The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recently added two grassroots groups, Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education, to its “hate map,” labeling them “antigovernment” for daring to disagree with the SPLC’s political beliefs.
In their Wall Street Journal op-ed condemning their inclusion on the list, Moms for Liberty founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich say they were targeted because SPLC wants them to “sit down and shut up.”
They are right. Labels like “antigovernment,” “radical,” and “domestic extremist” are increasingly weaponized against ideological adversaries. Instead of debating the merits of ideas, it is easier to tar and feather speakers. It’s a cheap, lazy tactic designed to intimidate and silence disfavored groups to prevent them from exercising their First Amendment rights. Anyone who cares about free speech should ignore characterizations that make routine political disagreements seem “dangerous” and worthy of government attention.
Unfortunately, the federal government is listening to voices that employ these speech-squashing tactics. According to the Washington Free Beacon, the SPLC researcher responsible for the “hate map” met with Biden’s National Security Council officials earlier this year.
We’ve seen this move before: An organization targets Americans based on viewpoint, then high-ranking officials act in response to that organization’s claims, thereby creating a negative feedback loop threatening First Amendment rights for everyone.
It wasn’t even a year ago that a Republican House Judiciary Committee report detailed how the FBI Counterterrorism Division set up a special “threat tag” to track school board-related cases shortly after the National School Boards Association (NSBA) urged President Joe
