Anti-Clinton Observer Says U.S. Teeters on ‘Barbarism’

A prominent conservative, giving voice to frustration within the Republican Party over President Clinton’s acquittal, is telling conservative leaders that American society is “approaching barbarism” and is out of step with their political movement.

“I no longer believe that there is a moral majority,” Paul Weyrich wrote in a letter dated Tuesday to several hundred conservatives. “I do not believe that a majority of Americans actually share our values.”

Weyrich, head of the Free Congress Foundation in Washington, argues that it may be time to “drop out of this culture”--perhaps even abandoning efforts to influence the American political system.

“We need some sort of quarantine,” he wrote in the letter obtained by Associated Press.

Though no other leading conservatives have gone that far, Weyrich’s letter underscores the level of resentment and anger over Clinton’s acquittal.

“If there really were a moral majority out there, Bill Clinton would have been driven out of office months ago,” Weyrich said.

“A lot of people are angry that he got off,” said Phyllis Schlafly, head of the Eagle Forum.

Christian Coalition director Randy Tate said there is “considerable frustration” over the acquittal because “it makes it tough to teach kids right from wrong, in the sense that the president doesn’t know right from wrong.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), who led the prosecution team against Clinton, told senators toward the end of the trial, “I wonder if, after this culture war is over that we are engaged in, an America will survive that will be worth fighting to defend.”

However, Weyrich goes further than most other conservative leaders, criticizing not only the president and GOP leaders in Congress--but society in general.

Tate, for example, said conservatives “are increasingly part of the mainstream” because they have increased efforts to influence the political debate.

Weyrich is plowing relatively new ground by suggesting that the conservative movement cannot succeed in today’s culture.

“The culture we are living in becomes an ever-wider sewer. In truth, I think we are caught up in a cultural collapse of historic proportions, a collapse so great that it simply overwhelms politics,” he said.