Political Quotes

“I would like to take a moment to pay tribute to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who passed away Monday. In the 1970s, Britain was mired in debt and even had to go to the IMF for a bailout. Britain was known then as ``The Sick Man of Europe''-- how we think of Greece today. Governments of both political parties had tried to stimulate the economy through Keynesian spending policies and government intervention into the economy was widespread. Britain faced massive strikes in the winter of 1978-1979, known as the Winter of Discontent. There was talk that Britain had become ungovernable. Then Margaret Thatcher came on the scene. Her policies of fiscal responsibility and promotion of ``free enterprise'' completely reversed Britain's economic decline. Her foreign policy achievements were no less impressive. This was the era of detente. Most people accepted that the Soviet Union was strong and successful and was here to stay so we had to learn to live with it. It was fashionable for political leaders to talk as though the Soviet system was just different, but no better or worse than our own. Margaret Thatcher had no hesitation in pointing out the truth that the Soviet Union and its satellites held their citizens in bondage and she encouraged dissidents who sought freedom.…”