SO LONG MAGGIE
Margaret Hilda Thatcher (1925-2013)
in
“The
Economist”, 13 April 2013
I
have always had the most profound admiration for Margaret Thatcher. I admired her
fortitude, her courage, her straightforwardness, her principle-abidance
posture, her uncompromising defence of her country’s national interest.
I was only a teenager, but
I remember her upholding the special relationship between the United Kingdom
and the United States, I grew up regarding Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan
as the ultimate defenders and promoters of freedom in their countries and in
the world.
I remember her staunch
opposition to Soviet Union and what she represented during the latter stretch of
the Cold War. She owes the Soviets for
the nickname that made her justice: the Iron Lady! But I also recall that
Thatcher was the first Western politician to recognize that Mikhail Gorbachev,
at a time he was just a Politburo member, as someone “we can deal with”.
The Iron Lady riding a Challenger I in
West Germany.
She also fought the
elite-driven relentless expansion of EU powers and integration, again what she
viewed as the UK’s national interests. “I want my money back”, came to symbolize
her attitude towards then European Community.
And, of course, I remember
the steadfastness with which Margaret Thatcher sent an expeditionary force to
the South Atlantic to take back the Falklands archipelago from an invading
Argentinian force.
Most
of all, Margaret Thatcher stood for freedom. Freedom in Eastern Europe from the
Soviet and Communist juggernaut. Freedom in Great Britain and in the West from
the smothering and stifling embrace of the omnipresent state. “The problem with
socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
This
freedom creed, freedom in the political field, but in the economic one as well
was coined as Thatcherism, which can be considered a crown of glory in Maggie’s
political career: to be awarded an ism
after herself. Even Labour under Tony
Blair understood that to be viable and eligible it would have to let go of some
of its traditional tenets and hold on to the crux of Thatcherism. There is an
enduring legacy of Margaret Thatcher.
Today we miss her
determination in the pursuit of the common good not coddling up to special and
spurious interests. As Maggie once said:
“If you just set out to be liked, you will be prepared to compromise on
anything at anytime, and would achieve nothing”.
So
long Maggie! God bless you!!!
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, or Maggie and
Ronnie,
arriving at Camp David in 1984.
arriving at Camp David in 1984.
Margaret Thatcher in 1983 when she won a landslide
victory at the polls.
