Paul Weyrich's Legacy

Paul Weyrich's Legacy

WEST CHESTER, Penn., Dec. 18 /Christian Newswire/ -- In a conservative movement marked with scores of political leaders and major figures, Paul Weyrich remained a gentle giant who was without peer given the diversity of his national interests and scope of his political effectiveness.

"Paul was a man whose life was committed to Jesus Christ, his family and the United States of America." said Colin Hanna, President of Let Freedom Ring. "He remained always and steadfastly the faith-based, guiding hand on the conservative movement."

Believing that the nation's culture war demanded both a general and troops, Weyrich became the former and doggedly recruited the latter. He organized the political fight to preserve the nation's Judeo-Christian heritage against an encroaching secularism. Weyrich believed that if the nation lost its moral fiber, then its destruction would be inevitable.

Mr. Weyrich's first taste of presidential politics harkened back to the Barry Goldwater campaign of 1964. After years of observing, participating and studying the national political landscape, Weyrich founded the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation and the American Legislative Change Council (ALEC) in 1973. In 1981 Weyrich also founded the Council for National Policy. These new organizations were to be fertile ground in which the Reagan Revolution would roar to life in the 1980s.

He remained a vibrant figure in U.S. politics even after a spinal injury in 1996 confined him to a wheelchair, demonstrating to all that life's hardships can nevertheless be blessings. He remained above the fray and was fueled by the notion that neither personal nor political surrender was ever an option. Weyrich was one of few men in public life who built a legacy not for his own aggrandizement, but for the benefit of those who would come after him.

Mr. Hanna stated, "While Paul's death leaves a heavy heart, conservatives can be reassured that his life's work will not only provide a memorial to his life of service, it will provide a younger generation of conservatives a roadmap for the tough times ahead. Paul's footprint will not be washed away by the sands of time."

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