Paul M. Weyrich

Since the early 1990s, the phrase “culture wars” has been used to describe the political conflicts that conservatives and liberals have concerning social issues, morals, and cultural values. In the following viewpoint, originally published in 1999, Paul M. Weyrich contends that liberal ideology and political correctness have taken over American society and are leading to a dramatic cultural disintegration. Maintaining that conservatives have failed to implement a political agenda that would protect the country’s traditional values, Weyrich advises conservatives to “drop out” of American culture and refocus their energies away from politics. Conservatives should develop new institutions to preserve Judeo-Christian civilization even as the surrounding culture collapses, he concludes. Weyrich, a longtime conservative activist, is the founding president of the Heritage Foundation.

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