Dakota Beacon

Phyllis Schlafly has died at age 92.  For more than half a century, Schlafly was a leading thinker in the conservative movement.  Her last year has been a storm of controversy as she astonished many of us by her incomprehensible endorsement of Donald Trump, rather than the serious and proven conservative, Ted Cruz.  It was sad that this tempest has clouded the past several months, causing a shakeup in her own Eagle Forum organization.

Regardless of how we might feel about her decision in this matter, there is no question about her matchless contribution to conservative thought, which has remained as relevant today as when I first became acquainted with her through the Barry Goldwater campaign.  In September of 1964, I happened to pick up and read her treatise on our need for meaningful debate, why the Republican Party needed to nominate and elect conservatives, rather than emulate Democrats with candidates such as Nelson Rockefeller.  A Choice Not an Echo was really my introduction to this debate -  which has remained as relevant today as the day I first read it. 

Over the years, everything in American life came under Schlafly’s scrutiny.  She weighed in on topics as diverse as women’s rights, gay marriage, the role of women in combat, global climate change, the United Nations vs. American sovereignty, immigration, taxation, Common Core and virtually everything else of importance to us today.  She thought deeply and researched thoroughly issues like the threat of an Article V convention of states, which she adamantly opposed. She was a staunch anti-Communist.  Schlafly always exhibited the courage of her own conviction, debating the foremost among the women's rights movement, never retreating from positions she believed were right.

Schlafly, like her comrade-in-arms, William F. Buckley, Jr., became a respected icon of conservative thought.  Like Buckley, her words and warnings serve us well today as we now embark on a new era in American politics, as we forge our future.  Let us hope that we will continue to go to the well of her wisdom and profound insight.  Her enormous contribution is unmatched today.  Schlafly, 92, died last night.  A fierce warrior for family values, she will be deeply missed.