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How do JREF Conservatives feel about Thatcher?

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

The above quote is attributed to Thatcher. It's unclear if she said this verbatim or not. Whether she did or didn't, her sentiments were clear on socialism. I happen to agree with the sentiment expressed in the quote.
 
And what about the JREF Argentinians?
How do they feel about Margaret Thatcher?
 
Here attempt to shove the costs of socialism into the faces of the voters, in an attempt to get them to stop voting for it so damned much, via transferring some taxes to a "poll tax" backfired.

Apparently the people didn't like having the massive costs they incur pointed out to them, as it made them feel bad and foolish. Go figure.
 
Beerina said:
Here attempt to shove the costs of socialism into the faces of the voters, in an attempt to get them to stop voting for it so damned much, via transferring some taxes to a "poll tax" backfired.

Apparently the people didn't like having the massive costs they incur pointed out to them, as it made them feel bad and foolish. Go figure.
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How high did she have to be on Friedman to come up with that logic?
 
Compare her legacy with that of her predecessors:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Callaghan

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-bye-Great-Britain-1976-Crisis/dp/0300057288

"On 4 March 1976 the value of the British pound against the US dollar began to slide in international markets. The slide turned into a rout and triggered a traumatic economic and political crisis. By September confidence in the pound had collapsed; the Labour Government under Prime Minister James Callaghan was forced to turn for help to the International Monetary Fund, a familiar option for Third World countries but unusual for a developed Western economy."

And with some of those who today disagree with her policies:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/iainmartin/9382147/Britain_heading_for_the_IMF__official/

Same old same old. Callaghan/Carter. Brown/Obama. Socialists never learn.

Thatcher/Reagan. Blair/Bush. Conservatives do know the lesson and do know the answer. Free markets, free speech, strong defense, moral society gives: a free and prosperous people.
 
FarmallMTA said:
Thatcher/Reagan. Blair/Bush. Conservatives do know the lesson and do know the answer. Free markets, free speech, strong defense, moral society gives: a free and prosperous people.
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"there is no such thing as society" -Thatcher October 31 1987
 
geni said:
"there is no such thing as society" -Thatcher October 31 1987
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The complete quote is:

"They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations."

Which is rather more reasonable sounding than the truncated talking point of the outraged left.
 
geni said:
"there is no such thing as society" -Thatcher October 31 1987
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You failed to quote her fully or accurately, interestingly. When you cease misrepresenting and misquoting her, her meaning is clear.

I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand"I have a problem, it is the Government's job to cope with it!" or"I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!" "I am homeless, the Government must house me!" and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. Margaret Thatcher

Thatcher states that there is no great amorphous other that can solve a personal problem. Individuals can help but there is no earthly great other, no living, breathing "society" that can solve an individual problem. It is individuals who solve problems. And it must be done at the consent and eager participation of those individuals, not through coercion of them by some amorphous non-entity claimed to be embodied by a government.

Unless it's the Sun King, Kim Il Sung, Castro, Hitler, Stalin, Chavez, Obama, Harry Reid, or Nancy Pelosi proclaiming, “L'état, c'est moi” (“I am the state”).
 
FarmallMTA said:
Same old same old. Callaghan/Carter. Brown/Obama. Socialists never learn.

Thatcher/Reagan. Blair/Bush. Conservatives do know the lesson and do know the answer. Free markets, free speech, strong defense, moral society gives: a free and prosperous people.
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Um.. Do you know what party Blair was in by any chance?
 
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FarmallMTA said:
"On 4 March 1976 the value of the British pound against the US dollar began to slide in international markets. The slide turned into a rout and triggered a traumatic economic and political crisis.
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Yes, but it was great for a certain American abroad that Spring. I was getting a regular sum in dollars from my parents and exchanging it at the local Barclays. I remember initially I was getting 9 pounds and change; by the end of the semester it was 11 and change. :)
 
On 4 March 1976 the value of the British pound against the US dollar began to slide in international markets. The slide turned into a rout and triggered a traumatic economic and political crisis. By September confidence in the pound had collapsed; the Labour Government under Prime Minister James Callaghan was forced to turn for help to the International Monetary Fund, a familiar option for Third World countries but unusual for a developed Western economy.
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Thatcher didn't have a great economic policy either. Unemployment stayed incredibly high for a good six years after the end of that recession. 28% of children living below the poverty line (Which it had risen to at the end of her time in office) isn't a sign of a developed Western economy either.
 
FarmallMTA said:
Thatcher states that there is no great amorphous other that can solve a personal problem. Individuals can help but there is no earthly great other, no living, breathing "society" that can solve an individual problem. It is individuals who solve problems. And it must be done at the consent and eager participation of those individuals, not through coercion of them by some amorphous non-entity claimed to be embodied by a government.
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That doesn't really change the fact that it makes little sense to claim that she was aiming for a moral society.
 
Maggie was an outlier in respect of Conservative Party leaders, let alone UK Prime Ministers. Much more libertarian than anyone before, or since. The Cameron-Osborne duo--if elected--will be very different IMO.
 
FarmallMTA said:
Thatcher states that there is no great amorphous other that can solve a personal problem. Individuals can help but there is no earthly great other, no living, breathing "society" that can solve an individual problem. It is individuals who solve problems.
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Which is a staunchly libertarian stance. When an elderly person dies because the electric company cut them off in winter for non-payment, the libertarian response to that is that friends and neighbours were the problem for failing to respond in time with charity.

None of Conservative or Labour or Liberal-Democrat political ideology in the UK is anywhere near that position. Thatcherism was the closest it has ever got to it.
 
Beerina said:
Here attempt to shove the costs of socialism into the faces of the voters, in an attempt to get them to stop voting for it so damned much, via transferring some taxes to a "poll tax" backfired.

Apparently the people didn't like having the massive costs they incur pointed out to them, as it made them feel bad and foolish. Go figure.
Click to expand...
The poll tax was forcibly rejected because it was so regressive. Wrong country for that type of policy, and Maggie's step too far.
 
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