We soon found that although we represented two opposing alliances and ideologies, we could engage in a real political dialogue on the most critical issues. We argued and we disagreed. But we had joined the dialogue. And that, in and of itself, was important – for the confrontation had reached a dangerous point. On many issues, our outlook was different, but the need to look for a way out was clear to both of us.
–Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the USSR (1985-1991)
Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s “Iron Lady,” died Monday at the age of 87. America mourned, and apparently the British have no idea what it is they’ve lost.
Excuse me while I hold my head in my hands and weep for the people who don’t understand where we’re all coming from with our Thatcher-worship.
The thing is, though, it’s not worship; it’s admiration. Admiration for a woman who lived her life with great purpose. For far too long, the American people have settled for “good enough.” We don’t expect great purpose anymore, because we have been told that it is impossible. Instead, we’ve been served up and endless parade of compromise, equivocation, and backpedaling, and been told that this is the best we can possibly expect from our elected representatives.
We need more Lady Thatchers in our lives. We need more politicians and representatives and people with big megaphones who aren’t afraid to stand up and give the world hell. We’re getting closer: we have people like Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz, who are willing to put their credibility and careers on the line in the name of freedom–but I want more. Three rogue Senators is not good enough for me, and it’s not good enough for the American people. Senate Minority Leader McConnell is prepared to filibuster the Reid Gun Control Bill, and we as conservatives should do everything we can to support Senator McConnell and all the other senators prepared to fight against this destructive piece of legislation. I’ve seen a lot of chatter on Twitter skeptical of this latest move by the leadership, and while I think that criticism is fair, I can’t for the life of me figure out why conservative activists aren’t wearing out their keyboards with words of encouragement for these men.
There will never be another Lady Thatcher, but how do you expect to find your next great inspiration if you refuse to encourage those who are brave enough to stick their toe in the deep end? The current conservative climate doesn’t inspire that kind of bravery. In fact, it doesn’t seem to inspire much of anything apart from a series of columns bitching about efforts to reach beyond the counterproductive echo chamber we’ve created for ourselves.
Margaret Thatcher was more than just a politician; she was the embodiment of guts and glory. She helped save her country from the ravages of socialism and the despair of complete economic collapse–and she did it without the permission of the progressive horde. To her, being mocked and hated was worth it if it meant that in the end, freedom would triumph. When we see these traits displayed in others, our first reaction shouldn’t be snark–it should be encouragement. If we aren’t willing to take the time to encourage bravery in our leaders, we might as well quit now.
Remember Margaret Thatcher not only for who she was, but for the potential she has inspired and will inspire in our future leaders. Remember that the legacy she crafted for herself came at great personal cost, and under the influence of uncommon courage. She didn’t just speak out against the “progressives”–she publicly burned them. She wasn’t afraid to call out media bias. She wasn’t afraid to say “No!”
Oh, and she totally used the “Dead Parrot” sketch to slam liberals. And kept a straight face the whole time.
Rest in peace, Lady Thatcher. You were one in a million.
Amy Miller lives and works in Austin, Texas.
My remarks seem quite intemperate as they await moderation.
Perhaps it is a technical matter. Suffice it to say that politics is not a game. It is certainly not a skit.
Did England invent civil rights (“the common law created the common man”)? The nay-sayers cite “perfidious Albion”, and the history seems to show that England is more characterized by racism and genocide than gentleness and solidarity. They were repeatedly invaded in their first two thousand years of recorded history, then rested five hundred years, except for constant battles in France just to keep in form, before setting off to conquer the world, which they very nearly did, only to discover that when you set out to conquer the world (speaking of Rome) you end up like all mass-murderers: living in a latrine. And on the wall of that latrine they scrawled some notes to themselves about justice, which their enemies always paid a lot more attention to than they did.
If it is true that “figures don’t lie but liars figure” perhaps it is also true that the only people that need elaborate bills of rights are the people who habitually violate rights. Former Israeli chief justice Barak on “the Jewish and democratic state”: “equality is a complex right.”
I saw her, from a distance, at the houses of parliament in Ottawa when I happened to be there in 1983. She exuded authority in the sense of “the buck stops here”. But I suspect she never quite knew what she was doing, I mean, she always thought she was doing something other than and more than what she was actually doing. Who is that female lead in the Brit-com, Keeping Up Appearances? I suspect, speaking of the progressive horde, that that show was aimed at Thatcher. Her war to liberate the Falklands from the local people, so that at least one place in the British Empire would not see its sunset, was a truly Reaganesque moment, her own Lebanon Marine barracks moment. At least with Tony Blare you had the feeling that he was his own pimp. And now Cameron says, “She didn’t lead us, she saved us.” Well, not enough, evidently.
And really, for the life of me, I can’t see what any of this has to do with Israel, the Jewish state in Palestine. I can picture Thatcher’s pronouncements on Israel: “This is a very complicated issue,” perhaps. Concepts like land-theft, separation of church and state, and equal treatment under the laws would seem beyond her brief, probably. Not that she was a lawyer, which was also the main qualification of Mr. Reagan. As Paul McCartney sang, “and even though she feels she’s in a play, she is anyway.” One wishes she had done more to dislodge this idea of the British Empire from the English mind. Mrs. Cameron was in Lebanon to meet Syrian refugees the other day, wearing a Save The Children t-shirt (she was in marketing), and she failed to notice that Lebanon is a mirror image of Israel except it is the Christian, not Jewish, minority which is guaranteed under law to win every election; nor did she manage to slip over to Gaza to view what her husband had earlier described as the biggest open-air prison on earth. Not saved enough.
Did England invent civil rights (“the common law created the common man”)? The nay-sayers cite “perfidious Albion”, and the history seems to show that England is more characterized by racism and genocide than gentleness and solidarity. They were repeatedly invaded in their first two thousand years of recorded history, then rested five hundred years, except for constant battles in France just to keep in form, before setting off to conquer the world, which they very nearly did, only to discover that when you set out to conquer the world (speaking of Rome) you end up like all mass-murderers: living in a latrine. And on the wall of that latrine they scrawled some notes to themselves about justice, which their enemies always paid a lot more attention to than they did.
If it is true that “figures don’t lie but liars figure” perhaps it is also true that the only people that need elaborate bills of rights are the people who habitually violate rights. Former Israeli chief justice Barak on “the Jewish and democratic state”: “equality is a complex right.”
I saw her, from a distance, at the houses of parliament in Ottawa when I happened to be there in 1983. She exuded authority in the sense of “the buck stops here”. But I suspect she never quite knew what she was doing, I mean, she always thought she was doing something other than and more than what she was actually doing. Who is that female lead in the Brit-com, Keeping Up Appearances? I suspect, speaking of the progressive horde, that that show was aimed at Thatcher. Her war to liberate the Falklands from the local people, so that at least one place in the British Empire would not see its sunset, was a truly Reaganesque moment, her own Lebanon Marine barracks moment. At least with Tony Blare you had the feeling that he was his own pimp. And now Cameron says, “She didn’t lead us, she saved us.” Well, not enough, evidently.
And really, for the life of me, I can’t see what any of this has to do with Israel, the Jewish state in Palestine. I can picture Thatcher’s pronouncements on Israel: “This is a very complicated issue,” perhaps. Concepts like land-theft, separation of church and state, and equal treatment under the laws would seem beyond her brief, probably. Not that she was a lawyer, which was also the main qualification of Mr. Reagan. As Paul McCartney sang, “and even though she feels she’s in a play, she is anyway.” One wishes she had done more to dislodge this idea of the British Empire from the English mind. Mrs. Cameron was in Lebanon to meet Syrian refugees the other day, wearing a Save The Children t-shirt (she was in marketing), and she failed to notice that Lebanon is a mirror image of Israel except it is the Christian, not Jewish, minority which is guaranteed under law to win every election; nor did she manage to slip over to Gaza to view what her husband had earlier described as the biggest open-air prison on earth. Not saved enough.
Did England invent civil rights (“the common law created the common man”)? The nay-sayers cite “perfidious Albion”, and the history seems to show that England is more characterized by racism and genocide than gentleness and solidarity. They were repeatedly invaded in their first two thousand years of recorded history, then rested five hundred years, except for constant battles in France just to keep in form, before setting off to conquer the world, which they very nearly did, only to discover that when you set out to conquer the world (speaking of Rome) you end up like all mass-murderers: living in a latrine. And on the wall of that latrine they scrawled some notes to themselves about justice, which their enemies always paid a lot more attention to than they did.
If it is true that “figures don’t lie but liars figure” perhaps it is also true that the only people that need elaborate bills of rights are the people who habitually violate rights. Former Israeli chief justice Barak on “the Jewish and democratic state”: “equality is a complex right.”
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/israel/Contemporary_Life/Politics/Supreme_Court/Democratic_and_Jewish_State.shtml
Great tribute to a great lady.