The American Spectator : Requiem for a General

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Requiem for a General

By Hunter Baker on 12.19.08 @ 6:09AM

Paul Weyrich brought evangelicals and Catholics together to fight the political battles of our times.

The year was 1999. I attended one of those Washington meetings where the inner circle sits around the big table, while assistants (like me, at the time) take up seats on the perimeter. We were fighting for the Religious Liberty Protection Act, which we hoped would reinvigorate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment in the wake of court decisions that had undercut the cause of religious freedom.

Paul Weyrich arrived early. Even then, he was in poor health. I could see he was in pain as he walked into the room, putting a good bit of his weight on his cane. He wore suspenders and looked like an elderly man from Middle America. During the meeting, he sat quietly and listened, apparently feeling no need to dominate despite easily being the most well-known and senior person in the room.

When I heard about his death, I was shocked to hear Weyrich was only 66 years old. Nearly ten years ago in that Capitol meeting room, I would have sworn he was almost 70. The revelation of his age at death explains his face, which seemed preternaturally youthful in comparison to his burdened body when I met him. He suffered from diabetes. During the last year, a combination of complications from injury and lingering illness led to the amputation of his legs.

Many would have dropped out to rest on the memories of battles fought and victories won. Weyrich kept working until the end. One of his friends reported seeing him at a high-powered political gathering in November where he was an active participant in panel discussions.

Paul Weyrich came to Washington from Wisconsin in the 1970s as a senatorial aide, but he quickly became an organizational and policy entrepreneur of the first order. In addition to being the founding president of the Heritage Foundation, he also established the Free Congress Foundation and occupied a perennial position of leadership among religious conservatives in Washington.

Many will remember that after the 1998 elections, he penned a letter declaring the culture war lost and calling, like a modern prophet, for a welling up of new institutions and ways of life independent from a decadent mainstream society. That occasion led to one of many rounds of the press declaring the death of the "religious right" as a movement. Notably, Weyrich ended his letter with a call for further conversation and strategic planning. He never dropped out. He never stopped working and never gave in to despair.

Upon hearing of Weyrich's death, I called Judge Paul Pressler and asked for his impressions of the man. For those who don't instantly recognize the name, he was one of the prime movers behind a conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention during the last three decades. Pressler has also been heavily involved in the conservative political movement and this year is an elector for the presidential race.

The Texas judge was effusive in his praise for Weyrich. Today, few are surprised to hear that one elder statesman of the conservative movement has good things to say about another, but there are larger issues beneath the surface. When these two men were young, it would have been rare to hear a Southern Baptist offering tribute to the legacy of a Greek Catholic like Weyrich.

In fact, during those years, evangelicals and other conservative Protestants were at least as concerned with the threat of ambitious Catholicism as they were with secularist encroachments. Rare were the evangelicals who had the insight of Abraham Kuyper that Catholics were natural allies against secular cultural offensives.

Paul Weyrich is one of the people who built the bridge between those camps. Today, conservative Protestants and Catholics waste very little of their fire on each other. It is ironic to consider how much ecumenism came from the cultural and political engagement of people like Weyrich and Phyllis Schlafly (also Catholic), as opposed to the weak, pink lemonade of self-conscious efforts like those of the National Council of Churches to pull believers together. The lure of theological compromise proved much less potent than common purpose and real-life stakes.

Interestingly, when I asked a veteran of the Reagan and Bush administrations for his memory of Weyrich, he responded instantly, "He spoke truth to power, even when that meant disagreeing with the president in his presence." That particular phrase about speaking "truth to power" is usually reserved as an encomium bestowed upon liberal clergymen by adoring journalists. Weyrich spoke his mind knowing it would earn him no similar kudos.

It may be fitting to conclude by saying something about Weyrich as a private person. We are accustomed to viewing well-known figures in Washington as celebrities and often expect to see them surrounded by wealth and luxury, even when they are known to have strong religious sympathies. Weyrich did not use the money he raised to support a lavish lifestyle. Instead, he lived simply and labored faithfully despite pain and illness.

The loss of Paul Weyrich is a serious one. Taken together with the death of William F. Buckley earlier this year, the conservative movement has lost two leading lights. The burden lies heavy upon the succeeding generations to find some way to occupy their places.

topics:
Catholicism, Protestantism, Conservatism

About the Author

Hunter Baker is associate dean of arts and sciences and associate professor of political science at Union University. He is the author of The End of Secularism and winner of the 2011 Michael Novak Award. His personal website is www.hunterbaker.wordpress.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (27) | Leave a comment

Alan Brooks| 12.19.08 @ 9:55AM

Good man.
too bad men like Weyrich and Buckley leave us. The younger set lack dignity.
the saddest \truism is you dont know what you have until it is gone.

Alan Brooks| 12.19.08 @ 1:21PM

simply irreplaceable

Quartermaster| 12.19.08 @ 7:16PM

Buckley wasn't much of a loss. He had been moving left for years, and left a deeply wounded and crippled National Review to a bunch of Neocon brats.

Weyrich is a far different matter. Buckley lost his principles years ago. Weyrich never bent. Weyrich's legacy will be felt for years. Buckley spent his many years ago in exchange for respect among the left he supposedly opposed.

Jeremiah| 12.19.08 @ 9:24PM

Indeed, it is conservatives who give voice to true values in this country.

Jeremiah| 12.19.08 @ 9:27PM

Thank God for conservative voices like this to remind us of our true Christian heritage.

Charlie| 12.19.08 @ 9:30PM

Quartermaster opines: "Buckley wasn't much of a loss...."

That's William F Buckley he's referring to.

Hilarious. The nitwitted fringe turning against the Founding Father of modern conservatism.

Keep the aspidistra flying boys!

Alan Brooks| 12.19.08 @ 11:03PM

hey jeremiah, at least our christian values are a tad better than Islamic values.

Death to Islam! Mohammed burns in hell!

Jeremiah| 12.19.08 @ 11:53PM

Alan --
Your posting is even more stupid and hateful and bigoted than normal tonight.
You are a real bore, sir. I've nothing else to say to you.

Hans Hansmann| 12.20.08 @ 3:44AM

The world is a better place with Weyrich gone. For those of us not religiously deluded, he did as much as anyone, and more than most, to detroy real religion and conservatism in this country. Good riddance. Now Dobson and his ilk........

Alan Brooks| 12.20.08 @ 2:13PM

Jeremiah,
this is a right wing blog-- not ben and jerry's buddhist gay pacifist blog.

Alan Brooks| 12.20.08 @ 2:20PM

why do libs-- or whatever they are, its hard to pin them down-- like jeremiah post at amspec?
theyre not going to change anyone's opinion here except on marginal points.
the gain is so tiny.

Jeremiah| 12.20.08 @ 10:13PM

Alan --

"This is a right wing blog..."

Evidently. But does that mean only idiots can post?

Shooter| 12.21.08 @ 11:01AM

If Consevatives keep sniping at each other as above we will completely lose the Senate in 2010 and all 50 states in 2012.
Leave religion, especially the Weyrich brand, out of the search for a political leader who can helm us out of our present miasma. Practice your religion in your church; practice your Conservatism in public.
Mitt Romney seems a good choice, at least at this juncture. Had he been our nominee he might very well have won.

Jeremiah| 12.21.08 @ 12:15PM

Alan --

What do you have against Ben and Jerry's?

Conservatism is doomed.

Catherine C| 12.22.08 @ 12:31PM

The gift of great leaders is their ability to articulate WHY they believe WHAT they believe. The ashamed silence of our "Conservative" leaders on Capital Hill in the shadow of George Bush, and the rout they suffered in this last election, speaks volumnes about the apparent lack of personal, passionate conviction. Paul was one such voice. Will we find another in time?

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