John Wahl, chairman of the Alabama Public Library Service and, not coincidentally, chair of the Alabama Republican Party, wants you to believe he’s defending conservative values by threatening public libraries with the loss of federal funds unless they purge anything resembling “gender ideology.” But this isn’t conservatism—it’s coercion. It’s government overreach dressed in culture war rhetoric, and it’s the kind of bullying authoritarians champion, not real conservatives.
In a formal letter sent to library directors across the state, Wahl demanded compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning the use of federal funds to promote “gender ideology.” That means libraries must review their collections, programming and policies to ensure they meet vague, politically charged standards—or risk losing the resources they need to serve their communities.
This isn’t about protecting children. It’s about policing thought. It’s about punishing difference. And it’s part of a coordinated campaign to turn Alabama’s public institutions into ideological battlegrounds where only one worldview is allowed to exist.
Let’s not pretend this is isolated. From Prattville to Wetumpka to Gadsden, libraries have faced escalating harassment, book challenges and political interference—much of it fueled by groups like Clean Up Alabama, backed by the same far-right operatives now driving the Alabama Republican Party. What John Wahl has done is take their playbook statewide. His letter gives local censorship efforts the force of state power. It’s no longer a fringe movement. It’s official policy.
Wahl insists this is not censorship. But when the government dictates which books are acceptable and threatens to cut off funding if libraries don’t fall in line, that is censorship. When unelected bureaucrats tell communities which stories their children are allowed to read, that’s not parental rights—it’s state control.
And here’s the bitter irony: this is all being carried out in the name of “conservative values.” But nothing about it is conservative.
Russell Kirk, the man who helped define modern American conservatism, warned us long ago, “The coercive utopians, if they can get their way, will deny us the liberty to think and speak as we will.” He also reminded us, “The conservative believes that freedom and property are closely linked: separate property from private possession, and Leviathan becomes master of all.”
Barry Goldwater, who galvanized an entire generation of conservatives, said, “Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth.” And just as plainly, “A government that is big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.”
What John Wahl is demanding—through this letter and his dual role as library chair and party boss—is not about protecting families. It’s about enforcing obedience. It’s about dictating which truths can be told and who gets to decide what is “radical.” It’s not freedom. It’s fear.
Today, it’s LGBTQ-themed books. Tomorrow, it could be history, science, religion—or anything else that doesn’t fit the approved narrative. When access to information becomes conditional on political loyalty, democracy starts to die.
The Alabama Republican Party once claimed to stand for limited government, individual liberty and local control. That party is gone. What remains is a machine that punishes dissent, crushes nuance and wields state power like a club.
The people of Alabama must decide whether we want a future built on fear and control, or one grounded in liberty, learning and trust. Because if we keep handing power to those who use it to bully, censor and threaten—soon we won’t have a choice at all.
Now is the time for librarians to stand firm, for lawmakers to find their backbone, and for voters to make it unmistakably clear: we will not surrender our public institutions to political thugs masquerading as moral crusaders. Not in our libraries. Not in our schools. Not in our state.
