Wednesday, September 07, 2016

The Loss of Phyllis Schlafly

By Douglas V. Gibbs

A great conservative warrior has been lost.  Phyllis Schlafly died Sunday at the age of 92 from cancer.  She was a constitutionalist that called for a return to our founding principles, and will be missed.

Schlafly founded the Eagle Forum, a national conservative organization whose mission is to fight for low taxes, a strong military, and English only education.  She founded the organization in 1975, which was an evolved version of the STOP ERA organization she formed in 1972.  She worked with the John Birch Society in her fight to stop the draconian Equal Rights Amendment.

1973's Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling led Schlafly to become a key figure in the creation of the pro-life movement. By 1976, largely because of her efforts, the Republican Party platform embraced the protection of the unborn.

Schlafly and her Eagle Forum helped re-launch conservatism and paved the way for the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.  In 1964, she self-published A Choice Not an Echo, a book that eventually sold three and a half million copies. The book was written to help promote the candidacy of Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, who was seeking the Republican nomination.  Her book was an important part of the effort that helped Goldwater win the Republican Party nod.

A staunch opponent of the establishment, she called the political machine in the Republican Party “kingmakers.”  According to her book "A Choice Not an Echo," she suggested that to avoid conservatism the establishment was actually willing to push candidates that were an echo of the New Deal Democrats.

As time passes and changes, it seems some things stay the same.

In 1958, Schlafly and her husband launched the Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation to educate Catholics on the dangers of communism.

In 1962, Schlafly sent a note to William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review magazine, of which she had been a charter subscriber, contributor, and promoter. In the note, she requested that Buckley cancel her subscription, and “send the refund to Mr. Robert Welch or Pope John XXIII.” Neither man got the refund, but Schlafly was expressing her displeasure concerning National Review’s stance against Welch, the founder of The John Birch Society (parent company of The New American). She saw the JBS as a crucial organization in the fight against communism.

Republican nominee Donald Trump was among those commenting on the passing of Phyllis Schlafly. “Phyllis Schlafly is a conservative icon who led millions to action, reshaped the conservative movement, and fearlessly battled globalism and the ‘kingmakers’ on behalf of America’s workers and families.”

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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