Paul Weyrich, one of the early architects of the religious right, died this morning. Although he'd been in ailing health for a number of years and quite frail the last time I saw him speak publicly, he was still considered an icon to conservatives generally, and to religious right activists in particular.
Weyrich, who co-founded the Heritage Foundation in addition to his own Free Congress Foundation and many other organizations, was instrumental in bringing the social conservative issues into the burgeoning conservative movement in the late 1970s. When I interviewed Weyrich in 1986, he recalled how the "new Right" (as it was then called) was primarily interested in "free enterprise" and "limited government" and that during early coalition meetings the "silence" on what Weyrich called "family issues" was "deafening." Weyrich played a key role in bringing the moral majority types into alliance with the movement conservatives.
Weyrich claimed then, over 20 years ago, that his new movement represented change, and that liberals represented the status quo. "We in fact are the progressives, if you will, or radicals, if you prefer, who in fact are for change," he told me. "This is a great political turnabout, one which I don't think is fully appreciated."
--Sarah Posner
