Paul Weyrich and the Next Generation
Conservative legend (and Wisconsin native) Paul Weyrich passed away yesterday. Since he was a man who was always doing something–writing meeting with conservative leaders, strategizing–he certainly wouldn’t want we the living to mope and partake in endless memorializing, not when there’s much work to be done. So while the conservative movement has lost two great leaders in 2008 (Weyrich along with William F. Buckley) we’re reminded that a healthy movement needs to prepare a new generation for leadership. Jennifer Rubin writes:
The time therefore is ripe for a new generation of conservative leaders who have the ability to organize, invigorate, and give purpose to conservatives outside the Beltway. It is not enough for conservatives to oppose cap-and-trade policies — they need an alternative to left-leaning environmental action groups. It is not enough for pundits to bemoan the lack of Republican appeal to nonwhite voters — they need Hispanic, African-American, and Asian-American conservatives to organize in their communities, support new candidates, and translate the conservative agenda into alternatives to the NAACP and LULAC.
The generation of Ronald Reagan, of which Weyrich was a prominent member, also carried with it a spirit and attitude which is largely absent on the Right today. They were feisty, fun, optimistic, and, yes, cool. The “establishment” was the Left while they were the counterculture, at least the political counterculture.
In short: it’s time to rock ‘n roll!
I know first-hand that a new generation of conservative leaders see an opportunity and want to step forward. How that meshes with the wisdom and experience of current leaders, I don’t know. But we’re living in interesting times.
“Who Will Be the Next Paul Weyrich?” [via Mary Katharine Ham]
It is time for a re-energizing the movement. The ideas and ideals remain solid and the opportunity for growth are obvious. To paraphrase Martin Luther, the movement needs to have “unity in the essentials, liberty in the incidentals and excitement in all.”