar's note: she absolutely has a problem with LGBTQ identities. Here's a piece she wrote in 2017 https://thefederalist.com/2017/09/06/transgender-crusade-made-rethink-support-gay-marriage/ ] Its that she wants to discuss human sexuality with her children on her own terms and thinks there are millions of other parents who feel the same way.
I dont want other people dictating those conversations and how they occur, she said. You want that to happen on your lap.
The books are not always subtle. At times, they can sound like an essay from a Heritage Foundation scholar.
Ronald Reagan believed in God, family, and patriotism, a concluding passage in the Reagan book reads. And he believed America would remain strong as long as its government avoided the mistakes of communism. It should never try to do for people what they ought to do for themselves. Nor should it run their lives for them.