Difference between revisions of "Paul Weyrich"
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Paul Weyrich (1942-2008) (pronounced WHY-rick) was a highly influential intellectual entrepreneur for American conservatives. In 1973, as a young Congressional aide, he cofounded the Heritage Foundation, which became of the most important Washington think tanks. He coined the slogan “moral majority” as a rallying cry for social conservatives.
Weyrichco-founded was a conservative theorist and strategist whose strong principles, articulate fervor and organization-building skills were instrumental in propelling the right wing of the Republican Party to power and prominence in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan, and into the 1990s.
Raised as a Roman Catholic in a German-American working class community in Wisconsin, he became a deacon in the ultra-conservative Melkite Greek Catholic Church, which allowed him to openly fused his religion and his politics. "Defense is a moral issue," he said.
He often criticized President Ronald Reagan as too soft on Communism (after 1986), and giving too much emphasis to tax cuts while downplaying social issues such as abortion. He accused President George W. Bush of profligate domestic spending, and he attacked the Iraq war, arguing that a war to spread democracy rather than to protect vital national interests deviated from conservative principles.
Weyrich founded and wrote the mission statement for the Free Congress Foundation in 1987. It proclaims , "the belief that there is a necessary, unbreakable and causal relationship between traditional Western, Judeo-Christian values, definitions of right and wrong, ways of thinking and ways of living — the parameters of Western culture — and the secular success of Western societies."
