I just finished reading Claire Berlinski's great book about Margaret Thatcher (title of this post). Here is a quote from her press secretary, Sir Bernard Ingham, which applies to us today:
"The British establishment was in the grip of a sort of pale-pink socialism. There are still a lot of them around now who believe, who have this sort of naive, this romantic view of the working classes...it's horribly condescending... It is an attitude of mind toward ordinary people that they are not capable of leading their lives without direction. And Mrs. Thatcher was essentially saying, 'Oh yes, they are, let's set them free.' And of course when they were set free, quite a lot of them didn't do well -- of course they didn't. But quite a lot of them prospered enormously, and have never looked back since they got their hands on their council houses! But she really challenged notions -- well, she challenged notions of class!"
My. I guess I haven't been to your blog in quite some time!
Great quote; I'll have to get ahold of the book. for now, I'll venture an extension of this portion:
"And of course when they were set free, quite a lot of them didn't do well -- of course they didn't. But quite a lot of them prospered enormously, and have never looked back since they got their hands on their council houses!"
To which the liberals reply, "That's just not fair! Those who did well must give everything above what they started with to those who screwed up--uh, we mean...to those who are not so fortunate!"
Posted by: Vicki Small | 03/04/2011 at 09:37 AM
Just found your blog and I'm hoping you haven't abandoned it. It's look promising. Drop by my blog and leave a comment. I'd certainly appreciate your input.
Posted by: Keith Pounds | 06/29/2011 at 02:02 PM