As Americaâ??s conservatives regroup following another electoral defeat in the 2012 presidential race, the leadership principles and example of Margaret Thatcher have never been more relevant than they are now.
Mrs. Thatcher was Britainâ??s first female prime minister, and the longest continuously serving British prime minister of the 20th century. She was a grocerâ??s daughter who rose from humble origins to become one of the greatest political figures of modern times. She served three terms in office, from 1979 to 1990, and never lost a general election.
Nicknamed â??the Iron Ladyâ? by the Soviets, she was known for her powerful leadership, both at home and on the world stage, and for her conservative conviction politics. Her free-market ideology of small government, low taxes, privatization and individual responsibility came to be known as â??Thatcherism,â? and played a key role in the economic revitalization of both Great Britain and the United States in the 1980s.
There are striking parallels between the United States of today, and the Britain of the 1970s, which Mrs. Thatcher successfully turned around based on a clear-cut conservative agenda. In 1970s Britain, left-wing governments implemented radical, big-government agendas driving public spending to unprecedented levels, resulting in huge levels of public debt. British Socialists launched a crusade against economic freedom, raising taxes, demonizing the wealthy, and using the language of class warfare, while increasing the size of the welfare state.
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