The hard-right conservatives are making a strong push to take over school boards, and unfortunately winning a fair amount of them, since many people in the community don’t care.
It not only gives them say over what kids learn, but also is a proving ground for ideas before they take them into goverent.
Basically, yes.
In the books it was just that they would only answer to Isldur’s Heir. They also scared the Corsairs of Umbar away from their ships, but it was an army of Dunadain (along with a few elves, like Elrond’s sons) that actually ran them off permanently, so they could use the ships to bring some of the Gondorians in the south back north to join the main battle.