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Margaret Thatcher is probably as controversial a name as anyone can come up with in modern politics. As an American, I can only form opinions based on what I've read and heard from others. I'd be quite interested in hearing what any Brits or Americans who lived in Britain have to say about her.
My thoughts on Margaret Thatcher are these:
1. Britain was in terrible shape when she took office in 1979.
2. Her conservative politics were harsh, but some type of serious change was necessary.
3. One of the keys to Britain's economic recovery was reducing the power of the trade unions and this occurred under her administration.
4. Her success forced the Labour party back towards the middle of the political spectrum where it needed to be.
5. She encouraged President Reagan to take Mikhail Gorbachev seriously as a Russian leader and negotiate with him to end the Cold War.
Am I right or wrong?
Finally, on the whole was she good for Britain or not?
Margaret Thatcher was a dose of strong medicine to a society which badly needed it at the time.
There is a story of one British unionist who asked if pending legislation would "make more millionaires"; when the answer came back in the affirmative the thug proclaimed "Then I'm against it!"
Or the English cancer victim who donated a CAT scanner to her local hospitel ... only to see it seized and moved to a factility more in synch with the lowest-common-denominator egalitarianism which characterizes the Low Left everywhere..
Granted ... the Tories made their mistakes -- Churchill's insistence on preserving the Empire stresed the economy in the first years after World War II, for example. But there are few eaxamples of short-sight, pig-headedness and just-plain-vulgarity than the ethos of the Laboor Party pre-Blair.
Thatcher's hard line-stance against the coal unions was a model for others to follow; but she's not Politically Correct; hence, no credit. When confronted by her whining foes, her answer was both blunt and well-deserved: "Lower your expectations."
Margaret Thatcher was and is a TRUE Conservative as we in the US know it. The reason many in the UK do not like her, is they were brought up with socialist ideals and she changed that. People are inherently lazy and will get away with anything and everything they are allowed too. Socialism is just that: Laziness. Why should anyone work for anything, when someone else will and they (the lazy) will get the fruits of someone else's labor?
Thatcher tried to change all this and made certain inroads to this fact. People dislike her, because she took their freebies and entitlement's away. Everyone in the UK and the US now wants the government to give them everything they want: Housing, food, heat, healthcare and yes, even milk. However, who is going to pay for this? Where is the money going to come from? Thatcher wanted a government and society, where personal responsibility and people taking care of themselves ruled.
The Falklands? Are you kidding me? Show me ONE Brit Soldier or Marine who thought she "waffled on the boys." Thatcher took action in the Falklands, when MANY told her not too. In fact, she probably went in before the military was ready too do so. Many ships were not in place, supply lines, et al which did, in fact, cost British lives. However, Thatcher was ALWAYS behind her military and "her boys." She ordered the storming of Princess Gate, which established the British SAS as the worlds premiere Hostage Rescue Team.
She earned the term "Iron Lady" because of the fact she made decisions and didn't "waffle." She was hard, in a time when hardness was needed. The world needs more women AND men just like her; in fact, in these tough times of the world, we need leaders who are even stronger and harder.
Margaret Thatcher's greatest quote still holds true today:
The problem with socialism is, in the end, you run out of other people's money to spend.
Margaret Thatcher was and is a TRUE Conservative as we in the US know it. The reason many in the UK do not like her, is they were brought up with socialist ideals and she changed that. People are inherently lazy and will get away with anything and everything they are allowed too. Socialism is just that: Laziness. Why should anyone work for anything, when someone else will and they (the lazy) will get the fruits of someone else's labor?
Thatcher tried to change all this and made certain inroads to this fact. People dislike her, because she took their freebies and entitlement's away. Everyone in the UK and the US now wants the government to give them everything they want: Housing, food, heat, healthcare and yes, even milk. However, who is going to pay for this? Where is the money going to come from? Thatcher wanted a government and society, where personal responsibility and people taking care of themselves ruled.
The Falklands? Are you kidding me? Show me ONE Brit Soldier or Marine who thought she "waffled on the boys." Thatcher took action in the Falklands, when MANY told her not too. In fact, she probably went in before the military was ready too do so. Many ships were not in place, supply lines, et al which did, in fact, cost British lives. However, Thatcher was ALWAYS behind her military and "her boys." She ordered the storming of Princess Gate, which established the British SAS as the worlds premiere Hostage Rescue Team.
She earned the term "Iron Lady" because of the fact she made decisions and didn't "waffle." She was hard, in a time when hardness was needed. The world needs more women AND men just like her; in fact, in these tough times of the world, we need leaders who are even stronger and harder.
Margaret Thatcher's greatest quote still holds true today:
The problem with socialism is, in the end, you run out of other people's money to spend.
Margaret Thatcher was and is a TRUE Conservative as we in the US know it. The reason many in the UK do not like her, is they were brought up with socialist ideals and she changed that. People are inherently lazy and will get away with anything and everything they are allowed too. Socialism is just that: Laziness. Why should anyone work for anything, when someone else will and they (the lazy) will get the fruits of someone else's labor?
Thatcher tried to change all this and made certain inroads to this fact. People dislike her, because she took their freebies and entitlement's away. Everyone in the UK and the US now wants the government to give them everything they want: Housing, food, heat, healthcare and yes, even milk. However, who is going to pay for this? Where is the money going to come from? Thatcher wanted a government and society, where personal responsibility and people taking care of themselves ruled.
The Falklands? Are you kidding me? Show me ONE Brit Soldier or Marine who thought she "waffled on the boys." Thatcher took action in the Falklands, when MANY told her not too. In fact, she probably went in before the military was ready too do so. Many ships were not in place, supply lines, et al which did, in fact, cost British lives. However, Thatcher was ALWAYS behind her military and "her boys." She ordered the storming of Princess Gate, which established the British SAS as the worlds premiere Hostage Rescue Team.
She earned the term "Iron Lady" because of the fact she made decisions and didn't "waffle." She was hard, in a time when hardness was needed. The world needs more women AND men just like her; in fact, in these tough times of the world, we need leaders who are even stronger and harder.
Margaret Thatcher's greatest quote still holds true today:
The problem with socialism is, in the end, you run out of other people's money to spend.
Aye but her boy wasn't involved.. unlike the Queen's sons. Tough and strong she wasn't Garret Fitzgerald ran rings round her and she capitulated. Out! Out! Out! became In In In.
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