Posted by Tina
The former Prime Minister Lady Thatcher of Great Briton has died in London at age 87. She is remembered as a woman of strong conviction and a love of freedom that kept her from “going all wobbly” when confronted by any problem or opposing figure. She was a woman who, through her strong convictions, turned her nation from a failing socialist model to a free, vibrant, and thriving economy. Her philosophy can be summed up in the following quotes:
“I think we’ve been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it’s the government’s job to cope with it. ‘I have a problem, I’ll get a grant.’ ‘I’m homeless, the government must house me.’ 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. There’s no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation.” ― Margaret Thatcher on socialism
“There are significant differences between the American and European version of capitalism. The American traditiionally emphasizes the need for limited government, light regulations, low taxes and maximum labour-market flexibility. Its success has been shown above all in the ability to create new jobs, in which it is consistently more successful than Europe.” ― Margaret Thatcher, The Path To Power
Margaret Thatcher, along with Ronald Reagan, inspired liberty, the entrepreneurial spirit, and economic freedom in people and nations all around the world. Prosperity blossomed and the blessings of freedom spread far and wide. We in America could surely use someone with her strength and convictions about now.
God bless this great lady and may God bless the United States and Briton by restoring to us through our leaders the principles and philosophy she championed and held so dear.
“She was a woman who, through her strong convictions, turned her nation from a failing socialist model to a free, vibrant, and thriving economy.”
And she did it all without getting rid of universal healthcare. So…why exactly can’t we do the same?
When I heard the sad news of PM Thatcher’s passing away I thought of how different our world would be if she and President Reagan hadn’t been the great leaders who’s vision brought both countries such huge economic growths after suffering through Carter’s and England’s liberal policies.
We need more leaders like them to get us out of this liberal/progressive/socialism mess again.
One of my favorite quotes of her’s is, ‘The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money’?
Reagan & Thatcher. Two great leaders that made the world a better place.
And unfortunately, neither country has leaders like that nowadays.
Great leaders like Thacher are rare. She has no replacement.
Obamacare is neither health care nor universal. It is a squalid mess of sheer lunacy, which is what you get with Democrats and absurd Democratic leaders who obscenely declare, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
Indeed Pie. She was England’s version of Ronald reagan. I like her quotes, like “Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell someone you are, you aren’t.”
Gotta give you one more Thatcher quote…”Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.”
Margaret Thatcher on Socialism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=okHGCz6xxiw
Chris: “So…why exactly can’t we do the same?”
Because it is the stupidest way possible to do healthcare. It is the antithesis of free markets which, if implemented again in the healthcare industry, would cause prices for care and insurance to come down, inspire good people to enter medicine once more, inspire others to remain in medicine, create a surge in medical innovation, and offer better care to more people.
The problems Obamacare was supposed to fix in our healthcare which mostly stemmed from government intrusion, have not been fixed. Many have been made worse.
Government is not the answer as Thatcher and Reagan both proved. That they were unable to restore sensible free market policies to all government programs and departments or eliminate the unnecessary, does not discount the value of what was accomplished…or the lesson to be learned.
25 Thatcher quotes from a group that calls itself “The Tea party News Network” —
http://www.tpnn.com/the-25-margaret-thatcher-quotes-that-crush-obama-and-the-left/
Pie Guevara:
“Obamacare is neither health care nor universal.”
Now this, you are right about. The ACA does greatly expand access to health insurance,* but what we really need to do is get rid of the insurance model of healthcare completely.
*Source: http://healthreform.kff.org/the-basics/access-to-coverage-flowchart.aspx
“Because it is the stupidest way possible to do healthcare.”
No, what we were doing before was the stupidest way possible to do healthcare. It was the most expensive way possible to do healthcare, and yet one of the worst in outcomes.
The fact is that you have always payed for the healthcare of others, you’ve just done it ineffeciently, in secret. When uninsured people are hospitalized and cannot pay their bills, healthcare prices rise for everyone. Expanding insurance coverage and mandating insurance is an imperfect solution, but it is an improvement because it prevents people from abusing the system. It expands the customer base of insurance companies by requiring everyone to have insurance, and by disallowing health insurance companies from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions.
“It is the antithesis of free markets which, if implemented again in the healthcare industry, would cause prices for care and insurance to come down, inspire good people to enter medicine once more, inspire others to remain in medicine, create a surge in medical innovation, and offer better care to more people.”
Ridiculous and naive. In an unregulated free market, insurance companies would continue to prevent people from getting insurance if they had a pre-existing condition. There are many things the private sector does well. Health insurance isn’t one of them.
And the ACA doesn’t get rid of free market solutions; as previously mentioned, it expands the customer base for private health insurance companies.
“Government is not the answer as Thatcher and Reagan both proved.”
Reagan oversaw the largest federal government expansion in the history of the U.S. up until that point. He greatly expanded the federal workforce(in fact, he had 35,000 more federal employees than President Obama does today). He raised taxes eight times. He raised the debt ceiling 18 times. He expanded Social Security. He tripled the deficit. He greatly expanded defense spending during peacetime. He granted amnesty to illegal immigrants. These are all facts.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jul/26/barack-obama/obama-says-reagan-raised-debt-ceiling-18-times-geo/
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/02/05/142288/reagan-centennial/
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0301.green.html
The notion that Reagan decreased the size of government is one of the biggest, most easily repudiated lies in American politics, and yet it is accepted as gospel by so many. You are worshipping a false idol.
Chris: “No, what we were doing before was the stupidest way possible to do healthcare.”
What we were doing before was the second stupidest way because it was a product of government intrusion that reduced competition (agreement with big insurance companies with politicians) and the introduction of Medicare, the initial leg of the Democrat government healthcare power grab. This destroyed free market principles that keep prices for both healthcare and insurance down. The introduction of employer paid healthcare (union driven) also added a layer of unnecessary costs that drove prices higher. A population schooled on the notion that healthcare should be free and that demanded full coverage for care, healthcare prevention, and alternative remedies also help drive the cost of insurance and healthcare higher. In the end the one picking up the bill is paying for layers of bureaucracy and paper-pushers that do NOTHING to make patients well. Like I said STUPID!
There is a better way but it will take dismantling the mess we have made and introducing free market polices for most Americans with a safety net in place for the very poor.
“The fact is that you have always payed for the healthcare of others, you’ve just done it ineffeciently, in secret.”
Speak for yourself youngster!
“Expanding insurance coverage and mandating insurance is an imperfect solution, but it is an improvement because it prevents people from abusing the system.”
It is an improvement only if you don’t count all that is terrible in this law. Ignorance about the negative consequences of the law is no excuse, Chris.
CATO
But as long as these newly uninsured don’t show up at the emergency room….
“In an unregulated free market…”
Nobody has suggested the industry should be “unregulated” and it is ridiculous for you to suggest that I or anyone else has!
“…insurance companies would continue to prevent people from getting insurance if they had a pre-existing condition.”
This is a problem that can be fixed without writing a law that contains thousands of pages of new regulations and mandates, is impossible to fully comprehend without legal help, will create layers upon layers of new expensive bureaucracy and fail in the end to deliver a better product. Changes in the law to solve the problem have suggested many times. California already has a law for employer paid healthcare plans.
“There are many things the private sector does well. Health insurance isn’t one of them.”
How the hell would you know? You have no experience to draw from and a closed mind to those who do and are willing educators!
“t expands the customer base for private health insurance companies.”
An bribe that bought the support of the big insurance companies and groups like AARP that will benefit. Big insurance companies got a waiver out of the deal which ends in 2014…when premiums will go up and become unaffordable to many in the “increased customer base. They will end up on Medicaid or if healthy they will pay the small fine, go without insurance and get coverage only if they are in desperate need. This will cost the insurance companies big time and screw up the whole plan to increase the base.
“Reagan oversaw the largest federal government expansion in the history of the U.S.”
Thanks to his tax cuts and the entrepreneurial explosion in the private sector at least we could afford it! (His polices created 1 million jobs in a single month!)
Reagan’s predecessor, Jimmy Carter, had gutted the military. Reagan spent to rebuild our military force. What he got for this expansion of government (mostly military) was the fall of the Soviet Union and an end to the Cold War. Clinton’s legacy benefited greatly from this Reagan accomplishment!
Senator Grassley has a good paper here on this and on other economic and tax history.
“He greatly expanded the federal workforce”
Most of them military I’ll bet!
“He raised taxes eight times.”
The types of taxes he agreed to did not harm economic growth…he also agreed to close loopholes AND he never got the $3,00 in spending cuts promised by the weaselly Tip O’ Neill when they made the tax increase agreement! (If he had the size of government would have been reduced)
“He expanded Social Security”
Go here to read What Ronald Reagan told the nation when he signed SS reform legislation. It beginsI have signed into law H.R. 4331, a bill that substantially incorporates the social security changes which I urged in my address of September 24 to the nation–restoration of the minimum benefit for people receiving that benefit, and interfund borrowing to tide the system over while the new National Commission on Social Security Reform develops a bipartisan plan to achieve long-lasting solutions to social security’s financing problems
Reagan was able to work with the Democrats. I can’t saay the same for Obama.
“The notion that Reagan decreased the size of government is one of the biggest, most easily repudiated lies in American politics…”
The notion is only what liberals hear. He was in favor of smaller federal government. He was president when Democrats had been in charge almost constantly of both houses of Congress for nearly forty years! He was not promoted, pandered to, and protected by a fawning press as Obama is. The lone voices of opposition were in publications such as National Review with a limited conservative readership.
“You are worshipping a false idol.”
Oh please! You don’t know the meaning of the word even when you can see that kind of worship every single day in the Obama drama masquerading as a presidency.
Ronald Reaqan, like Lady Thatcher, is admired and loved, not because he was able to accomplish all that he believed in but because he accomplished the three big things he promised to do. He is admired because the economy thrived under his leadership, the world was inspired under his leadership, America was admired and respected once again under his leadership and he was always forthright with the people bypassing the media circus to make his case.
It’s a shame you missed it but an even greater shame that all with all of your education you have are progressive talking points and opinion.