Posted on 08/15/2014 10:49:43 AM PDT by jazusamo
Very few individuals who were not politicians or generals have had a major impact on American political history. Phyllis Schlafly is one of the exceptions. Twice. In 1964, she helped launch the grass-roots conservative movement that flourishes today, transformed by the internet, and in 1972 she inaugurated what came to be called “social conservatism.”
More than any other individual, she was responsible for the nomination of Barry Goldwater, and thus, indirectly, Ronald Reagan. And virtually single-handedly, she defeated the so-called Equal Rights Amendment.
Schlafly was born 90 years ago today in St. Louis, the daughter of John and Odile Stewart. Her father was a machinist who was unemployed through most of the Great Depression. But the Stewarts were not Democrats. “We left the party under Grover Cleveland,” Schlafly says. Her mother worked as a librarian and teacher to support the family, and Schlafly put herself through college (Washington University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa) working in a munitions plant during the war, test-firing .30 and .50 caliber rifles and machine guns 48 hours a week.
Her becoming a political activist was entirely fortuitous, she says. She had married attorney Fred Schlafly and the couple had moved across the Mississippi to Alton, Illinois. In 1952, some local Republican leaders came to their home to invite Fred to run for Congressman. The district was heavily Democratic, Fred’s practice was flourishing, and he was not interested. They turned to his wife. Phyllis agreed.
Female candidates were a novelty in those days, and she was invited to address the state Republican convention. She gave a dynamic speech to the 10,000 delegates sweltering in the unairconditioned Armory in Springfield, and received a lot of media attention. Schlafly lost the race in November, but was hooked on politics.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I remember proponents of the E.R.A. (that would be all the usual suspects) mocking opponents for suggesting it would lead to such things as unisex public bathrooms. Ha! As if that could ever happen.
Oh, wait a minute ....
Phyllis Schlafly is a great lady, as are the women whom she recruited, developed, and led.
I met her on a few occasions. She is very much a Yankee in manner but I’ll say this for her...she is one of the most successful political activists of the 20th Century. Her stopping the ERA Amendment when it had such momentum was a huge political upset. And of course the so-called ERA was very dangerous to conservative principles.
Well stated. :-)
She is an amazing lady and I proudly join the well wishers in wishing her a happy birthday and many more . . .
HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY to a lady with larger cajones than just about every member of the GOP (Gutless Old Patricians).
Schlafly and Thatcher — two women that deserve utmost respect and admiration.
But I made myself invesigate her research. I kept my eyes open to consider her claims.
And it turns out she was right about the whole thing in general, and every d@#$ part of it is particular.
Decades before he rest of us.
I salute her superior insight and unsurpassable organizing skill. Great lady indeed!
Imagine how famous she would be if she were a liberal. Wonderful woman.
I should probably have worded my first post better. By “proponents”, I meant those leading the charge, and responsible for generating the propaganda for the pro side. At one point, most Americans — and FWIW, most Canadians too, supported the ERA. I, myself thought something like: “what’s wrong with equal rights?”.
One of my heroines. Hope she has a great birthday!
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Happy Birthday to a truly great American woman.
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Mom abandoned her post, due to industrialization, birth control, and restlessness. It’s interesting how many businesses exist that have outsourced the traditional female role - beginning with canned foods through birthday party planners.
Phyllis is 100% pro-life and speaks out strongly against abortion.
Thatcher was a pro-abort.
She’s one gutsy lady. Happy birthday, ma’am!
I discovered this woman in the 90s while raising five children (stay at home).
Reading her was like a breath of fresh air. It was a ‘coming out of Plato’s Cave’ for me-—although I was always at the mouth of the cave (because of Classical Education and a stay-at-home mother and large family).
I never felt comfortable with the “group think” that Pop Culture was promoting 24/7 which set alarm bells off to Common Sense and Reason.
I couldn’t understand WHY our government and culture was promoting evil and slavery and destruction of the Natural Family—trying to normalize children in daycares and in institutions all day controlled totally with no time for freedom/free inquiry, time bonding with family, etc. Kids were ignorant of things I took for granted and immersed myself in while growing up. Silence/Time to Reflect without constant “white noise”.
Work Ethic (child labor laws) were being destroyed in children and all their activities/play were being regimented/controlled by the State to habituate dependency and surveillance and destroy autonomy in parenting (habituating parents to dependency on the Sate)...eliminating risk and freedom and initiative and freedom of parents to transmit their own beliefs and the work ethic which has to be habituated in young children, along with Virtue.
I new that Pop Culture was promoting evil and dysfunction, conditioning children to “group think” and that it was championing ideology antithetical to the Founding Worldview and Christianity, which would destroy the Natural Family and Reason-—which would eventually collapse culture.
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