Thatcher and Reagan's Wisdom
What Labor, the unions and certain journalists have failed to understand is that the philosophies and policy prescriptions of Reagan and Thatcher remain as relevant today as ever. By Will Jefferies.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg caused a stir last week when he told the ABC that he takes inspiration from conservative icons such as the Iron Lady and the Great Communicator.
Leading Labor figures, trade union representatives and journalists alike asserted that a Thatcher and Reagan-style reform agenda would inflict extraordinary damage on the already fragile Australian economy.
Labor frontbencher Jim Chalmers argued that the Treasurer’s admission should send a ‘shudder down the spine’ of every Australian worker.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese claimed that Thatcher and Reagan ‘resulted in a massive increase in inequality and reduction in public services #GoodGrief.’
And Guardian columnist Van Badham asserted that the Treasurer’s ‘spruiking of Reagan, Thatcher and their economics of misery as the answer is just another hapless stagger, downhill in the wrong direction.’
What Labor, the unions and certain journalists have failed to understand however is that the philosophies and policy prescriptions of Reagan and Thatcher remain as relevant today as ever.
To prove this, here are some of the best quotes from the Iron Lady and the Great Communicator:
Thatcher
‘Socialists cry ‘power to the people’ and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean – power over people, power to the State.’
‘The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.’
‘In the Conservative Party we have no truck with outmoded Marxist doctrine about class warfare. For us it is not who you are, who your family is or where you come from that matters, but what you are and what you can do for your country that counts’
‘What the honourable member is saying is that he would rather that the poor were poorer, provided that the rich were less rich. So long as the gap is smaller, they would rather have the poor poorer. You do not create wealth and opportunity that way’
'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… There is no such thing as society. There is living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate.'
‘I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society — from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.’
Reagan
‘No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth’
‘The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I'm from the government and I'm here to help.’’
‘Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.’
‘They don't subscribe to our sense of morality; they don't believe in an afterlife; they don't believe in a God or religion. And the only morality they recognize, therefore, is what will advance the cause or socialism.’
‘Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same’
‘The struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test or moral will and faith’
