Thatcher

[William Thornton]

Great lady. I would put Churchill at the top of great men of the 20th Century and thatcher in the top ten.

[Dave Roberts]

Whether you liked or disliked some of her stands, she certainly deserves admiration for her accomplishments.

[Haruo]

[William Thornton]

[TrudyU]

[Cathy]

[Haruo]

Well, you certainly couldn't call her "left".

[William Thornton]

[ET]

[KeithE]

[TrudyU]

[KeithE]

[Chris]

"Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead" climbed to No. 3 on the British Pop chart last week. The BBC decided it would compromise and play only 5 seconds of the song. Who got to pick which 5 seconds.

The USA came close to electing Sarah Palin, so our hands aren't clean, for letting that almost happen.

[Haruo]

Ed, what makes you think that people should move (or should seriously consider moving) to countries whose socioeconomic systems they admire? Did you and Trudy move to New York because you liked the governor there?

[Haruo]

[Sandy]

This is an interesting quote from Thatcher, in the address at Hillsdale College that ET referenced. Remember that she was speaking to an ultra right wing audience at Hillsdale, and conservative politicians, like Thatcher and Reagan, knew how to play those audiences like fiddles.

"Capitalism is not, contrary to what those on the Left have tried to argue, an amoral system based on selfishness, greed, and exploitation. It is a moral system based on a Biblical ethic."

I agree with that.

The problem is that the current economic system that we have is a form of Capitalism which is based on selfishness, greed and exploitation, and efforts to bring it back to a moral track have been completely and totally unsuccessful. Another problem is that Christians becoming involved in politics haven't made an attempt to right the ship, believing that the system we have now is the best we can achieve, and that we just have to accept a level of greed, selfishness and exploitation, mainly because many of the Christians who lead the right wing are beneficiaries of the greed, selfishness and exploitation.

Thatcher, like most politicians of her stature, was neither universally popular nor is she now an iconic figure for most British. She is a symbol of conservative, right wing politics, which is why it is completely and totally improper for any recognition of her to take place in the US Congress, and she is admired by those who agreed with her, and generally disliked by those who didn't. Her legislative and leadership accomplishments are relatively slim given the agenda and the bombast.

Here's a real lady, in terms of character, grit and heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HwP3f2oaA8

[Haruo]

[Chris]

[Sandy]

The natural course of any kind of economic system is its original utopian vision, and its eventual corruption. I've been waiting around, since the religious right became intensely involved in politics, paralelling Thatcher's time in England, for some kind of reform to come out of the blending of Christian values and the free market. Of all the effect that the religious right has had on politics, much of it negative, it has had the least impact on what passes for the American Free Enterprise economy. In fact, rather than contributing any kind of influence to pull it back to a Biblical ethic, the involvement of the religious right has, as much as any single force, pushed it toward corporate exploitation faster than it might have gone without their help.

The Biblical ethic is there. It doesn't endorse capitalism as a Biblical system, but it does lay out a system of ethics by which capitalism could operate--fair profit, an open market, no usury, individual responsibility of those with much to be more accountable, care for the poor. In this "greatest nation on the face of the earth," which has accumulated great wealth and prosperity that is attributed to God's blessing, we have a vacuum when it comes to business ethics, and complete corruption and exploitation endorsed by the government. That sort of shoots a hole in the "we're prosperous because we've been blessed by God" argument. Thatcher, in the fine tradition of conservative politicians, tried to make her point by connecting the two things. There is a Biblical ethic. Unfortunately, while she was right about that, she failed to acknowledge that neither her country, nor ours, practiced it.

[Sandy]

Guess you liked the youtube selection. Hazel Dickens is one of my favorite musicians. She was a Baptist, btw.

[ET]

[ET]

[ET]

[ET]

[Sandy]