The death of Phyllis Schlafly is a blow to American conservatism, and a personal loss. Calling her the “godmother of American conservatism,” or “the first lady of American conservatism,” as Richard Viguerie does, is no exaggeration.   Mrs. Schlafly enjoyed health and vigor at the age of 92, at which point she left us, so the loss is not one a life taken from us too soon. But it is still a great loss. I will forego the temptation to list her many accomplishments. For that, please refer to this article by Julia Hahn at Breitbart. Instead, I want to mention the very kind and serious way she treated someone she didn’t (at the time) know. The first time I encountered Phyllis was more than 25 years ago, when I returned home one day, stepped through the front door, and heard a voice on our telephone answering machine: “This is Phyllis Schlafly calling….” We had discovered that our then 3-year old son, who had gained admission to...(Read Full Post)