Or one small group.
Either way they can spark a fire with help from their friends.
The call to ban books which is blossoming across the country, has turned into demands that are funded by outside conservative millionaires and billionaires who have an agenda.
The agenda is simple. And anti-democratic. They want to scrub our history until it's a shiny white fantasy.
These wealthy conservatives don't want to see teachers talking about the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans in U.S. society. Period. The other reasons for banning books are just window-dressing.
We're looking at a nationwide campaign of censoring books on a scale never seen before in this country.
Books have already been banned in schools in Texas, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming in the past year.
National groups have sprung up like deadly mushrooms after a rain and are teaching individuals and small groups how to ban books they don't approve of in schools and libraries.
The national groups lurk in the background of every so-called grass root effort. It's no coincidence that most of the banned books are about gender equality and race, at a time when Republicans are mounting efforts to prevent teaching race in schools by launching a campaign against critical race theory.
The campaign to ban books has soared through 2021.
The following organizations are in the vanguard of this assault on our freedoms:
Parents Defending Education (PDE)
Whose funding PDE? None other than conservative icon Charles Koch. This national organization is against critical race theory and encourages parents to "spy on" teachers' online activity to seek incriminating (!) material against them.
The PDE doesn't just stop at banning books, however. Their other aim is to encourage conservative parents to run for school boards - an often-overlooked position that wields a considerable amount of power.
Other mega funders like billionaire Leonard Leo, who advised Trump on judicial appointments, are channeling cash into the efforts by Moms for Liberty and No Left Turn in Education.
George Orwell warned us what could happen when we ban books. Hitler showed the world how effective banning books was in his ascent to absolute power.
Extreme conservatives in America are trying to go the same route of dictators in order to assume control of our society.
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