What Would the Iron Lady Say to Liz Truss?

            The “Iron Lady,” otherwise known as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, knew something that could have helped a future Prime Minister Liz Truss. Thatcher was a great friend of President Ronald Reagan. They worked together for the benefit of both nations. An article written by Anthony B. Kim and published by The Daily Signal reminded me of the Iron Lady and her impact on Great Britain. 

            According to Kim, Thatcher said on October 10, 1980: “To those waiting with bated breath for that favorite media catchphrase, the ‘U-turn,’ I have only one thing to say: You turn if you want to: The Lady’s not for turning.” She spoke those words was address a Conservative Party conference. “It was a defining speech that underlined Thatcher’s firm rebuttal to calls to perform a ‘U-turn’ in response to opposition to her agenda of liberalizing and revitalizing the British economy.” Kim continued:

Unfortunately, in marked contrast, Britain’s Liz Truss – who announced her resignation as prime minister last week, -- said that she had “absolutely no shame” in performing a dramatic policy U-turn on her economic reform agenda, particularly concerning cutting the top individual income-tax rate of 45%. Truss further noted that she “took the decision very rapidly” to axe the policy, which was “becoming a distraction” from the rest of the government’s economic plan….

Pointing out policy missteps made in recent years, Truss had been initially quite upfront about her preferred path forward to restoring Britain’s economic dynamism by offering a clear free-market principles-based alternative to the certainty of steeper economic decline, and to spur much-needed investment and productivity growth in the private sector.

Regrettably, Truss backtracked on her initial economic reform plan in direct and indirect concessions to the Left in the U.K. and failed to stand her ground. That ultimately weakened her position and made her the shortest-serving prime minister in the country’s history, having assumed the office just 45 days earlier.

            Kim quoted Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at The Heritage Foundation: “Liz Truss’s resignation and disastrously short tenure is a leadership lesson for conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic. Never surrender to the Left, don’t U-turn on key policies, and stick to conservative principles and ideals.

            Indeed, this is a lesson for all conservatives. Do not surrender your principles to the Left because the Left will never be satisfied. They will continue to call for more U-turns until they destroy the power of conservatives. Stick to conservative principles because they win every single time. The Iron Lady knew the importance of sticking to conservative principles, and her country was the better for it.

Remembering the Iron Lady

                On this Freedom Friday we remember the Iron Lady with great fondness.  Why?  Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Great Britain, was tough but ladylike.  When she came to office, Great Britain was described as being the “sick man of Europe”; but under her leadership her nation regained its status as an economic power.  How did the Iron Lady accomplish such a feat?  She “implemented conservative policies that emphasized individual liberty and economic freedom” and “lifted a nation ravaged by Socialism off its deathbed, restoring Britain’s prosperity and self-confidence.”

                Lady Thatcher was fearless as she stood shoulder to shoulder with President Ronald Reagan in defending freedom and opposing Socialism and Communism.  She refused to show any weakness to the enemy because “dictators can be deterred, they can be crushed – but they can never be appeased.”

                In a describing herself, Lady Thatcher said, “I am an undiluted admirer of American values and the American dream, and I believe they will continue to inspire not just the people of the United States but millions upon millions across the face of the globe.”

                The Iron Lady understood well that conservative principles are capable of turning a nation in a completely different direction.  She knew that limited government, low taxation, and individual responsibility, coupled with strong leadership and political courage, can make a nation strong.  The world lost a great leader when Lady Thatcher passed to a better world on April 8, 2013, at age 87.  Those who understand her greatness will always remember the Iron Lady.

                America needs strong capable leaders, both men and women, who have the same type of courage and leadership that Lady Thatcher demonstrated.  As we move toward the mid-term election of 2014 and the presidential election of 2016, may we seek and find leaders like Margaret Thatcher.  This is the type of leaders we need in order to keep our nation free.

Britain's Iron Lady Dies

                Margaret Thatcher passed away peacefully on Monday, April 8, 2013, at age 87.  Baroness Thatcher was Great Britain’s first and only female prime minister.  She will be honor with a full ceremonial funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral.

                Prime Minister David Cameron called the Baroness “a great prime minister, a great leader, a great Briton” and added, “As our first woman prime minister, Margaret Thatcher succeeded against all the odds, and the real thing about Margaret Thatcher is that she didn’t just lead our country, she saved our country, and I believe she’ll go down as the greatest British peacetime prime minister.

                “Her legacy will be the fact she served her country so well, she saved our country and that she showed immense courage in doing so and people will be learning about what she did and her achievements in decades, probably centuries to come.”

                Former Prime Minister Tony Blair called Mrs. Thatcher a “towering political figure” who had great influence over Britain and the world.  “Very few leaders get to change not only the political landscape of their country but of the world.  Margaret was such a leader.  Her global impact was vast.”  He added, “As a person she was kind and generous spirited and was always immensely supportive to me as Prime Minister although we came from opposite sides of politics.

                “Even if you disagreed with her as I did on certain issues and occasionally strongly, you could not disrespect her character or her contribution to Britain’s national life.  She will be sadly missed.”

                Mrs. Thatcher was “loved andloathed in equal measure,” she led the Tories to three election victories as she “crushed the unions”  and brought “vast swathes of British industry” into private hands.

                Mrs. Thatcher was particularly angry when she heard her beloved Britain referred to as the “sick old man of Europe.”  She was determined that her nation would not die, and she rejuvenated Britain by dismantling “Britain’s cradle-to-grave welfare state, selling off scores of massive state-owned industries, crushing the power of organized labor and cutting government spending with the purpose of liberating the nation from what she called a `culture of dependency.’”

                In 1976 a Russian journalist called Mrs. Thatcher the “Iron Lady” because of her strong opposition to Soviet communism in which she stood shoulder to shoulder with President Ronald Reagan.  The name stuck and became the title of the 2011 biopic in which Meryl Streep played the Iron Lady and won an Oscar for the role.       Her toughness was especially apparent when she sent a taskforce to the Falklands on April 2, 1982, after Argentina invaded the islands.

                The Iron Lady not only brought back “Victorian values that made Britain great,” but she also “modernized British politics, deploying ad agencies and large sums of money to advance her party’s standing.”  She was “credited with converting a spent Conservative Party from an old boys club into an electoral powerhouse identified with middle-class strivers, investors and entrepreneurs.  No one denied her political genius.”  In fact, “future Prime Minister Tony Blair eventually copied her methods to remake the rival Labor Party.”

                President Ronald Reagan described some of the change that Mrs. Thatcher made in Great Britain and then said, “Margaret Thatcher changed all that.  She demonstrated two great qualities.  The first was that she had thought seriously about how to revive the British economy and entered office with a clear set of policies to do so.  She brought down inflation by controlling the money supply, and she began removing the controls, subsidies, and regulations that kept business lazy.  Her second great quality was the true grit of a true Brit (or perhaps I should say, of a true-blue Brit).  We both realized that our policies wouldn’t solve such deep-rooted problems overnight.  The first effects, in the world recession of 1981-82, were painful.  I remember meeting her in Washington at a time when people in both our countries were calling for a change of course.  She never wavered.  And she was proved right by events.  Britain today is enjoying an unprecedented economic recovery – one as long as our own.  British businesses, woken from the long sleep of socialism, are our feisty competitors in world markets.  And, finally, Margaret Thatcher has begun to dismantle the undergirding of socialism itself by privatizing large nationalized industries like steel and airlines.  Just as I would claim modestly that our tax cuts of 1981 have stimulated a wave of tax cutting around the world, so Margaret Thatcher’s privatization program has been imitated as far afield as Turkey and New Zealand.  We could do with a little more of it in the United States.”

                Ed Feulner, former president of The Heritage Foundation, stated:  “Great Britain and the world have lost a great leader.  The Heritage Foundation, like all of America, has lost a faithful ally.  And, speaking personally, my wife and I have lost a dear friend.

                “Lady Thatcher now takes her place in history alongside Sir Winston Churchill, the Duke of Wellington and all the other great British heroes who defeated enemies of their island nation.  An intrepid warrior for freedom and human dignity, Prime Minister Thatcher stood with her `noble friend,’ President Ronald Reagan, to confront the Soviet empire when it was at its peak.  Her courage and steadfastness earned the respect of her fiercest foes.  It was, after all, the Russians who dubbed her the Iron Lady.”

                Like her political soul mate President Ronald Reagan, Lady Thatcher came to power at a time when her nation needed real leadership and bold ideas.  The Heritage Foundation produced the following video about Lady Thatcher entitled, “The Real Legacy of Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s Iron Lady.”  

                Prime Minister Thatcher is credited with the following quotes.  I believe these quotes, along with many others, show her conservative and common sense principles.  I agree that our nation has lost a great friend and Britain and the world have lost a great leader.

                “My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with:  an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time; support the police.”

                “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Great Leaders

From time to time we have the opportunity to see great leaders. In recent weeks we have glimpsed two examples of great leadership. U.S. Representative Paul Ryan continues to stand tall in defending and explaining his budget plan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood tall when he addressed the United States Congress where he decreed where Israel will compromise and where his nation will not back down.

President Ronald Reagan was another great leader. He was the best United States President in my adult life because he stood tall in his leadership abilities, principles, love of country, and vision. The Foundry, published by The Heritage Foundation, considers Reagan to be “the greatest American president of the last 100 years.”

The Ronald Reagan Centennial Gala was held in Washington, D.C., on May 24, 2011. The Ronald Reagan Centennial Freedom Award was given to Lech Walesa, a leader who stood tall for Poland in her hour of need. Special keynote speakers were Robert M. Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense, and Dr. Liam Fox, M.P., United Kingdom Secretary of Defence.

Nile Gardiner [blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner…] shared some of the “brilliant speech” given by Dr. Fox as he “paid tribute to the powerful partnership between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.” He called the relationship between the two leaders “an unbreakable alliance that defeated the Soviet Empire and won the Cold War.” He wrote that Dr. Fox has been a “true friend of the United States for decades” as well as a “star performer” in the cabinet of David Cameron.

Gardiner reported that Dr. Fox won great applause when he said, “It is impossible to assess the contribution of Ronald Reagan to the history of the 20th century without considering another political giant of the era – Margaret Thatcher – his friend, ally, and intellectual soul mate.

“… At a time when leadership was so needed they brought values, vision, and valor. The Cold War did not end. It was won. It was not an accident. It came about because the leadership of the free world was committed politically, militarily, and morally to the defeat of totalitarian ideology and the triumph of liberty and freedom.

“It was not an exercise in expediency but the application of conviction. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher understood that our strength lay in people not governments and that liberated from the dead hand of the state – of the self-perpetuating bureaucracy –the innovation and drive of free people would triumph. They believed that competition is to be welcomed not feared – that it is the means by which we judge our talents, one against the other, without recourse to conflict.

“They understood that there is a difference between tolerance and surrender and that the moral relativism that blurs the distinction between right and wrong needs to be confronted. They knew what they believed to be right and had the courage to say so – and they knew what they believed to be wrong and had the fortitude to confront it.

“They knew that in a free society the market works – that the combined wisdom of millions of individuals, acting in their own interests, is always likely to trump the wisdom of the self-selecting elites of government.

“They were giants of history when history needed giants. We may never see their likes again in our lifetime. But living and nurturing their legacy is the greatest honour that any of us can do for their dreams, their endeavors, and their hopes. Let us not let them down.”

I am grateful for the reminder that the free world was once led by two truly great leaders. We are now in a time of political upheavals, economic distress, and great natural disasters. We need someone like Reagan and Thatcher – someone with courage, leadership, fortitude, vision, and good principles – to step forward to lead the free world once again. We need someone who will support members of Congress like Paul Ryan who are bravely and unwaveringly battling to save our nation. We need a President who will dare to stand beside men like Mr. Netanyahu in defending the rights of Israel to exist as a nation.

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews [ifcy.org], quoted Thomas Jefferson as saying: “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”

Paul Ryan, Benjamin Netanyahu, Lech Walesa, Margaret Thatcher, and Ronald Reagan have all shown us where to compromise and where to stand firm. They all showed true leadership.

The world has tremendous need for another great leader. Who will lead the free world through these difficult times? Is Netanyahu of the nation of Israel the next great leader of the free world? Can we find such a leader in the United States of America in our day? Where is the next Margaret Thatcher? Where is the next Ronald Reagan? Whoever you are and wherever you are hiding, please stand up now!